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Kristen Davis is going to do a study of Stephen Charnock's collection of sermons entitled The Existence and Attributes of God. Who in Jacksonville wants to join? These are sermons given to every day people so don't be intimidated and the book only costs $0.99 on Amazon Kindle! If you want to join, sign up with the following link.
We'll be meeting at The Loop (8221 Southside Blvd), each Monday at 7pm, starting Feb 8th! We'd love for you to join us!
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Modern photographers do a great job of playfully capturing sibling rivalry with cute signs offering to sell younger siblings. It’s cute because we know it’s a joke, but in Genesis 37:12-28, Jacob’s sons weren’t joking at all when they plotted to sell their younger brother, Joseph, into slavery.
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Consider for a moment the depths of depravity that it takes to sell your own brother into slavery – it’s heartbreaking! It seems unfathomable that God would allow something like this to happen to Joseph, yet He did. And we have to reconcile that in our understanding of who God is. Is God unknowing and unable to control bad things in this world? Is he actually a cruel God who takes pleasure in wickedness? Is God uncaring about his creatures? Or is God in control of even this tragic circumstance with plans to work things out for his glory?
We all face times in our lives when things don’t seem to go the way we feel they should, and this is especially disheartening when we’re earnestly following God. How do we handle these situations when what we think should happen doesn’t actually work out? It is helpful to ask ourselves in these times of doubt “who has God shown himself to be?” To do this, we have to look back at past experiences.
Joseph had plenty of family history to consider when evaluating God’s goodness. He would have known about God’s mercy when blessing Abraham with a son; the way God provided an animal to sacrifice in place of Isaac; and how God reconciled the torn relationship between Jacob and Esau. In every bad situation, God showed himself to be good. He always provided for Joseph’s family and constantly demonstrated how he used every situation to accomplish his plans, despite how completely messed up the people were! So even when Joseph didn’t understand how God could work through his seemingly hopeless situation, he had more than enough reason to trust God’s plan because of who God had shown himself to be in the past.
In our modern day we have so much more to consider about the goodness of God because we have the entirety of Scripture and God’s ultimate Rescue Plan in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:28 reminds us that God’s plan is to work out all things for the good of those who love him, and that “good” is making us more like Christ. God didn’t just allow Joseph to be sold into slavery. He eventually used that circumstance to protect his people and keep his promises. He is a good God. So the next time you’re in a tough spot and wondering how God could allow such things to happen, reflect on your past experiences and your knowledge of the characteristics of God, and rest in the realization that God has everything under control and will work things out for your good.
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