Meant for Good

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Genesis 50:15-21 ESV). Perhaps one of the most beloved stories of the Old Testament is the life of Joseph. At seventeen his brothers dumped him in a well. They planned to kill him. Instead they sold him to a band of nomads. He was sold again to an Egyptian ruler. Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him. He was jailed and forgotten for years. Finally, he was appointed second in command in the Egyptian government. Years of suffering and countless disappointments shaped him from a cocky teenager into a mature man of faith. Joseph’s faith shone through when his brothers came groveling to him after the death of their father. His attitude shocked them because he held no bitterness toward them. Instead, Joseph saw their actions as part of God’s greater plan. He had the faith to rest in the promise of God. Joseph’s faith is the kind of faith that says, “I can endure anything that life throws my way because I am confident that God has a plan for me.” It doesn’t matter if we are dealing with a disability, suffering rejection, or living with constant disappointments. We can have faith that the Lord can weave any trial into his good plan. In Elmer Bendiner’s book, The Fall of Fortresses, he describes one bombing run over the German city of Kassel: Our B-17 was barraged by flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. That was not unusual, but on this particular occasion our gas tanks were hit. Later, as I reflected on the miracle of a twenty-millimeter shell piercing the fuel tank without touching off an explosion, our pilot, Bohn Fawkes, told me it was not quite that simple. On the morning following the raid, Bohn had gone down to ask our crew chief for that shell as a souvenir of unbelievable luck. The crew chief told Bohn that not just one shell but eleven had been found in the gas tanks - eleven unexploded shells where only one was sufficient to blast us out of the sky. It was as if the sea had been parted for us. Even after thirty-five years, so awesome an event leaves me shaken, especially after I heard the rest of the story from Bohn. He was told that the shells had been sent to the armorers to be defused. The armorers told him that Intelligence had picked them up. They could not say why at the time, but Bohn eventually sought out the answer. Apparently when the armorers opened each of those shells, they found no explosive charge. They were clean as a whistle and just as harmless. Empty? Not all of them. One contained a carefully rolled piece of paper. On it was a scrawl in Czech. The Intelligence people scoured our base for a man who could read Czech. Eventually, they found one to decipher the note. It set us marveling. Translated, the note read: “This is all we can do for you now.” God was certainly in charge of that wonderful saving act! He can be trusted in every circumstance.