Harmed by the World, Glorified by God

Gen50:20

"You intended me harm, but God Intended it for Good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."

We all know the story of Joseph and how his brothers threw him into a well because he was given visions by God of how they would one day bow before him. And then saved by one of his brothers from death he was sold into slavery and rose in regard in his masters sight until his master wife spread lies about him and he ended up in Jail. Frankly Josephs life seems to me like a series of unfortunate events. Sure there were times when He could have used a little more tact, I mean I would not take it well if my brother told me with the look of truth in his eye that a vision from God told him that I would be forced to bow before him. But all in all Joseph is just trying to do the right thing and every time he ends up worse off that before. And isn't this how our life works too after all " everything that can go wrong will go wrong". Every time Joseph starts to do alright for himself something happens and he ends up even worse off than before. He got a nice coat so he get thrown into a well. Works his way up in his masters favor and ends up in jail. Most of us would have just given up and gotten angry at God after all we were doing what we were supposed to right? Joseph certainly did nothing to deserve what he got. There are two reasons Joseph could have ended up the way he did and I imagine it was a combination of both. Reason number one, he was not in the right place for God to use him yet, I mean the reason his dreams came true was because he became second in command of Egypt and he got to Egypt through the evil and deceit of his brothers. So God could have been moving him so that he would be in the right place at the right time. The other reason is that perhaps Satan saw the potential of Joseph and had an idea of Gods plan for him and decided to try and intervene. After all Joseph had his shot at an exotic, beautiful, and powerful women. Who in their right mind would say that this is not a temptation I know many men who if they were in Joseph's place and given what had happened to them so far would not have been able to resist that temptation. And So it is in our life we are often not in the right place for God to work through us so he uses the world to get us there. It could be pride, shame, shyness, money, power, or simply being in the wrong geographical location whatever it is that is preventing us from doing the work of God he will do what he can to change that. And then there is actions the Devil takes to prevent us from doing the will of God after all Joseph could have just tried to get by with being a slave or he could have succumb to temptation, when he was in jail he could have just been discouraged about his fate and given up, but he did not instead he persevered and did every thing as if for the lord and wound up second in command of Egypt saving not only Egyptian people but his own people as well, all because he knew that God could work the evil of this world into good for Joseph and for every one else. So when you feel like you are doing things right, but everything is going wrong remember that what the world and the Devil intends for harm against us God can work for good. It definitely will not be quick and it will often times be painful but if we remain true and faithful working always for the Lord then our God will prosper us and work his plan of salvation and grace through us.