Joseph said, “It was not you who sent me here, but God.”
—Genesis 45.8
Joseph is not excusing his brothers for their cruelty.
He’s seeing his own fate in a larger context—
God’s desire for wholeness.
Joseph is not suggesting God wanted him sold into slavery.
He’s recognizing the simple miraculous truth
that God is in everything, even evil and disaster.
Joseph is not suggesting that God orchestrated
his brothers’ crime. He’s acknowledging
that God’s will overthrows ours.
Later in the story, when his brothers fear
he’ll lose the nerve of his forgiveness, he’ll say,
“You intend to do harm, but God intended good.”
Yes, your disasters are disastrous. Evildoing is evil.
But even there, God is at work.
Even in hell, God’s grace heals.
At the bottom of your pit,
imagine:
God can deal with that.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
August 13, 2020