Genesis 50:20 “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”
Every family has a version of sibling rivalry. A moment where the people who were supposed to support you turned against you. Joseph’s story is ancient, but the wound at its core is not.
Father Jacob is to blame. Joseph, his favorite son, was given a coat which identified his status. And Joseph wasn’t exactly innocent. He had dreams, which he arrogantly bragged about. His brothers hated him for his father’s favoritism and for his arrogance. They conspired against him and sold him to slave traders, Then told their father a wild animal had killed Joseph. And Joseph spent the next thirteen years as a slave and an inmate in Egypt’s prison. But God had him there for a reason. So, under divinely coordinated circumstances, Joseph became second-in-command to the Pharaoh of the most powerful nation of that time.
Years later, famine drove Jacob to send his sons to Egypt to buy grain. They were brought before the brother they had sold, not recognizing him until he reveals his identity to them. It’s the kind of story that usually ends in tragedy. None of us would have blamed Joseph if he had killed them.
Jacob had died and they begged for mercy, claiming Jacob had desired Joseph to forgive them. Something amazing happened. Joseph burst into tears (v. 17). His brothers submitted to him (v. 18). Joseph replies, You’ve nothing to fear from me. I am not God (v. 19). “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good (v.20).” God used your evil, and allowed me to suffer in order to save our family.
Joseph Didn’t Excuse His Brothers
First, notice what Joseph didn’t do. He didn’t tell his brothers it’s alright. He didn’t tell them he’d already forgiven them, though we may properly conclude he had. No, he didn’t whitewash the realities of their past actions. He called it what it was. Evil. But he explains that he understood how God had orchestrated their intentions and actions, along with his years of suffering, to save the family from destruction.
This matters more than most give it credit for. In Scripture, forgiveness never pretends that wrong isn’t wrong. Joseph didn’t “get over it” by minimizing what happened to him. He got over it by honestly addressing it, then intentionally forgiving his brothers. And deliberately refusing to let evil have the last word. This is key, since his response to the wrong was just as important as their seeking forgiveness.
Two Opposing Intentions
Second, notice that Joseph held two truths in tandem. His brothers intended evil but God intended good. This might be a little harder to accept. God attached their evil actions, using them to achieved His plan and purpose for Abraham’s descendants. This is not a bumper-sticker proclamation of ‘everything happens for a reason.’ Joseph did not claim his brothers’ evil was actually good all along. He did not claim that slavery and prison had not cost him something. Instead, Joseph proclaimed a faith that when evil tries to subvert God’s purpose, God will always win. This is not an old adage of ‘it was all for the best.’ It’s a faith that God takes “all things” of our lives and “works them together” for our good, which is always His will and purpose.
What is painful and ugly, God uses to heal and beautify. What may seem like defeat, God uses to bring victory. He took an evil cross of crucifixion and turned it into the very thing that saves all who will believe in His Son. The evil stays evil, but the victory is still victory. Only God can do that.
God’s Purpose: Much People Saved Alive
Notice, too, what the good actually looked like. It wasn’t Joseph’s comfort. It wasn’t really about Joseph. But he understood what it was about. God intended “to save much people alive.” His family survived because Joseph ended up in Egypt as Pharaoh’s Chief Administrator.
We want God to explain ‘why.’ Why do I have to go through this? Why is it happening to me? Joseph’s story teaches that we are a tool in God’s plan. And God’s purpose is bigger than us. Using us in His purpose transforms us and hones us into a better, more useful tool. Through the things Joseph suffered, God transformed his character so that Joseph would rise to a level of authority that ensured God’s purpose would be achieved.
What Does This Mean for Us?
Your circumstances of suffering might be part of a greater story. Your suffering might reach beyond your own healing to impact people you haven’t met. Perhaps your situation may be the foundation for a victory you can’t see coming.
The issue is not our suffering. Whatever we are suffering may not even be about us. Our suffering may be the battle ground by which our families are saved. The issue then is this: is God using our suffering to to achieve His good purpose?
Scripture didn’t record that Joseph ever questioned ‘why,’ though he probably did. What the record shows, however, is that Joseph trusted God to decide what it would ultimately achieve.
Trust the One who has defeated all evil through the things He suffered.