"YOU MEANT!" "GOD MEANT!"

Genesis 50:20                                      (ESV)
"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."



Being a vindictive person can be extremely frustrating when everything is said and done.  Regrettably, there was a time in my life when I was very obsessed with "getting even", making sure me and mine were treated fairly.   Making sure that those I loved weren't done wrong was something that I was sure to defend, sometimes to a fault!

In the scripture above, Joseph had been treated VERY BADLY by his brothers.  They had thrown him into a pit and told his father he was killed by wild animal.  Then they sold him into slavery.  Joseph eventually wound up being second in command to one of the most powerful rulers in the world, because of GOD's Favor on his life.  When famine struck the house of Israel, the same brothers who sold him into slavery after telling his father he had been devoured by a wild animal had to go to Egypt for food.  And who did they have to see????? Nobody but their brother........Joseph!!!

Of course, Joseph could SEE that he was being used by GOD ALMIGHTY to perform a task far greater than his brothers could even imagine.   Seeing the bottom of the pit he was thrown into, or the slavery he had to endure, or any of the other difficulties in his life could have blinded him with anger.   But what "YOU MEANT" to be a detriment in his life, "GOD MEANT" to be used for HIS Glory!  We need to be able to SEE as Joseph could, that things may happen to us that "YOU MEANT" for evil, but "GOD MEANT" to be used to glorify HIM!!!!