Hello beloved of God,
Today let’s examine Joseph’s response to his brothers and how God’s providence is constantly at work:
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to do what has happened on this day, to keep many people alive.
— Genesis 50:20
After Joseph’s father dies, his brothers are terrified because they fear that Joseph would become vengeful towards them and do them harm.
Then Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, and they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and returns back to us all the evil which we dealt against him!”
— Genesis 50:15
In the previous verses, we see that they weren’t even willing to go themselves to ask for forgiveness; instead, they sent a messenger to appeal to him not to hurt them.
So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying,
— Genesis 50:16
Looking at this story from purely human terms, it’s easy to side with Joseph and even say it would’ve been fair for Joseph to hold a grudge against his brothers because of all the atrocious things they had done to him. One could say he would be justified if he were to punish his brothers.
However, this is not what we see happen in the story of Joseph. When confronted by his brothers, as they hid behind their late father’s name in appealing to Joseph, they hoped that perhaps if they mentioned their father’s desires, Joseph would be lenient with them.
‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they dealt evil against you.”’ So now, please forgive the transgression of the slaves of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
— Genesis 50:17
What they did not understand is that Joseph was not at all looking for vengeance. Something had happened to Joseph as he reflected on how he got where he was. Joseph understood that everything that had happened in his life, including all the bad things, were all a result of Providence.
This is why they are awestruck when Joseph responds to them. Joseph begins by asking this rhetorical question:
But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place?
— Genesis 50:19
That conjunction “but” at the beginning of the statement suggests a stark contrast from what was expected. Joseph’s response was unlike what would have been a regular response in this situation. The direction Joseph takes is first of all to comfort his brothers. He tells them not to be afraid as they were fearful that Joseph would be vengeful towards them. However, Joseph understands that vengeance belongs to God. It is not in his place to decide who deserves vengeance. Joseph understood that God is ultimately sovereign and that everything that happened was not solely due to his brothers.
This is the kind of mindset we as Christians ought to have. We need to come to a place of understanding that everything that comes to pass is ultimately under the superintendence of our Lord.
As for you, you meant evil against me
Joseph addresses the intentions of their hearts. He tells them plainly that their intentions were to harm and that those intentions were evil against him.
This is an important statement he needs to make so that there are no delusions as to why he’s doing what he’s doing. This is not Joseph being naive about the situation. He understands that the true intentions in the heart of his brothers were to harm him.
Such is the case for different situations that we face in our lives as believers. It is important that we don’t become naive into thinking that perhaps those clearly evil attempts that come against us were merely accidents or unintended consequences. But there is true and real evil working against us as children of God.
Peter makes this clear statement about the very clear and present danger of the enemy prowling around to see who he may devour:
Be of sober spirit, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
— 1 Peter 5:8
As Christians, we cannot be blinded to the fact that we are under attack constantly. We need to keep a sober spirit and resist the attempts of the devil to bring us down.
Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit who strengthens us in our times of weakness. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us all we need in order to overcome the evil one.
We see that Joseph’s ability to see through the true intentions of his brothers’ hearts was the first step to him going further to see the grand picture of God’s providence.But God meant it for good
But God meant it for good
Joseph highlights what has been revealed to him: that ultimately everything he had to go through, good and bad, was at the hand of God. While the enemy was plotting and scheming against him, God had already ordained the means by which He would be glorified through the life of Joseph.
In the end, the one who deserves all the glory and all the honor in Joseph’s trials and tribulations is God Himself.
It is important to note that the text does not say after Joseph’s brothers meant it for evil, then God meant it for good. It is important to understand that God meaning this situation for good was not a response to what was happening but rather was a divinely ordained plan from before the foundations of the earth were set.
We see this as the case even in our lives as believers. When we take the eternal perspective, we come to the realization that the things that come to pass have already been set and planned by our almighty God since before the foundations of the Earth:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
— Ephesians 2:10
We see that the wonderful works Joseph was able to do were works that were prepared for him before the foundations of the earth, that he would walk in such good works which brought praise, honor, and glory to God.
Finally, we see that the result of these good works was so that God would be glorified by saving many people alive: “in order to do what has happened on this day, to keep many people alive.” It was through the many challenges that Joseph had to go through that God ordained as a means to save many people from starvation and famine so that His name would be glorified.
When we come to understand this as believers, we will learn to set aside the feelings we have towards certain events. We will learn to look at things from a greater perspective. We will learn to look at things from a divine perspective.
In the example of Joseph, he had every reason to be mad at his brothers, to be angry, and even to seek vengeance upon them. However, it was granted to him to be able to see from God’s perspective how everything that transpired was so that God would be glorified. As believers, that is ultimately what we want to achieve:
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
— 1 Corinthians 10:31
I pray that this word will remind us to focus on the divine perspective.
Be well.
Leave a Reply