Lord! Why Do You Permit Such Evil?Sample

Seeing God’s Plan When Looking Back

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:20)

Joseph’s life story is written down in much detail in the book of Genesis. It is a sad, moving story. A teenager, only 17 years old, is sold to a foreign country by his own brothers, enslaved, and later put into prison after being falsely accused of attempting to sleep with his master’s wife. When he is 30 years old, God shows him the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams: Egypt will go through seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine. Joseph is now finally released from prison and even becomes the second ruler of Egypt. He gets the task to make sure there is enough food stored for the years of famine. During this time, Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy food, not knowing that it’s their very own brother who is in charge there! Now all things come together, as Joseph concludes afterwards: God used all the evil done to him to save many lives, both of the Egyptians and of Joseph’s relatives.

None of the people involved could have foreseen this turn of events. When Joseph was enslaved and put in prison, he had no clue what God’s plan with his life was. Only afterwards did it become visible.

Does this story help you accept that God may have good plans that you don’t (yet) understand?