Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me."… So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brothers listened. Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. (After some time has passed) ….Joseph said to them,"Do not be afraid, 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, to save many people alive.
Gen 37:9, 23-28; 50:19-20
When things seem all wrong in our lives and literally nothing is going right, it’s funny how when we hear a verse like Rom 8:28 “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” – it seems so cliché especially when it comes from a smiley faced person who seems to never have anything wrong going on in their world. It’s like: if I hear someone tell me that verse one more time I’m going to scream because I can’t possibly see what good is coming out of this one. For example…try telling that to the mother and father who just lost a child. Try telling that to the man who got falsely accused and thrown into jail. Try telling that to a 12 year girl who is used as a sex slave multiple times in a day to put money in somebody else’s pocket. Try telling that to the man who works hard to take care of his family and just lost his job. Try telling that to those that are starving so much that the only thing covering their bones is their skin. Try telling that to a family whose home just got swept up into a tornado. Try telling that to the woman who is told she can’t have any children. Try telling that to the child who is repeatedly beat up and locked into a closet. Try telling that to the wife going to bed alone because her husband has left her for another woman. Try telling it. We may or may not have gone through these particular things but at some point we may encounter such a difficult time where we go around trying to make sense out of what’s going on in our lives and wonder what God could possibly be doing. Does He really care about little ol’ me – one individual in the midst of 7 billion? Can He really be working out these circumstances for my good?
The problem is we can only see what’s in front of us. We are staring it in the face. We don’t understand it. It doesn’t make any sense. We struggle in it. Our hearts hurt. We question why God would allow it. But, then we remember - as a child of God, we have hope knowing that God sees the whole picture from beginning to end. He understands it. He can make sense out of it. He says surrender the struggle to Him. He pieces back the shattered pieces of our hearts. He will bring the answer you need.
When we start sorting through the fog and focus our attention on the Lord, remembering truly in our hearts that He is good and everything He does and allows is good (even though it may not seem that way at the moment) we find that place of rest. Imagine Joseph, a young man with his whole life ahead of him. The Lord was giving him dreams about how his life was going to be with his brothers bowing down to him. Then, not long after, Joseph found himself cast into a pit, sold as a slave by his brothers, accused of seducing Potiphar’s wife, thrown into prison, and forgotten about for two years …how could God possibly be fulfilling his dreams through this? I’m sure at some point Joseph felt like his life was turned upside down as he couldn’t see just yet what God was doing. The things happening to him were, yes, bad things but as we see some time later God turned all those things that were meant for evil to good. God used everything that happened in Joseph’s life to bring about His perfect plan.
God works everything together for our good. That doesn’t necessarily mean the things happening to us are “good”- sometimes they can be very tragic - but God can make beauty out of ashes (Isaiah 61:3). He takes the things that the enemy can intend for evil in our lives and He can turn it around to be good. Ashes have to be made before God can miraculously turn them into something beautiful. He is taking the difficulties and working in us, refining us, and showing us amazing things we would have never seen unless we went through them thus building our faith even more.
When we are being pushed over the edge of a skyscraper, God is our hero who sweeps in to catch us, saving the day at the exact and perfect timing. He is the One who reveals the deep, secret things (Daniel 2:22) in due time. Don’t lean on your own understanding because you can’t understand; choose to trust Him with all of your heart (Proverbs 3:5). Just as Joseph had his day when He finally got to see God’s plan unfold and his past turmoil now made sense, so will we be able to one day look back and see that God had a plan all along. You never know, maybe what you’ve been through or are presently going through will scream hope and salvation into someone else’s life.
I lay my "whys?"
before Your cross
in worship kneeling,
my mind beyond all hope,
my heart beyond all feeling;
and worshipping,
realize that I
in knowing You,
don't need a "why?" - Ruth Bell Graham
