Saturday, September 24, 2011

Evil & Good



Joseph's brothers cast him into a pit and then sold him as a slave. Joseph was then unjustly accused of rape by Potiphar's wife and spent probably 13 years in prison for a crime which he did not commit. Joseph correctly interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh's chief butler and chief baker while in prison, but then the chief butler forgot about Joseph for two years. Finally the chief butler remembered Joseph when Pharaoh was looking for someone to correctly interpret his own dreams. Joseph was presented to Pharaoh, correctly interpreted his dreams about seven years of abundance and seven years of famine in Egypt, and then Joseph was made Pharaoh's second-in-command. God used Joseph to save Egypt from the coming famine, and God used Joseph to save his brothers and their families as well, the exact same brothers who had hated him, cast him into a pit, and then sold him as a slave.


In Genesis 50:20 (NKJV), after Joseph had revealed himself to his brothers and had been reunited with his father, Jacob, prior to his death, Joseph told his brothers, "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, to save many people alive."


Joseph's brothers had meant evil against him, but God had meant it for good. God showed His sovereignty over both the evil and the good in the life of Joseph.


People will hurt you. People will wound you very badly. People will mean evil against you. Those closest to you may hurt you the most, and may wound you the most, and may mean the most evil against you. You may suffer greatly, just as Joseph did. But God, in His sovereign will, may even take man's evil against you and use it for His eternal good. Only He can do that. Ask Him to do so.

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