“Joseph said to them, ‘…for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day…’” Genesis 50:20
These words were spoken as a response to Joseph’s brothers begging for forgiveness from their past treatment of him. The brothers were fearful that Joseph would retaliate since their father had passed away. But instead Joseph’s heart was full of what our heart needs to be full of…God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness. You see, Joseph had already forgiven them before the begging began because Joseph fully understood that he didn’t stand in the place of God as Judge. He walked in freedom because he held nothing against his brothers before receiving the apology. He had come to the point of truly believing that God wasn’t part of his story, but that his life was a small part of God’s overarching story of love and purpose. “John Sailhamer makes the connection, ‘Behind all the events and human plans recounted in the story of Joseph lies the unchanging plan of God. It is the plan introduced from the very beginning of the book, where God looks out at what he has just created for humanity and sees that it is good.’” Finding God Faithful, Kelly Minter, p. 200
I began thinking of my beginning and your beginning as God breathed His breath into our lives. When our heart took its first beat and when we inhaled our first breath, I imagine God looked down and said ‘It is good.’ When we celebrated our marriage and our children’s birth, God’s joy was paramount as He nodded and whispered, ‘Now that is so good.’ When we experience betrayals and heartbreaking circumstances in our lives like Joseph, and draw near to God we will hear Him tendering speaking, ‘It’s going to be okay, it will be good.’ God’s goodness and faithfulness runs parallel with our stories of heartbreak and celebrations…darkness and light…sadness and joy. We will see the good that God has for us when we discover the beauty of our position in Him. It is His story that is unfolding and for some remarkable reason, He gives us the privilege of joining Him.
When we embrace every situation through God’s eyes, we can always find our ‘it is good’ moment having confidence in God’s goodness. ‘Joseph directed his brothers’ attention away from himself and toward God, knowing the limits of his authority. One of the fundamental elements of forgiving others is realizing we’re not in the place of God. When we forgive a person who’s wronged us, we’re placing the situation and outcome in God’s hands’ pp 198-199. Whatever we experience we are called to allow God to make it good according to the purposes He has in mind.
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
No comments:
Post a Comment