“FOR AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD?”

Genesis 50:15-20                        (ESV)

“15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him."

16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father gave this command before he died:

17 'Say to Joseph, "Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you."' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the GOD of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants."

19 But Joseph said to them, "DO NOT FEAR, “FOR AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD?”

20 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.”

I was BLESSED to be hospitalized 6 of the first 8 days of the shelter-in-place order in our area, so I didn’t have any choice but to comply.   Staying at/near home can be boring and stale, but from recent experience, being hospitalized (especially when you are 6’6” tall) is anything but comfortable.  Thanks be to GOD that my two visits were abbreviated without lingering questions. 

The prism we view the trials in our lives through can determine how GOD uses us for HIS GLORY.  Joseph went from the bottom of a well to the throne room of Pharaoh, ultimately glorifying GOD all the way!  No, GOD did not HIMSELF literally throw Joseph into the well, but GOD was in control the entire time and Scripture states that Joseph would go onto become second in command in Egypt.   Being enslaved has to be one of the most difficult things I can imagine, but being second in command in Egypt and feeding the multitudes during a famine made the price paid by Joseph seem insignificant.  GOD used his brothers sinister deeds to eventually elevate Joseph to a place where he could be a valuable tool for HIS GLORY!

Just because our surroundings become clouded by circumstances does not indicate that OUR GOD is weak or capable of making a mistake.  Isaiah 55:8-9 says our ways ARE NOT HIS ways, and HIS THOUGHTS are not our thoughts!  We don’t know where GOD is leading us, but we can know that “FOR AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD?” AND THAT IS THE BEST PLACE FOR ME!!!