God meant it for Good

(Genesis 33:2) “And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.”

The thought I consider this morning is how we protect those closest to us. Jacob was on the run from his brother Esau and instinctively he devised a plan to protect His loved ones. He split up his caravan into three parts, all those of least importance to him where placed in the front with his wife Leah and her children in the second column and then another gap with his most prize wife and child Joseph right at the back. His intention for strategizing with this plan was ultimately to protect his entire household, but clearly we can see he gives Rachel and Joseph the greatest chance of survival against a vengeful brother, Esau!

How often will God test our commitment to Him by stripping us of what is closest to our own hearts? It is hard for us to hide our true feelings; I know I wear my heart on my sleeve, just like Jacob did with his counter plan against Esau, imagine how the rest of his family began to resent his father’s blue eyed boy. We know this to be true because they (the brothers) sold Joseph into slavery and lied to their very own father and with a lying tone of harmony they declared that he was dead and had been devoured by a savage beast.

Here is another account of how God’s sovereignty will never be disrupted by man’s plots to change a promise that He made to Abraham.

How will God bring you to a place of testing, He must, as this will expose our hearts and we will see that they are carnal and often devise wicked plans against God’s will, that is their makeup! I am not suggesting that Jacob was wicked as he favoured Rachel over Leah or Jacob over his other sons, but the rationale I would like us to consider is how we will by default protect what is most valuable to us at the expense of others. Often wealth can be included in this bracket, this is the way it is. That is why I think the Lord Jesus used an example like this; (Matthew 10:37) “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”

Somewhere we will need to be tested in the quarter, I think! I do not lie this down as a definite truth for all, but some will be tested in this area.

Joseph was taken through horrendous times and yet He came through it all with flying colours. He learnt through his trail that people around him meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. His trial ultimately brought great reunion between his family and it climaxed with an embrace of father with son. It was such good news that Jacob was revived in his spirit and found a new zest for life. I pray we will always remember that God is Sovereign and is always in control, He never drops his guard. He is who He is, He cannot be who He is not, He is no actor, He is the real deal, He is the only true living God and He will have His way. We need to remember accounts like this and understand that He will bring the best out of every situation for His children, has He not proved it by sending His beloved Son our great Saviour, even Jesus Christ the Lord. He proves it time after time and we must remember that we have the Word to remind and guides us in the paths of righteousness.

So let us not be blindsided by the testing of life as we battle to understand why things happen, God is molding us into the imagine of our Saviour, it is a painful process but a needful one. Peter teaches us; (1Peter 4:1) “Forasmuch then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;” So the one who was without sin, the Lord Jesus had to learn to put off sin (learn to combat temptation and not give into it by sinning) by suffering in His flesh. If it was needed for Him in the flesh how much more then for us is suffering needed because of our sinful natures?

May we be given strength to find grace to apply ourselves to this truth and be reminded that God our Father is in control even if we do not understand how and why things may be happening in our lives.

Signing off

Tyrone