#DailyDevotion God Will Change The Evils In Your Lives To Good In Christ Jesus
Gen. 50:20-21 20You meant to do me harm, but God meant to do good. He wanted to do as He now has done— to keep alive many people. 21And so don’t be afraid! I will provide for you and your children.” So he comforted them and talked to their hearts.
Evil doesn’t exist by itself. It is a perversion of the good. There is no such thing a pure evil. God is the creator of everything and he created everything good. So it is like a dent in a car. The car exist without dents but dents cannot exist without the car. So it is not a huge deal for our God to bring good out of evil.
Such is the case of Joseph’s life. His brothers were willing to kill him. His brothers though instead of killing him sold him into slavery and lied about it to Jacob saying he was killed by wild animals. Joseph while in slavery was blessed by God and was made the chief slave of his master. The master’s wife tried to seduce Joseph and when he wouldn’t do it was accused of attempted rape. So the master put him in prison. While in prison he was blessed by the LORD and was pretty much running the place until such a time that when the Pharaoh needed someone to interpret his dream, one of the servants who met Joseph in prison recommended Joseph to the Pharaoh. Because of Joseph’s interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dream and the advice he gave to Pharaoh, Pharaoh put him in charge of all the land of Egypt. The LORD had done this to have Joseph be placed in charge, have a plan to have the world saved from starvation because of the famine that was coming and that Abraham’s descendants would prosper and become great there until they returned to take the land from the sinful nations the LORD had promised Abraham. So as Joseph told his brothers, “You meant to do me harm, but God meant to do good.”
What does this have to do with you? Paul speaks about this principle in Romans 8, “28We know that God works all things out for good for those who love God, who are called according to His plan.” Of course this is a much misapplied Scripture namely in the use of it to comfort people who don’t love God and as far as we can tell have not been called. But you Christian, it is meant for you, to comfort you in times of your distress. You have been called by God from all the people in the world to be his own. You know this because when you were baptized God put his name on you and claimed you. Because God has claimed you to be his own, you love him. So you may make use of this passage when life strikes and it looks like nothing good can come of it.
God works all things for good for you. All things. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be some disease. It could be getting fired. It could be the loss of a child. Name the worse thing that you think could happen to you or that has happened to you, God is going to work it for your good. You just have to be patient for it. Just look at what happened to Joseph and all he went through. His rise to the ruler of all Egypt didn’t happen over night. Paul also reminds us in 2 Cor. 4, “17The light trouble of this moment is preparing for us an everlasting weight of glory, greater than anything we can imagine.” God allows the evil of suffering to come upon us because he uses it to prepare us to receive his glory. He uses it to produce in us patience, long-suffering, character and a hope that doesn’t disappoint. (Rom. 5) It produces in us a harvest of righteousness. (Heb. 12) So look up when the world falls down around you. Because God has chosen you in Christ Jesus he will work these things out for your good.
Almighty and wise Father, you allow evil to come upon us for you plan to bring about good for us from these evils. Give us faith to believe this so we may reap the benefits from it at the proper time. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.