Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 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 50:19-20).
THEME
GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY
Writing of humanity's limited view of God's sovereignty, John Newton jested: "If you think you see the ark of the Lord falling, you can be sure it is due to a swimming in your head."
In contrast to our finite focus, God sees and knows the when, why, and how of life. And sovereignty means that God controls it all. He certainly did for Joseph. Thrown into a deep, dark pit and then sold to traders by his jealous brothers, Joseph may have questioned God's sovereign plan. But God saw Joseph even in the shadows. And when the camel caravan arrived in Egypt, God was there to meet him.
On the cross, Jesus cried out, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" Yet three days after Joseph of Arimathea sealed Jesus in a pitch black tomb, God was there to meet Him. The glorious ending of the Joseph story shed a small shaft of light on God's sovereignty, but a brighter and wider beam filled the darkness when an angel said of the seemingly forsaken Christ, "He is not here; for He is risen."
If Jesus struggled with God's plan and then entrusted Himself to the sovereign Ruler of the universe, we can confidently follow Him out of the tomb into the sunshine.
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FEB 12
GENESIS 45:1-8
"You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good"
(Genesis 50:20).
I am thankful and reassured that God is so wise and so powerful that nothing, absolutely nothing, can cause His purposes to fail. In fact, He is able to take even those things meant for evil and make them work for good.
Joseph's brothers hated him so much that they plotted his murder. Instead, they sold him as a slave to some Ishmaelite traders. In Egypt he gained the favor of Pharaoh, who gave him a position of responsibility second only to that of the king. During a famine, his brothers came to him for food, not realizing who he was. When Joseph finally identified himself, he spoke this assuring word to them: "Do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life" (Ge 45:5). Later he said to his brothers, "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" (Ge 50:20).
To me, that's both exciting and encouraging. I am reassured to realize that no matter what someone might do to harm me, the Lord is able to turn it into my benefit and His glory.
When we are discouraged because of distressing circumstances, we can rejoice in God's wisdom, power, and sovereignty. Romans 8:28 is still true. God is working all things for our good.
--R.W.D.
Setbacks pave the way for comebacks.
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FEB 13
JOB 1:13-22; 42:12-17
"He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).
William Cowper beautifully expressed the unexplainable workings of an all-wise and all-powerful God in one of his familiar hymns. He wrote: "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm." Because God works mysteriously, we are sometimes perplexed. From our limited point of view, it often appears that everything is out of control. The heavenly Father, however, wants His children to trust Him even when they cannot understand Him.
While Michelangelo was working on St. Peter's Cathedral, other men working on the building criticized him. They didn't like what they saw and told him so. The great artist responded, "Even if I were able to make my plans and ideas clear to you--which I am not--I am not obliged to do so. I must ask you to do your best to help me, and when the work is complete the conception will be better understood." History has confirmed that he was right. Those who found fault with his work did so out of ignorance. Unable to understand what was in the mind of the artist, they couldn't see the whole picture.
Those who go through the deep waters of trial, affliction, or adversity often cannot understand what God is doing. But God knows, and we must trust Him for the outcome. And someday we'll rejoice in God's wise plan.
--R.W.D.
When God is going to do something wonderful, He often begins with difficulty.
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FEB 14
JOHN 18:33-37
"For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world" (John 18:37).
God has a plan for our lives that is complete in every detail. The Sovereign of the universe cannot allow any of His plans to be executed haphazardly. He leaves nothing to happenstance. The life of Jesus is a prime example. His coming as a Babe in Bethlehem, His earthly ministry, His death, and His resurrection all took place according to God's purpose. To show that Jesus was determined to do His father's will, Luke wrote, "He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51). Jesus' death was no turn of fate--it was a fulfillment of God's plan. He had come to give His life a ransom for the sins of the world.
It is also true that the life of every Christian has been designed by the heavenly Father to fulfill a specific purpose. C. H. Spurgeon said, "There is not a spider hanging on the king's wall but has its errand; there is not a nettle that grows in the corner of the churchyard but has its purpose. . . And I will never have it that God created any man, especially any Christian man, to be a blank, and to be a nothing. He made you for an end. Find out what that end is; find out your niche and fill it."
We must learn to view the events of our life from the divine perspective. God has a plan for our lives. Knowing this will cause us to look for ways to serve Him and glorify Him in everything we do. We have a sense of destiny because we know that God has placed us where we are for a purpose.
--P.R.V.
Duties belong to us; results belong to God.
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FEB 15
PSALM 76:7-12
Surely the wrath of man shall praise You; with the remainder of wrath You shall gird Yourself (Psalm 76:10).
God is in full control of His universe. Much of the world fails to recognize this truth, for few people understand His power. They do not realize that behind human affairs is an unseen hand--the providential hand of Almighty God--shaping the destinies of nations.
