There Is A Glorious Purpose For It All

The context: One of the most heart-wrenching passages in the Bible is recorded in Genesis 45. Out of their deep-seated hatred for Joseph, his brothers were out in the fields one day and sold him as a slave to a passing caravan of merchants heading for Egypt. They got rid of him. They had taken his coat, smeared it with an animal's blood, and brought the coat to their father Jacob and told him that Joseph was dead. The grief of his father was unimaginable, because Joseph was born to Jacob in his old age, and was the son of Jacob's beloved wife Rachel who had died. Many years passed and during that time Joseph found great favor with the Pharaoh in Egypt, so great in fact that Joseph was made ruler over the entire land of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, who placed him as the authority over all the agriculture and food distribution in the land. Later, there was a famine in the land of Canaan where Joseph's father and brothers lived, and that forced his brothers to travel to Egypt to buy food. They did not recognize Joseph when they came to him for food, but he recognized them. The story goes on and finally in chapter 45 Joseph reveals to them that he is their lost brother, the one they had gotten rid of so long ago. You can't read that chapter with dry eyes. This is one of the greatest tear-jerkers in all of the Bible. His brothers were absolutely shocked and desperately afraid when they found out who he was, the ruler of all Egypt. Great fear came upon them when they realized he was in a position of authority over all the land, as they remembered what they had done to him ...and they feared greatly for their lives. But Joseph forgave his brothers, and embraced them. Imagine the grace of God working in his heart as he told them: “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." Genesis 50:20 There is very deep meaning in those words. Read on... "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." Romans 8:28 It's not only that all will work to our good, but that in his foresight, God actually governs over the sufferings we go through. You may have heard it said that nothing will touch a child of God that God hasn't first allowed, but it's more than that. God does not allow us to suffer for the sake of suffering. There is ALWAYS a purpose in it. Do not underestimate the glorious and wondrous thing God is doing in your life by allowing the necessary stories that are the very groundwork for the end result. God is faithful, and you will understand the depths of that only when you leave this earth and enter heaven to live with him there - forever. You will stand in awe as you see all that was behind every story that made up your life, and all that God accomplished through them. What Satan meant for evil against you, God worked all of it out for good. Do not despise the process.