God meant it for good

Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.



Joseph spoke those words to his brothers, after their father Jacob died, when they were concerned that Joseph would seek revenge against them. This story is very dear to my heart. It is a story of forgiveness. a biblical approach to that.



Joseph had every right to be bitter, angry, and even vengeful towards his brothers. His own brothers considered killing him, but ended up selling him into slavery. Joseph ended up in prison for refusing to commit adultery. He has rally trying to do right. He was trying to serve God, but everything in his life back fired. Where was Joseph God? Why was he enduring so much hardship? Verse 20, of Chapter 50 of the book of Genesis tells us why. The answer was to save much people alive.



As a teenager, wickedness infiltrated me. I would go a time of doing right, but then I would fall away again. I couldn't handle being good for so long. I would pray and read my Bible. I would pray for godliness, holiness in my life. But I honestly didn't know what that was. I thought listening to good music, not watching bad TV, or even wearing a dress would bring that to me. As I headed off to Bible College. I was taught that same approach. That holiness was an external action. I couldn't survive. I drowned in the rules. Not because it was knew to me, but because the impurity of them. The fakeness, lied in the external. The external fooled many. Joseph was able to survive the challenges before him, because he had a set of internal rules of the heart.



I was tired of the external. The fake christianity that I saw, experinced, participated in. I wanted internal holiness, but didn't know how to achieve it. The people that had already successfully achieved internal, had no use, for those seeking it. They wanted to protect themselves. Is this a godly example we see done in Joseph life? No, it isn't. So why do we see it in our churches? Why do we group the strong with the strong, the weak with the weak. Why do we not have classes of the elite, intermingled with classes of the weak?



As a Christian, who do you hang with? Do you only have dinner with the in group? Are you always stuck with the outcasts? Do you enjoy, all sects, all walks of lives in your clique? Is it just you and your family, no room for anymore? Can you be an encouragement to the weaker, can you help the strong stay strong?



My life may look pathetic to some. I have a good job, we have a good income, but I am not a homeownner. I live in a small 2 bedroom apartment. But compare that to the dump I have grew up in. I am content. I don't have a big beautiful home, but I am comfortable. Isn't that a good thing? What I have is a 100x more, then what I could have dreamed. That some one like me could have even expected. Do you think Joseph when he was in the prison in Eygpt was worried about his dwellinng place? Do you think that he cared what people thought? It isn't mentioned, but I'd say no. So why do so many others have a problem with how I live, and I don't? How I am living right now is good. It is good for a dirty koolaid stained moustache, rugged, abused, neglected buskid like me. Why can't others be happy for me, instead of judgemental.



I don't deserve anything. I know that. I don't deserve a husband that loves me. I don't deserve, food on the table, a nice car to drive, a respectable job, I am tired of but they pay me so well, I can't quit. The $1.95/ hr raise I got. Do you realize, I make over 40K/year at working 24/week. That is crazy. I am blessed. I know that. God has taken very good care of me. When I took that wrong road. When I left His goodness, and love. I sought the world, instead of wait for His timing. God has been very gracious to me. So please tell me why, I should be discontent? Because i have this overwhelming feeling that people are not happy that, I am not living better then what I could, when the fact is, I am living better, then what I deserve, what I dream.



Joseph ended up living in a palace, ruling the food chain, second only to Pharoah. All Joseph ever asked, was to get out of prison. I don't expect to live in an earthly mansion, nor do I want too. All I wanted was to get out of prison. I did. A life of wicked sin is prison. If anything else comes my way, it isn't my doings. It is my Father's. As a teenager, I wanted a Christian family. I have that. It isn't the best, I know. But through God's grace, and He does have the grace, it is getting better, each day. That is all I can ask. So if I am content with that, why can't others be?



Things that have happened in my life God meant for good. My husband and my children are saved. That is good.