Genesis 45:5-8 (ESV)

Originally published 01/06/2015

We are tempted to be upset when bad things happen to us. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. Through the hand of God on his life and because of Joseph's obedience to God, he became second in command in Egypt. The brothers who sold him came to get food and Joseph revealed himself to them. They were terrified that he would get even with them, but Joseph said: "And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here but God" Genesis 45:5-8 (ESV). Of course, it was his brothers who sold him to be a slave in Egypt, but Joseph saw that God had turned their act of evil into God's act of saving the family. Lord, when terrible things or trouble come to me, remind me that you can take the most horrible thing and make it beneficial, if I obey you and trust you.


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