Genesis 50:1-26 Click here for the reading
"What you intended for evil, God intended for Good."
"God works in mysterious ways."
Take your pick but trying to figure out the direction God is going to move is always a moving target. Everything that comes off as losing is God working within the midst of a particular situation. This is essential to free will but also to recognize that God is at work in the oddest of circumstances.
When Joseph is sold into slavery, God was at work, When Joseph is put into prison, God was at work, When Jacob dies God is at work. When Jesus dies, God is at work. Calling this victory is odd at best. Even through slavery and prison God used Joseph to be in a position of leadership that brought his family and ancestors abundance in the midst of their famine.
I think 2 things about this idea of God's kingdom revesal:
1) The context of 'prosperity gospel' in America where God wants you to be rich (if only you would pray hard enough) makes God out to be an eternal ATM dispensing blessings, never involved in the suffering of the world. Yet our Theology of the Cross places before this narrative an articulation that God is always at work, espesially in suffering (Duh - Jesus dying on said cross).
B) We must be cautious of articulating this blessing of forgiveness in a prescriptive way. The temptation is to over involve God in the evils of the world. God is not involved in evil actions of humanity but God does find ways to overcome them: Life through death, Forgiveness through confession, Good beyond evil.
God's kinda like that.....you never know what God is gonna do next. BUT putting our finger on God's story and seeing God's fingerprints on the lives of Joseph and his brothers helps us see how God might be at work in the current evils we see expressed through the actions of humanity. Moreover, God is calling us to be used in offering the forgiveness we recieve to people we find hard to forgive.
Lord help us see you at work in all things, forgive us our sins as we forgive people who sin against
"God works in mysterious ways."
Take your pick but trying to figure out the direction God is going to move is always a moving target. Everything that comes off as losing is God working within the midst of a particular situation. This is essential to free will but also to recognize that God is at work in the oddest of circumstances.
When Joseph is sold into slavery, God was at work, When Joseph is put into prison, God was at work, When Jacob dies God is at work. When Jesus dies, God is at work. Calling this victory is odd at best. Even through slavery and prison God used Joseph to be in a position of leadership that brought his family and ancestors abundance in the midst of their famine.
I think 2 things about this idea of God's kingdom revesal:
1) The context of 'prosperity gospel' in America where God wants you to be rich (if only you would pray hard enough) makes God out to be an eternal ATM dispensing blessings, never involved in the suffering of the world. Yet our Theology of the Cross places before this narrative an articulation that God is always at work, espesially in suffering (Duh - Jesus dying on said cross).
B) We must be cautious of articulating this blessing of forgiveness in a prescriptive way. The temptation is to over involve God in the evils of the world. God is not involved in evil actions of humanity but God does find ways to overcome them: Life through death, Forgiveness through confession, Good beyond evil.
God's kinda like that.....you never know what God is gonna do next. BUT putting our finger on God's story and seeing God's fingerprints on the lives of Joseph and his brothers helps us see how God might be at work in the current evils we see expressed through the actions of humanity. Moreover, God is calling us to be used in offering the forgiveness we recieve to people we find hard to forgive.
Lord help us see you at work in all things, forgive us our sins as we forgive people who sin against
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