This is Mike’s first lesson in a series focused on key Bible characters.
Life often presents us with “bad.”
Bad news. Bad outcomes. Bad circumstances.
But, how many times do we look back on things that we thought were “bad” at the time and observe that really “good” things happened as a result?
Good? Or bad?
It’s amazing how God can take the “bad” things in our lives and create “good” things! Joseph (Genesis 37-50) may be the very best example of this idea. How often did Joseph encounter circumstances that were “bad” and might have led Joseph to doubt or question God? But Joseph’s faith never wavered.
Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
Genesis 39:1-5 (NIV)
“For I know the plans I have of you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
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.
Romans 8:28 (NIV)