Ever hear, "Everything happens for a reason"
or "God can turn a negative into a positive"
as true as both statements are, it's
always something that is easily said
but hard to understand/follow...
When we are struggling and there
seems to be no positive in sight...
it's hard to listen to someone who says;
"Everything happens for a reason"
in fact it's rather annoying.
We need to remind ourselves that God
has a plan, and yes sometimes by our
own doing we can deviate from that plan..
we can stray off the proverbial road
but God can always bring us back or
set up a whole new "pathway"..
God works in the possible
not the impossible.
A good story demonstrating
"Everything happens for a reason"
and God has a plan, would be the story
of Joseph in Genesis.
The story begins in Genesis chapter 37,
Joseph is one of the sons of Jacob(Israel)
and Jacob loves Joseph more then his other sons,
which thus makes Joseph's brothers despise him.
The brothers end up selling Joseph to the
Midianites and telling their father (Jacob)
that Joseph was killed by a wild beast.
The Midianites end up selling Joseph to
an Egyptian named Potiphar(Captain of the guard).
Can you imagine how Joseph felt? what he was going
through? betrayed by his own brothers, and a slave
in a foreign land? sounds like a negative to me, however
It says God was with Joseph and he prospered
as a slave to Potiphar, In fact Potiphar trusted
and respected Joseph so much that he put him in charge
of his whole household.
Things didn't end there however, Potiphars wife
tried to get Joseph to sleep with her several times,
and every time Joseph refused. One time though
Potiphar's wife got ahold of Josephs cloak
as he was running from her, she then
created a scene and accused Joseph
of trying to sleep with her. Things of
course get even worse as Potiphar
obviously believes his wife and throws
Joseph into prison. However
God protects Joseph while he is in prison,
and now Joseph finds favor in the wardens eyes.
Some time later Joseph while in prison
confronts two down cast men,
One of the men is a former cupbearer
to the King of Egypt and the other
was a Baker for the King.
Both men reveal to Joseph
that they are sad because they both had dreams
but there is nobody to interpret them.
Joseph claims that God can reveal their dreams,
and he asks them to tell him what they dreamed,
and they do, and Joseph interprets their dreams
for them.
Joseph tells the cupbearer his dream meant
in three days he would be put back into his position.
Joseph then tells the Baker that his dream meant
in three days he would be hung from a tree, and
of course everything happened as Joseph said.
Now two full years pass since Joseph revealed
the cupbearers dream, and Joseph is still
sitting in prison, however now the king of Egypt
aka the Pharaoh ends up having a couple dreams
of his own. Pharaoh gets all the magicians
and wise men of Egypt and asks them to interpret
his dreams but of course they can not.
Pharaoh's cupbearer remembers the Hebrew Joseph
in prison who interpreted his dream, so he tells Pharaoh
about him. Pharaoh takes Joseph out of prison
and asks him to interpret his two dreams,
Joseph says he cannot but God can...
Joseph then interprets Pharaoh's dreams,
and tells them both mean the same thing.
He tells Pharaoh that there will be seven
good years of harvest and then there will
be seven years of famine. Joseph tells
Pharaoh he should find a wise man
and put him in charge of the land of Egypt
and to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt
during the good years and store it up
for when the seven years of famine come.
Pharaoh agrees and tells Joseph that he
is the wisest and he appoints Joseph to the position.
Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of all Egypt and
even goes so far as to place his signet ring on
Joseph's finger. Joseph road in chariots
with the Pharaoh and was considered as second in command.
Now just as Joseph said the seven good years came,
and then a huge famine came to cover the lands
for seven years. The only people who had food was
the Egyptians, and Joseph was in charge of selling
the food to the neighboring countries.
The story doesn't end there but to end it short and sweet
Joseph ends up helping his brothers and all their families
by taking them into Egypt. Just think, his own brothers sell
him off to Egypt to get rid of him because they are jealous
of him, and Joseph could have had them killed or just
decided not to help them, yet he didn't do that in fact
when he finally revealed his true self to his brothers he said..
"And now, do not be distressed and do not
be angry with yourselves for selling me here,
because it was to save lives that
God sent me ahead of you.
For two years now there has been famine
in the land, and for the next five years
there will not be plowing and reaping.
But God sent me ahead of you to preserve
for you a remnant on earth and to save
your lives by a great deliverance."
Genesis 45:5
Everything happens for a reason...
