And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.(Rom 8:28)
Imagine dying & the very same people whom once said they loved you & would honor any last wishes while u were still alive would betray u after u die?
Jesus knew the very same people who put Him on a cross were the very same people who He was dying for yet He still chose to die for those whom betrayed Him.He can see everything in a different angle than any human eye can see.He can see the consequences of a sinful world & the condition of all human hearts bared naked on His shoulders.He knew peoples true intentions & motives clearly, He could recognize the sin in the hearts & evilness he was dealing with.
He knew He was not battling against flesh & blood but against principalities in high places & it broke his heart to see the chains & bondages each had.It brought tears to His eyes not in a human perspective with mixture of ego & pride.But rather heartbroken because He understood that what sin was doing in our lives leading us to eternal death.He can see the warfare & the demons that were tormenting everyone including Himself since He took on our humanity.When He was ridiculed, tortured & beaten rather than getting upset His response was always meek, selfless, lowly in heart.His heart was filled with true-love, hope & compassion for humanity in our condition.
His greatest mission & desire was to save us.Yes, to save those who persecuted, tortured, killed Him & put Him on that cross.Often times, God allows us to experience Betrayal to save us.
So what about Joseph?
His father loved Joseph & was glad he was alive.Joseph could have been evil to them but he forgave his brothers & helped them.His brothers cried & repented All He could think of was BREAKING THE CHAINS.All He could imagine was delivering us from the chains of sin & all He can see is spending eternity with us once we too have conquered & overcome.
Now, God was fulfilling the prophecy of those dreamsexactly. Joseph realized that his life had a great purpose and that everything that had happened to him was a part of God's sovereign plan.When his brothers bowed before him he did not use the moment to exult in his victory; he remembered the faithfulness of God and sought God's will. He realized that God had sent him to Egypt for a purpose, and
that purpose was becoming clear.
God wanted to use him not only to save
the physical lives of these patriarchs-to-be from starvation, but he also wanted to use Joseph to redeem his brothers spiritually. God
wanted to work in them to change them from evil murders, full of Jealousy and hatred, into men of God, patriarchs of the nation of God's
own people.
When his brothers came in and bowed before him, Joseph recognized them, but he did not reveal himself to them. He spoke harshly to them and accused them of being spies. This gave him leverage to question them about his father and younger brother. Then he put them in jail as suspicious characters and kept them there for three days. He agreed to
release them only if their youngest brother came to Egypt to prove that what they had said was true. Finally, he released all of them but
Simeon, whom he held as a hostage. He sent the others home with grain for their hungry families. He told them not to come back unless they brought Benjamin.
At first, we might think that Joseph was giving his brothers a hard time in order to get revenge for the way they had mistreated him. But
as we carefully examine the events in chapters 42-44, we can see that he was not just harassing them for his own pleasure. He frequently felt real pain and he turned aside and wept, suffering with them. Joseph was
leading his brothers, step by step to repent of their sins.
Nextime someone very close betrays you look at it as a blessing! God does not allow anything unless He has a purpose & maybe God is using them to lead you to your true purpose & lead them to genuine repentance.
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