GOD'S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE

 

GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE

Gen. 45:4-5 “Come over here,” he said. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother whom you sold into Egypt. But don’t be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it. He sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.” NLT

Joseph had ascended to the highest-ranking position in Egypt next to Pharaoh himself. He was in charge of food distribution and had been dealing with his brothers. They had not recognized him, but he had recognized them. He had treated them harshly, but not in a mean-spirited sort of way. His brothers had come back a second time to buy grain to live on. They had brought with them their youngest brother, Benjamin, with them. It was the only way they would be able to purchase grain from Joseph.

Joseph had removed himself from their presence a couple of times because he had been overcome with emotions. He was now at a point where he felt he could be reunited with his brothers and so he told them who he was. Now, it would have been easy for him to have taken advantage of the situation and gotten even with them for what they had done to him years before. But, Joseph did not hold a grudge against them. He saw it as part of God’s plan for his life. He understood that God had orchestrated his life and that everything that had happened to him was a part of God’s plan of fulfilling His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We might say that he was an optimist rather than a pessimist.

God does have a plan for each of our lives. We may not think that our life experiences are a part of His plan, but they are. Everything we go through in life works together for our good and fit into His plan for us. He works things out for our good. God knows where He wants us to be in our faith walk and works to get us there. There are important lessons for us to learn in all of our experiences, both good and bad, that help us to become the best we can be in Christ. Blessed is he who sees his living as good and beneficial for him as he strives to fulfill God’s plan for his life.