By David ReayWednesday 18 Jan 2023LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us 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. Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said. But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 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. 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. (NLT)
When we review our lives, we can put life events into three categories. One is events that have given us great pleasure and satisfaction. Another category consists of events that have cast a shadow over our own and others’ lives, causing pain and sorrow. But there is a third category too. Events which, in retrospect, are characterised by an intertwining of pain and pleasure, setback and advance.
We can see something of this third category in the climax of the story of Joseph. He had suffered injustice and sorrow, but out of it had come some good for those around him. His brothers and his captors had done their worst, but God was behind the scenes working things out so that good came out of the bad.
We need not become overcome by despair at the “downs” of life. Nor need we conclude that there are only “ups” in life. Our lives are a crazy mixture of ups and downs. And sometimes it is hard to figure out whether something is one or the other.
The comforting belief that God works everything for good doesn’t mean everything that happens to us is good in itself. It means that good may result out of bad. It means the bad things can be taken up into his good purposes. We may rightly mourn our losses and have a deep taste of our sorrow. These are part of the picture of our lives.
But to get the full picture, we need to bring God’s good intentions into the picture.
Blessings
David
After an inspirational run on Hope 103.2, Lifewords with David Reay will be delivering its final reflection on Friday 27 January. But, great news, David contributes to Real Hope devotions along with a variety of other deep faith thinkers that will be delivered straight to your inbox from Monday 30 January – so you won’t have to skip a devotional beat! If you prefer an audio version, we also have Real Hope – The Podcast.