What appears to be for evil works for the good. What manifests first as affliction may be shown to be working towards a greater comfort. (Is this universally true? If it is, it is a daunting thing to comprehend.) Today I read about Joseph and his brothers. How terrified and ashamed at least some of the brothers must have been. At least one or more of them must have felt that they had known better than to commit their sins, the sins of their past. Now they had carried this burden of guilt around with them for years. And then they were certainly amazed and more than a little suspicious of Joseph's motives at treating them as well as he did, but with a little trickery, too. How Joseph manipulated his brothers! How God's purposes outdid them all. Joseph summarizes to his brothers:
"But as for you, ye thought evil against me: but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." Genesis 50:20
Jacob (Israel), Joseph's father, has died. Joseph had now even greater power over his brothers. In a way he had a kind of liberty to act as he chose with this great power. He chose to act in love, to edify. He chose to offer comfort to those who had afflicted him.
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