Victim or Victor?

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).

The reading today is from one of my most well read and studied stories of the Old Testament. The life of Joseph has so many incredible applications in our lives. Today’s focal verse is “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”(v. 50). Today, I want to encourage you in whatever part of your journey you find yourself. I can find fault in both Joseph and his prideful declarations early in his youth, and in his family for their refusal to believe and trust in God for their personal positions. Joseph came to understand the greatest gift God had given him was the position of victor. There are two principles for us in these verses. The first is the acknowledgment of the reality of his pain. He replied to them, “As for you, you meant evil against me.” This is Old Testament Joseph, reminding his brothers what they all knew. Their treatment of him had been abusive. Their jealousy, their plotting, their berating of him as worthless, their kidnap and sale of him to passing slave traders was not just a series of bad choices. It was worse than bad behavior was evil. We need to recognize evil when it encroaches into our lives. That requires a serious inventory of our experiences and circumstances. Be honest with yourself. The second principle is that God ordained it all for his good. He followed his first statement with, “But God meant it for good.” They’d intended to do him harm, and yet Joseph had never really been under their power. He’d been under the power of Almighty God, all the while, who was causing all things to “work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (cf. Romans 8:28). Ultimately we must accept that God will accomplish this good in our lives regardless of how our circumstance might appear. Joseph was not their victim. No child of God is ever really a victim. God is always bigger, always greater, and His plans cannot be thwarted by others’ bad behavior. We are victors, never victims. Take heart!