Psalm 37:5-6 “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” Genesis 50:19-20 “But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’ ”
Joseph’s brothers greatly betrayed him. They sold him as a slave. You know the story. However, God positioned Joseph through over 20 years of suffering for a strategic and divine purpose. Joseph’s pain was not random. The Bible says that God uses suffering to produce perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-4). God’s Sovereign plan for Joseph would advance the story of redemption and foreshadow the present redemption we have in Christ.
So, how do we react to things intended to harm us? Hopefully like Joseph. When evil occurs, God’s children are called to a special assignment that could go either of two ways. Revelation 13:10 says, “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.” Revelation 13:18 says, “This calls for wisdom.” Revelation 14:12 says, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” Revelation 17:9a says, “This calls for a mind with wisdom.”
God’s promise in Psalm 37:5-6 is completely trustworthy. The thing to remember from Joseph’s life is the illustration that God may choose to enmesh us in a completely different culture for a long season. This definitely calls for wisdom and patient endurance. But, the dawn is the result of how He orders our days. And, the noonday sun is the beauty of God’s purposes fulfilled in us. His righteousness will grow out of our dawns and noonday suns, praise Him!
God will always be my “however.”
psalm37fretnot 
Thanks, Gwen, for sharing these bits of wisdom with us.
More than 30 years ago I was in a small group which studied a book about the “so that” principle. The title and author of the book are long forgotten, but the principle remains, and jumps off the pages of Scripture every time I encounter it. One such verse is I Peter 1:6-7.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come SO THAT ( my emphasis) your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
So, Lord, remind us daily that all this “stuff” which we find so troubling is just put in our path SO THAT You can get the glory when we are not defeated but achieve victory in the circumstances. We can’t, but you can–because we’re in You and You’re in us. (Thanks, Dick!)
Can I get an Amen?
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Amen!Thank you Tom!!
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