 Many of us are familiar with the story of Joseph, the beloved son of Jacob spoken of in Genesis chapters 37-50. Joseph's older brothers hated him because of a dream God had given him and planned to kill him. Instead, they sold him as a slave to Ishmeelite traders. They took him to Egypt and sold Joseph to Potiphar, an Egyptian captain, where he worked as his slave. Soon however, Joseph was in charge of all that Potiphar possessed! God had given Joseph great favor. Potiphar's immoral wife soon began to tempt Joseph sexually, but he consistantly refused her advances. After many futile attempts, she lied and said Joseph tried to rape her and he was placed in the king's dungeon because of her false accusation. In a short time however, Joseph was given charge of the entire prison! God's favor shined on him once more. Finally, Joseph assisted a fellow prisoner to get out of jail and back into favor with his former boss, the Pharaoh. This butler told Joseph that he would tell Pharaoh that Joseph was in jail unjustly, but he failed to mention it to Pharaoh for two full years!
Joseph is released from prison after he interprets Pharaoh's dream. He is also made ruler over Egypt. After some time, his brothers come to Egypt to buy grain because a famine was in Israel. They did not know that Joseph is still alive and the ruler of Egypt! After some time, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers and they bow down to him as Joseph's dream had foretold that they would! I have left out many details of this story to bring us to this point.
After the death of their father Jacob, the brothers fear that Joseph will avenge their evils deeds by having them killed. Joseph forgives them and summarizes this story by saying that, "Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good." What I want to show you is that the word "meant" seems to indicate that God planned all the evil things that happened to Joseph to bring about his purpose. What must be made clear is that all the evil things were not in God's plan. They were the plans of murderous, greedy, immoral and undependable people. The word "meant" means to weave, to compute and think creatively. In short, God rewove the evil plans of man and creatively put Joseph back in His will despite all the efforts of men and the devil to stop Joseph's dream. They could not stop Joseph, and evil events and circumstances can't stop you either! Have a great week.
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