God's Intentions

"Do not be afraid.  Am I in the place of God?  You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."  Genesis 50:20

God's Intentions
By Rev. William Dohle

We have a natural tendency in life to look at the good in our lives as being from God.
And the evil of our lives as NOT being from God.

We see the newborn baby and say: "That precious gift is from God."
We see the West Nile virus and say: "That isn't from God."

We see the hungry being fed, the naked being clothed, and we think: "That is from God."
We see the homeless suffering and the poor go needy and we think: "That isn't from God."

We judge, even the actions of others, as being from God or not from God.

The cashier who was kind to you...was from God.
The daughter's rejection you suffered at the latest family gathering...was not from God.

It's natural, I suppose, to assume this and place the good in one pile under God's leadership and the bad under the leadership of someone or something else.  It's part of our dualistic world.  God is good and only wants good things for us.  God wouldn't put something bad in our way.  Would he?

Imagine if you or your loved one was diagnosed with cancer.  A terrible aggressive form of cancer.  The only thing that could counter such a cancer would be a chemotherapy that was equally as terrible and equally as aggressive.  You start on the therapy, knowing that in killing your bad cells, the good cells in your body will also be killed.  You suffer from terrible sickness...but it works!  You emerge cancer-free.

Now... was the terrible chemotherapy from God??  Did it not kill you to save you??  Did it not hurt you to help you??

This is the conclusion Joseph comes to when his brothers come worried over their fate.  With their father dead, they're unsure what Joseph will do.  Joseph says, with all wisdom.

"Am I in the place of God?"... That is... do I have the power to judge you?

"You intended this to harm me..." ... Joseph's brothers didn't want to help him.  They wanted to hurt him.  Their intention was not to bring their brother to a better place, but to get rid of him.

"...but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."... God's intention behind Joseph being sold into slavery, Joseph being thrown into prison, and all the terrible things that happened to him, was to bring him to Egypt so that others might be helped.  God intended this death to bring him to new life!

In my life, I have faced problems caused by people who intended to harm me.  Despite their platitudes, they didn't intend to help me but to hurt me and punish me.  Their evil I could see on their faces, in the words, and in their actions.  They really didn't want me to succeed.

But God has used such things for good.  God has closed one door and opened another.  God has pushed me from one place, only to help me arrive in a better place.

A part of me wishes I could be angry with them about it.  After all...they intended it for evil!  But God has intended it for good.  And so, I cannot be angry with them over what happened.  I am not in the place of God.  I cannot judge them.  God has used their actions for good, just as He promised.  God has used this death and that death to bring me more and more life.

And he does the same for you.  The actions or the inactions of others in your life have made you the person you are today.  Even the suffering in your life has contributed to the person you are today.  So...relax!  Forgive!  Let God be God.  Do not try to assume you know the effect others actions have had on your life.  Instead trust it all to God, who we know "works all things for good to those who love him, those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

I am not in your place, God.  I do not understand your intentions for my life, but I trust that you want only the good.  Lead me to trust you with everything in my life, through Jesus Christ my Lord.  Amen.