March 3, 2023

But God meant it for good.

Genesis 50

T.J. Detwiler
Friday's Devo

March 3, 2023

Friday's Devo

March 3, 2023

Friday's Devo

March 3, 2023

Friday's Devo

March 3, 2023

Big Idea

We can trust God when we don't know how things will turn out.

Key Verse | Genesis 50:20-21

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Genesis 50

1 Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’” 6 And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; 1 50:11 Abel-mizraim means mourning (or meadow) of Egypt it is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

God's Good Purposes

15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people 2 50:20 Or a numerous people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

The Death of Joseph

22 So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own. 3 50:23 Hebrew were born on Joseph's knees 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

Footnotes

[1] 50:11 Abel-mizraim means mourning (or meadow) of Egypt
[2] 50:20 Or a numerous people
[3] 50:23 Hebrew were born on Joseph's knees

We're exploring Joseph's response to his brothers on today's podcast episode. Don't miss it!

Listen Now

Dive Deeper | Genesis 50

Early on in my faith, I struggled with verses like this. I grew up under a tremendous amount of physical and emotional abuse. In not knowing how to process the pain and distress of these things, I turned to drugs, alcohol, and violence. That lifestyle lasted until I was 33 years old. During these years of chaos, I occasionally heard about God’s love for me and what Jesus did to free me from that life of destruction. Yet, love and hope are difficult things to see in the midst of pain. I would say things like, "If God loves me, then how could He let these things happen to me?"

Joseph's response to his abusive brothers came after years of seeing God turn people's evil into good. When his brothers plotted evil against him and threw him into the pit, he begged them not to do it (Genesis 42:21). I imagine he was feeling deep emotional pain and fear. He didn't stop in the middle of it and trust that God would make something good of it, and it is unrealistic to expect this of ourselves or others. I think we read a verse like this and struggle to believe it because we are still too close to the pain. Just like Joseph, we need to continue pressing on in our lives, trusting God to make good of the evil that comes our way. The sin committed against him took away his home, family, freedom, and choices; but he stayed faithful to God and made the most of the opportunities God gave him.

Eleven years into my faith, I can now look back and see the good God has made of my broken past. Today, I am a minister to the homeless and addicted. The same experiences that were "meant for evil" and caused pain and destruction in my life now inspire hope and encouragement to many people. If you have been through difficult things, take heart and keep the faith, because "we know that for those who love God all things work together for good" (Romans 8:28).

This month's memory verse

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

– John 14:27

Discussion Questions

1. What evil have people done against you? It's important to identify these wrongs.

2. How have you seen God turn it into good? If you haven't seen it yet, how can you press on in faith trusting that He will?

3. In what areas do you need to offer forgiveness to those who have harmed you? If you haven't yet, consider two things. First, just as in Joseph's case, forgiveness can take time. Second, we are encouraged to "[b]e kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:32) We have the advantage of understanding Christ's forgiveness of our sin, allowing us to offer forgiveness to others.

4. How can you use your past hurts to help others today? Some of the ugliest things, like the crucifixion, can be turned into the most beautiful news: our forgiveness and salvation. What if the ugliness of your past can be the beautiful hope for another? God did not cause your pain any more than He caused Joseph's, but He can use it similarly to save the lives of many people.

5. Have you ever considered that God is using your painful past as a pathway to your beautiful future?

As we gear up to release even more features for Join The Journey in 2025, our staff team, unfortunately, no longer has the margin to continue to support the comment functionality. We have big things in store for Join The Journey 2025. Stay tuned!

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Hugh Stephenson

GM TJ! THANK YOU for a powerful devo. It’s a blessing to hear your story and how it relates to the Joseph story. Giving someone a verse like Genesis 50:20 can seem trite at the time, and it can be hard to see the wisdom of God in it. I am thankful for your testimony and know it will encourage many who have suffered as you and I have. Q1–Q5 I have had my share of verbal and physical abuse. The good that came was in the seeds God planted to use word and action to bless others. Also, a deeper experience and understanding of compassion. Granting and getting forgiveness may be the most powerful spiritual experience of my life. After re:gen step 8, I felt 1000 pounds lighter.
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Hugh Stephenson

God is taking all my toxic waste and turning into blessings for me and for others. He has given me a passion to serve in recovery and discipleship ministries. ------------------------------------------------------ Now at chapter 50, I note how important “blessing” is in Genesis. Its intimately involved in provisions and prophecy. Constable edifies- “God gave His people this prophecy to bear them through the dismal barrenness of their experiences and to show them that He planned all the future. For Jacob's family, the future lay beyond the bondage of Egypt in the land of promise. But the enjoyment of the blessings of that hope would depend on the participants' faithfulness. So from the solemnity of his deathbed Jacob evaluated his sons one by one, and carried his evaluation forward to the future tribes."
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Hugh Stephenson

