The God of Good - Genesis 50:20

"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." After Jacob died Joseph's brothers were afraid that he would take revenge on them for selling him into slavery many years earlier. So they sent a message to Joseph begging his forgiveness. When Joseph received their message, he wept because they still feared reprisal from him. Then they came to Joseph and bowed down before him and told him they would be his slaves. His brothers' act of submission fulfilled a dream God had given him. Years earlier Joseph's brothers became angry with him, kidnapped him, and sold him into slavery after he told his brothers about the dream. Thus, the whole chain of events that was set in motion by Joseph's dream now finds fruition and fulfillment. To survive the drought, Jacob (Israel) relocated his extended family to Egypt where Joseph was the prime minister and over the next several centuries Jacob's extended family would grow into the nation of Israel. Joseph recognized that he was the bearer of God's promises and God used evil acts taken against Joseph to precipitate a course of events that enabled Joseph to preserve God's promise and covenant with his father, Isaac, and grandfather, Abraham. When bad things happen to us, we sometimes let a dualistic theology take over our thinking and we treat good and evil as equivalent moral opposites that are both instigated by God. This story clearly demonstrates the superiority of good over evil. GOD DOESN'T DO EVIL. God is the God of Good. In fact, we could argue that God can't do evil because it is against His nature. Evil is but another tool God uses to work His plans for good (Jeremiah 29:11). When bad things happen to you, don't attribute it to God, but attribute the good that comes out of it to God as He uses you, or tries to form you into someone He can use, to accomplish His plans and purposes.