When bad things happen to good people we often ask ourselves the super tough questions like, “Where was God?” or “Why didn’t God stop this?”
It’s okay.
God is God enough to handle it and not at all surprised, but for us as humans when we wrestle with the things we don’t understand, the circumstances that don’t present the plan clearly, we can really be unhinged and shaky in our faith.
When a loved one who has faithfully served God is diagnosed with a disease.
When a child strays from the faith and their family.
When sin and addiction overwhelm.
When death comes earlier than we anticipate.
When relationships are broken.
When the sin of this world shows it’s face at our door and we feel helpless against it, we can scream out to God, or scream out against God. And when it feels like we don’t get answers, or answers we don’t like, we can even turn our backs on God.
The problem of evil is one we will all have to face. Regardless of whether we like to deal with issues or we run from them, if we live enough days on this earth we will have to come to terms with our own view of God and our view of evil.
As I study the story of Joseph, I am struck by the power of evil and the sovereignty of God.
On the surface of the story I see all the evil. Joseph may have been a little quick to share his dreams with his brothers, and perhaps it wasn’t the wisest move he made, but he certainly didn’t deserve being sold into slavery and shipped off to a foreign country, with foreign gods, language and customs. Can you imagine the panic in the young teenage Joseph? At dawn he was in his family’s tent and by dusk he was heading to Egypt!
Jospeh certainly didn’t deserve to be thrown into prison for refusing to have sex with his master’s wife! He should have received a raise and promotion for his integrity, instead it landed him a jail cell in an Egyptian prison.
Evil paints the pages of Joseph’s story. And if we didn’t know the entirety of Joseph’s story we would never know the ending of grace.
Every step Joseph took was leading him closer to a position of power that would protect the people who once propelled him into prison to begin with.
We can see the sovereignty of God in the story of Joseph because we know the ending.
We see the details and we watch the Hand of God move Joseph into exactly where He needs Joseph, so Joseph can participate in God’s plan of salvation for his family.
Our struggle is––we are smack dab in the middle of our own stories. We don’t yet know the ending of how all the circumstances are going to work out. It’s in the middle of life that we can feel defeated.
In the space between the proclamation of the promise and the possessing the promise we lose sight of the Promise Maker.
Joseph went from a 17 year old teen caring for his father’s errands to a 30 year old ruler in Egypt second to the King! Joseph spent years and years trapped in the circumstances not of his making. Years of waiting and wondering. Years of prayers. Years of trust and distrust. Would God really come through? Would those dreams really come to pass?
And friends, the end result was not easy. Forgiveness wasn’t easy. Leading a country through famine wasn’t easy. Living in Egypt as an Israelite wasn’t easy.
Joseph’s story may seem like a glamorous ending, but his faithfulness to God cost him a lot!
It can be so easy for us to see a happy ending and think the journey there wasn’t without a lot of bumps and bruises and brokenness.
The stories each of us are living are not easy. We may have moments of ease and comfort, but being made into the image of Christ is not an easy process. Living in this world and being a citizen of heaven isn’t easy. Guiding our families and loved ones through this life and leading them to Jesus isn’t easy.
Let’s be careful not to look at just the surface of stories. To just see challenging circumstances and be overwhelmed by the power of evil in our everyday lives. Friends, God is sovereign. He is working things out for His glory.
Romans 8:28 settles this issue clearly, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (emphasis mine).
This is the truth we hold on to in the moments that we don’t understand. This is what we KNOW. God is working. God is moving. God is doing things we cannot comprehend on this earth and we cannot fathom.
Isaiah 55:8 reminds us of this, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.”
And if we needed further confirmation, the words of Joseph himself bring home this message when he looks his brothers in the face and says to them in Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
In the midst of a long and difficult story, Joseph kept his eyes on the sovereignty of God and not the evil of others. What are we focusing our eyes on?
Whatever the enemy of our souls throws at us that is intended for evil, God has the power to work out for good.
It may not feel good at the time, or for a long time, and it may not seem good. I don’t imagine Joseph longed for his days as a prisoner, but God can use everything for good, and He will.
We may never know the good this side of heaven, but we can know God. The more we know God the more we learn of His character, the more we grow to trust Him and trust Him to work good in our lives, regardless of our circumstances.
