God Intended it for Good

As a Christian, I strive daily to live out my faith in ways that will
be light amidst darkness, saltiness amidst blandness, ever pointing to
a glorious God. Sometimes I do OK and sometimes I fail miserably;
sometimes the context I am in makes it difficult to stand out in this
way, and sometimes the context I am in makes it quite easy.

This morning, I am challenged to live this out in a new way. I just
finished the book of Genesis in my morning devotions. You may know
that the book is basically about five men: Adam, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and Joseph. The book ends with Jacob just having died, and his
son Joseph forgiving his other brothers for selling him into slavery.
(If you haven't read the book before, I strongly recommend it: high
drama, family dysfunction, flawed characters . . . it's got
everything.)

Joseph utters this famous line: "You intended to harm me, but God
intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving
of many lives." It's a true statement: the brothers, jealous of
Joseph, sell him off to passersby, where he ends up in Egypt, where he
successfully administers Pharaoh's crops during seven years of feast
and seven years of famine, without which countless hordes of people
would've starved.

And yet while I've read this passage before, I am challenged anew by
this statement. For Joseph harbors no ill will towards his brothers,
nor any bitterness towards God for the many things that happened in
his life that he could've easily shaken his fist towards God about:
being sold in slavery, being falsely accused of seducing his master's
wife, being forgotten in a prison cell. Instead, he reaches the end
of his life with a profound understanding of God's goodness and
authority amidst the entire arc of his life.

I am not challenged to put a sunny disposition over my façade in the
midst of hard things, nor am I challenged to never shake a fist at
God. It is a false front to always smile when you're hurting inside,
and it is a false rendering of Christianity to say you can never rage
at God. I am, however, challenged, to get to a deeper place of
understanding God's goodness and authority, and how it is steeped in
everything about my life. Things we would shallowly call good, and
things we would shallowly call bad, God is working both out for a
greater, grander purpose.

Now this would be a powerful witness in our time. For Christians to
rid themselves of bitterness, and be profoundly rooted in a quiet yet
fierce understanding of God's goodness and authority in all things.
Again, not that we "don't worry, be happy," nor that we never express
our raw emotions before our God. But that we have depth in our faith,
not tossed from side to side from the particular joys and travails of
a given day. That would be a bright light in darkness, a salty treat
amidst blandness. That would point to a glorious God.