As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. ~Genesis 50:20
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. ~Romans 8:28
As we conclude our walk through the Patriarchs in Genesis, Joseph’s brothers were worried about how their brother would treat them after their father’s death. They tried to apologize yet again for how they treated Joseph in his younger years. This verse was Joe’s humble response.
God is always working. Always.
Does that mean only good things are going to happen? No. Jesus Himself not only promised that we’d have trouble in this world, but also endured the hardest of all hard times: He died on a cross, bearing all the weight of the world with Him. With His eyes on the Father, He carried our sin on that piece of wood that held Him up.
Every hard time we have ever faced was nailed on the cross.
Every hard time we ever will face was nailed on the cross.
Jesus took it all.
And He’s not giving it back.
He made us clean, as white as freshly fallen snow. He removed our wrongs, as far as the east is from the west.
He promises to one day wipe away every tear and every sorrow.
God is always working.
Hard times will come. I have my own catalog of struggles and tragedies, as I know you do too. It’s impossible to live in this world and not face hard times. But God is always at work.
Jesus promises that hard times will come. But He also promises to walk with us. And when that’s too hard, He promises to carry us (Isaiah 46:4).
But God is always working. Even if we can’t see Him at work in our lives, the Bible promises He’s there. He is our comfort, our strength, our hope. And when all is said and done, we can look back and say, “Yes, God was there and God is good.”