The word "IF" is a big word, of course not in size, but because it affects so large a part of our lives. How many times has some part of your life been affected by the thought, "If only"? "If only I had done that" or "if only I had not done that," "if only that had never happened to me," "if only I had been raised by them", "if only my life hadn't been touched by that tragedy", "if only my job were different," "if only that relationship had worked out differently" .
I hope you get the point I'm trying to make, that the thought "IF" can affect our lives, our outlook on the world and our relationship to God and others. We need to face up to the fact that sometimes bad things happen to us, sometimes our life doesn't work out the way we hoped it would, but that doesn't mean that our lives are without hope.
You see our lives as Christians are based upon hope and faith, without those things we would indeed lead miserable lives. A good passage is Romans 8:28 where Paul writes: "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." (NIV) I believe that God really does "work all things for the good of those who love him."
The problem we face as we struggle with that concept is that we don't have the vision of God to understand how it will ever work out to the good. The truth is that we may never know or understand the good that has come from what has happened, is happening or will happen in our lives. That is why we live in hope and faith that we have a God who loves us and has the best interest of all of his people in mind.
David Guzik in his commentary on Genesis gives us some insight into how God works, by pointing out some things from the record of Joseph's life. Notice what he says:
... If Joseph's brothers never sell him to the Midianites, then Joseph never goes to Egypt.
... If Joseph never goes to Egypt, he never is sold to Potiphar.
... If he is never sold to Potiphar, Potiphar's wife never falsely accuses him of rape.
... If Potiphar's wife never falsely accuses him of rape, then he is never put in prison.
... If he is never put in prison, he never meets the baker and butler of Pharaoh.
... If he never meets the baker and butler of Pharaoh, he never interprets their dreams.
... If he never interprets their dreams, he never gets to interpret Pharaoh's dreams.
... If he never gets to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, he never is made prime minister.
... If he is never made prime minister, he never wisely administrates for the severe famine coming upon the region.
... If he never wisely administrates for the severe famine coming upon the region, then his family back in Canaan perishes from the famine.
... If his family back in Canaan perishes from the famine, the Messiah can't come forth from a dead family.
... If the Messiah can't come forth, then Jesus never came.
... If Jesus never came, you are dead in your sins and without hope in this world.
Remember Paul wrote through inspiration,
"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."
Do you believe it?
Do you have your hopes grounded in that belief? If you do then you can survive anything that the world throws at you!
We sing the song, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness" .
Do you really believe it?
2 comments:
Awesome post! Love it!
that the thought "IF" can affect our lives, our outlook on the world and our relationship to God and others... A good passage is Romans 8:28 where Paul writes: "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."
I agree with all of your thoughts on this passage. I too believe that God works through all circumstances to bring out something positive, even though we may never see the results. Even though something bad happens, either through my bad choices or something external, God can still work miracles and use all circumstances to point toward His caring goodness and character.
The more I think about David Guzik's commentary, the more I have to disagree with what he's proposing. He is basically saying if Joseph's brothers hadn't sinned in their jealousy, by selling Joseph as a slave, then the Israelites would have died in famine and Jesus would have never been born. I think that's limiting how God can work. That means that salvation (Jesus being born and then dying on the cross) was dependent on people sinning. But God doesn't want us to sin because sin leads to separation from God and then death. It's not God's will for us to sin.
I think a better way to look at the situation with Joseph is that because Joseph's brothers sold him into Egypt, God used that situation and turned it into something good. Because of Joseph's slavery, God saved Israel. But I also think that if Joseph's brothers hadn't sinned by selling Joseph, God would have found another way to save Israel and thus preserve the genealogy of Christ.
I think the story of Joseph does illustrate a solid example of Romans 8:28. But I also don't think God is limited in His dealings with people and that we would be without salvation because one group of people chose to follow temptation and sin against their brother. I think God is bigger than that and would have worked in a different way to save Israel from famine.
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