God Intended It For Good

Introduction

Genesis 50:14–21 NLT

14 After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s burial. 15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said. 16 So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us 17 to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. 18 Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said. 19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 21 No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

Have you ever been in a situation, where no matter how you look at it, you can’t see what God is doing? We’ve been discussing this a lot the past several weeks, but there are many times when God does something, and we just cry out asking why.

On Sunday morning, you were introduced to Joseph. Most of you remember Joseph and his coat of many colors. So let’s walk through what all happened leading up to where we are now.

Joseph was the favorite child of Jacob. (Genesis 37:3)

Although Jacob was plagued with the fight between favorite children, he still had his own favorite.

Joseph had dreams, where it showed his brothers and parents bowing down to him. (Genesis 37:5-7,9)

God will do things, which goes against the social norms, and always does things in ways we don’t expect. All throughout Genesis, we see the older serving the younger. Something that was not expected. Christ being born in a manger, and dying for our sins was not how the Israelites expected it either. But that is how he did it.

Josephs brothers are jealous of him, and sell him as a slave to merchants headed to Egypt.

Jealousy led them first to planning murder, but then decided to just sell him into slavery so they wouldn’t have to cover up his death. That would just be too inconvenient for them.

Joseph is sold to the Captain of the Pharaohs guard, and serves there faithfully.

Joseph at this point has no idea what God is doing, but he isn’t sitting idle where he is, he isn’t sulking and pouting. He serves faithfully where he is.

Potiphers wife tries to talk Joseph into having sex with her, and when he refused, she grabbed his robe. He quickly runs, and when he did, the robe came off. When he ran away, she realized she still had his coat. So she took that to her husband, and falsely accused Joseph of trying to rape her.

So now Joseph is in prison.

Joseph interprets the dreams of 2 prisoners.

Joseph, through the power of God, interprets these dreams, and gives all credit to God.

Joseph interprets Pharos dream, and predicts a famine.

Joseph is now promoted to governor of Egypt.

Josephs prophecy was correct, and Jacob sends Josephs brothers to Egypt to buy food.

Joseph recognizes them, but they do not recognize him.

Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, sends them to bring Jacob, and Jacob dies.

When he revealed his identity to them, he told them not to be ashamed of what they did. Because GOD went before him, and GOD led him there.

Now that we understand what all has happened, let’s breakdown our passage.

Genesis 50:14–15 NLT

14 After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s burial. 15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said.

So now that Jacob has dies, Josephs brothers fear that Joseph is now going to punish them for what they did to them.

Joseph could have done this at any point, but Joseph already told them, God meant for them to sell him. God went before him, and made this way possible.

Sometimes, we may not understand Gods plan, but we must stay faithful, and know God has a plan.

Do you think Joseph, when he had those visions as a teenager, thought all of this would happen? Of course not. But instead of being angry at God, and sitting idle in his confusion, Joseph trusted God, and knew He would provide.

Genesis 50:16–18 NLT

16 So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us 17 to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. 18 Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said.

So the brothers have this immense fear that Joseph is going to kill them, or punish them.

So they decide to lie, and craft this story about Jacob telling them to say all this to Joseph.

Then they bow down to Joseph, and offer themselves as slaves to Joseph.

Once again, Joseph has already forgiven his brothers. Joseph, now on the other-side of Gods plan, can see why God did what He did.

This absolutely terrible situation, has been used for Gods glory.

Genesis 50:19–21 NLT

19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. 21 No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

Joseph easily could’ve been angry at his brothers.

Growing up they:

Hated him

Made fun of him

Bullied him

Planned to kill him

Threw him into a hole

Sold him into slavery

But instead of repaying them with anger, and hatred, Joseph shows them mercy.

All the sins and faults they commited against him, he forgave. Why? Because what they intended for evil, God used for good.

God can use any situation, any person, or anything for his glory.

Life is tough. Life is exhausting, and sometimes we don’t understand why all these things around us happen. We can cry out to God, and not see what he is doing. God why would you allow this to happen? We often ask. God how can you possibly be a good God when stuff like this happens around us, and yet it seems like you’re not here.

Because of sin, we live in a broken and messed up world. Everything around us is cursed and plagued with sin.

You may be in a situation like Joseph, you’re not sure what God is doing, or what His plans are.

Everything seems like it is closing in around you.

There is hope.

The same God who used these terrible things that Josephs brothers did to him, wants to use the situation you’re going through for His glory. He wants to have a relationship with you, and use you.

Just like Joseph forgave his brothers of everything they did against him, God offers forgiveness of all the things you’ve done against him. And let me tell you something, we’re all done MUCH WORSE THAN WHAT THEY DID TO JOSEPH.

Every time we sin, we crucify Christ again. We drive the nails into his hands and feet. But he still offers forgiveness.

The situations you’re going through, what Satan wants to use for bad, God wants to use for good. Will you let him use those situations? Will you surrender your life to Him?

INVITATION