God's favorite people to use are usually the most unlikely.
39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph,
“Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else
is as intelligent or wise as you are.
40 You will be in charge of my court,
and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne,
will have a rank higher than yours.”
Most of us can relate to the story of Joseph, we have all been loved and yet also hated and just like Joseph it seems like hate is winning most of the time. When Joseph's story begins he is the favorite son and he has prophecies from God predicting his great destiny but then his brothers hatred for him begins a long downward spiral.
Everything looks good until he is betrayed by his brothers, first they want to kill him but then they decide to sell him for the price of a slave, it is the first of three times that Joseph is betrayed, after his brothers it would be Potiphar's wife and then the cup bearer. They all seemed to have their own agenda and Joseph wasn't included.
This story bothers us but it is a great lesson for us to remember in our life story. We like to think that good things
happen to good people but from the very first book of the Bible God shows us
that it doesn't work that way. The Bible proves to us that when things don't go as easy
as we want them too, that is a good thing that God has sent your way, the
school of faith
has opened and you have been enrolled.
Joseph is just as blind as Job was to the reasons for his miserable suffering, the Book of Job tells us that Job is "blameless— a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil" but that isn't enough to ensure that Job would live without trouble and as good as Joseph is he also had his share of problems.
Just like Job, Joseph probably wasn't aware that God was using him to bring him glory even when it looked like he didn't even have the favor of God. Joseph was down and out without any explanation from God for 22 years, he could have assumed by his circumstances that God didn't like him and his visions of greatness were just crazy dreams. (Genesis 37:1-11)
God brings his own promise to the brink of failure, only to show that he has been in charge all along.
It is easy to forget that God's favorite people to use are the ones that seem to be the least likely. The world will tear you down and remind you of why you can't be used by God but his normal way of doing things is usually to allow things to look impossible so that when he steps in we are reminded that he is in control. God is looking past your hurts, habits and hang-ups to surprise everybody for his glory.
Genesis 50:19-20 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
Joseph gives us a glimpse of Jesus thousands of years before the prophecy of his birth was fulfilled. They both forgave those that wronged them, they were exalted after suffering and their suffering was the vehicle that God used to save his people.
God was not surprised by the evil that happened in Joseph's life, God wasn't caught off guard and think to himself "how can I use that for good," God is in control of everything and it is all being used by God for his purpose.
God may leave me in the dark about what he is doing but that's okay. I know that he can be trusted with every detail of my life knowing that it will all be used for his glory and for my good. Part of him receiving glory is found in the work of making me into a new, exalted creation that looks more like him as I study his word and apply it to my life. (Romans 8:29-30)
RELATED ARTICLES
Does God Intend Evil for Our Good?
(desiringgod.org)
What Does It Mean That God Will Glorify Me? And How? (desiringgod.org)