Two incidents from history illustrate God's sovereignty particularly well. Domitian, an anti-Christian Roman ruler, thought he was slowing the expansion of the gospel when he banished the apostle John to Patmos. But God was in control, for on that island He gave John the vision that John wrote as the book of Revelation. And Augustus, an earlier ruler, called for a census of his empire, making it possible for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem rather than in Nazareth. Again, God directed the decision, and prophecy was fulfilled.
James Russell Lowell sensed God's supervision when he wrote: "Truth forever on the scaffold, / Wrong forever on the throne. / Yet that scaffold sways the future, / And, behind the dim unknown / Standeth God within the shadow, / Keeping watch above His own."
English clergyman John Nelson Darby echoed that trust when he wrote: "God's ways are behind the scenes; but He moves all the scenes which He is behind. We have to learn this, and let Him work."
God has a plan for the ages--a plan He will accomplish. Although current events often seem to favor the evil one, God will have the last word. He is in control.
--P.R.V.
God's timetable moves slowly, but it always moves surely.
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FEB 16
ROMANS 8:18-28
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).
A man in China raised horses for a living. When one of his prized stallions ran away, his friends gathered at his home to mourn his great loss. After they had expressed their concern, the man raised this question: "How do I know whether what happened is bad or good?" A couple days later the runaway horse returned with several strays following close behind. The same acquaintances again came to his house--this time to celebrate his good fortune. "But how do I know whether it's good or bad?" the old gentleman asked them. That very afternoon the horse kicked the owner's son and broke the young man's leg. Once more the crowd assembled--now to express their sorrow over the incident. "But how do I know if this is bad or good?" the father asked again. A few days later, war broke out. The man's son was exempted from military service because of his broken leg. Again the friends gathered--
From our limited human perspective, we cannot know with certainty how to interpret life's experiences. For the trusting child of God, however, it's altogether different. We can be assured that God is working for our benefit through everything that happens. We do not need to ask, as did the old Chinese gentleman, "How do I know whether it's good or bad?" According to Romans 8:28, we know that it's always for good.
--R.W.D.
What the unbeliever calls good luck the believer knows to be God's love.
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FEB 17
1 THESSALONIANS 5:18
In everything give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
How thankful we can be that we serve a God who is sovereign, loving, all-wise, and all-powerful. Nothing frustrates Him. Nothing stops Him. Nothing escapes His attention. He can take all things--both good and bad--and work them together for the benefit of His children. This truth not only gives us great confidence, joy, and peace, but it also enables us to give thanks "in everything" (1 Th 5:18).
"God's plan leaves nothing out. All things . . . work together for good--all things, even trials, at which we murmur and complain. The storms which threaten to uproot the trees really root them more firmly and deeply in the soil. The blows that one might think would make the cast-iron brittle really cause it to undergo a sort of [tempering] and increase its strength and tenacity. The enforced rest of sorrow and pain, sickness and disappointment, John Ruskin compares to the rest in which there is no music, but the making of music; not the end of the tune, but a pause in the choral hymn of our lives, during which the Divine Musician beats the time with unvarying count, catching up the next note as if no breaking-place had come between" (A. T. Pierson, VITAL UNION WITH CHRIST).
When we love the Lord and pass through deep waters, we can give thanks because we know that all things, even the bad, are working together for our good.
--R.W.D.
God causes many a tight place to open into the right place.
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FEB 18
PSALM 119:73-80
I know, O Lord . . . that in faithfulness You have afflicted me (Psalm 119:75).
The writer of Psalm 119 learned valuable lessons in the school of affliction, and he filled his words with testimony about the wisdom of God's direction and the faithfulness of His dealings. He discovered that no matter what the secondary causes were, God permitted every difficulty that came his way.
A small girl had been promised she could climb to a nearby hilltop where her brother enjoyed playing. But when she came within sight of the steep, rough path, she drew back. "There isn't a smooth spot anywhere. It's all bumpy and stony!" she exclaimed. "Yes," said her more experienced older brother, "but how would we ever climb to the top if it wasn't? The stones and bumps are what we step on to get there." So too, God allows affliction; He even puts in our path what some might consider to be stumbling blocks. For the believer, however, obstacles can become steppingstones to the higher ground of Christian victory and blessing.
The Lord knows what He's doing, and we can trust Him implicitly. Everything that comes into our lives is either sent by God or permitted. He has designed it for our discipline or for our comfort. No circumstance lies outside His sovereign love. So we can have faith in His calming words, "This thing is from Me" (1 Kings 12:24).
--H.G.B.
Through suffering God teaches us lessons we would not or could not learn any other way.
