When Can Bad be Good? Or Can it?
Remember I said I was going to share some “aha” moments with you as I read through the bible again this year? First, I shared about God’s grief. Then Jacob’s thinking. Today it’s Joseph—or perhaps, just perhaps, even us!
Can lies, backstabbing, tragedy, or loss ever be good? While we may not all agree theologically about God’s part in each of these, what we know is bad things happen. People make choices that hurt others, sometimes to the very core of their being. Perhaps we’ve done our best to live a good life, been kind and generous, yet found others treated us in ways we didn’t understand—or like. We may have even wondered where God was when bad things happened.
In just one of many intriguing stories in Genesis, we find Joseph, a young seventeen-year-old, being detested by his older brothers, so much so they sell him into slavery. Things go well for a while, but because of a woman’s dishonesty, he is thrown into jail. He does okay there (after all, just like us, God was watching over him) and helps two prisoners with their dreams. One prisoner could help put in a good word for Joseph but forgets all about him for two years. Long story short, Joseph gets out of jail and becomes second in all of Egypt. Finally, the brothers who sold Joseph need help, and guess who has the authority to help them? Joseph! The brothers fear for their lives, but Joseph’s heart has God’s compassion in it. He says, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (chapters 37-50). Couple this with the words from Romans 8:28a, “We know God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him” (CEV). Wow! Wow! Wow!
Joseph probably wondered how God allowed him to be sold by his brothers, how he got sent to jail unjustly, how his life had so many twists and turns. So much of these things happened because of the free-will of others. But God. God took the messes of Joseph’s life and worked in them to bring about good. Nothing could replace the years lost with his father. His life was drastically different from what it would have been. But God used every bit of the bad.
In Joseph we see how very much God loves us. We also see we must be patient for God to bring good out of bad. In the end, whatever has happened in our lives, when we trust God with the outcome, he will be at work for us. That is good news in a world where so many bad things happen. Only God can take our tragedies and help us find hope and new tomorrows. 😊