“Blessing is one of the key words of Genesis occurring some eighty-eight times in the book. Here in two verses 49:25 and 49:26, like the finale of a fireworks display, the root occurs six times (verb 1x, noun 5x) making a brilliant climax to the last words of Jacob. The God- given blessings of the future will far outshine those already experienced." “Within Jacob's words to each of the sons (after Judah), the theme of blessing has been evident in two primary images.” First, the reverse side of the blessing is stressed in the imagery of the victorious warrior. The defeat of the enemy is the prelude to the messianic peace. Second, the positive side of the blessing is stressed in the imagery of great prosperity and abundance. Behind such imagery of peace and prosperity lies the picture of the Garden of Eden—the Paradise lost.”
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Michael Sisson

Thank you for a particularly poignant podcast, Emma & TJ. Re: Gen 50:20 Gen 50:20 (NASB) “As for you, >>>you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”<<< It is impossible to overstate the profundity of this synopsis of both Joseph’s story and the story of Yeshua (Jesus, Who fulfilled the role of “Messiah son of Joseph”). It is a synopsis of the unthinkable. It hints at the tragic story of mankind's commission of the ultimate atrocity according to “the definite plan and foreknowledge of G-d,” and how G-d purposed it to achieve our redemption. It is a lens through which to glimpse unexplored, and at times horrifying, self-portaits in Scripture. See Acts 2:22-24.
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Shawn Foster

Wonderful Devotional and testimony. I’m so grateful for you TJ and stories of grace like this. Leaves me awestruck and speechless! What more is there to say except glory to God. Thank you very much. This is Amazing Grace!
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Michael Scaman

"Do not fear for am I in the place of God?" Joseph begins his answer to his fearful brothers who don't have their father's assumed "protection" from Joseph acting against them in retaliation anymore. Joseph gives them a perspective that perhaps they never grasped. Isn't it strange that they didn't realize God sent Joseph ahead to keep them alive in famine. As often the case and certainly the case with Jesus death, there is 'a confluence of wills" going on. A fallen will of man working and God's working according to his good pleasure ( for Joseph, for Jesus, for us Why us? In the new covenant God will "never turn from doing you good" (Jer 32:40). ) Genesis started with a garden and ends with a coffin. Poetically this is like the book of Psalms book 1 (Psalm 1 through 41) which starts with a man who is like a tree of life and ends with a man betrayed like Joseph which ends and quoted by Jesus at the last supper. You can get a feel for the flow and contrasts in Psalms book 1 here and why it's poetically like Genesis https://www.slideshare.net/MichaelScaman/unexpected-discord-in-the-psalms-psalm-1-though-41-version-4-pptpptx
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Chris Landry

Thanks for your story, TJ! Praise God! I’ve always been a fan of Lucy, so it makes my heart so happy to find out that she’s with a man of God that is not afraid of his background, and uses it for God’s glory, and the good of others! My big take away from this chapter is how Joseph treated his brothers when they were in the midst of their own fear and insecurity. I can surely be where the brothers are. And I also have friends and family that can be where the brothers are. Joseph’s response, so amazing, is a beautiful display of tenderness AND support. Genesis 50:21 is the collision of humble kindness meeting fear and insecurity. This right here, “Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” My challenge for today: One of my many ditches is to dismiss fear and insecurity in myself and others because it inconveniences me (my counselor helped me to learn this gem of wisdom about myself, btw). So instead, how can I provide comfort and kindness to others, like Joseph did to his brothers, in their fear and insecurity?
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Michael Scaman

God extends hope to the people of Israel with the story of Joseph. What happened to Joseph in a sense will happen to them. They will be improsoned in a sense as slaves and then raised to freedom to new life to follow God in the Exodus. What happened to Joseph also points forward to Jesus. It was God's plan to save the sinners, th brothers of Joseph, using the sinners. And not just the Jews but gentiles as well. Joseph was virtually killed in-prisoned as a slave and then raised tot h right hand of Pharaoh. The plan hidden from the brothers but eventually revealed.
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Michael Scaman

Joseph interprets one last dream vision and makes an object lesson for the Jews remember. Why did this Joseph who saved the Egyptians from disaster not get a grand march to his homeland like his father Jacob? Egyptians may have wondered that. But Joseph, the revealer of dreams for them hoped in God based on a dream of his great grandfather Abraham used his coffin to point to a greater hope. Abraham had a vision of his descendants in Egypt cruelly treated but they would come out of Egypt with power. Joseph reminds them making his burial like this. They were to keep his coffin as memorial and in the future 'Exodus' bring it out. This was a statement not only to the Jews but also Egyptians. It was as if the Egyptian massively grand burial march for Joseph to the promised land would be used instead for his father to go to the promised land. That might? prepare the people of Egypt and Israel to see in contrast, Joseph's bones would stay parked in Egypt ready for a future deliverance and everyone in the land may? know that at the time. This might? cause them to look back on the life of Joseph and look forward hoping in God. And that closes Genesis.
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Sue Bohlin

OUTSTANDING devo, TJ! Yet another example of how the enemy meant your pain for evil, but God meant it for good. I especially loved this: "I think we read a verse like this and struggle to believe it because we are still too close to the pain." Amen! Joseph was able to see God's redemptive hand at work by looking in the rear view mirror with the perspective of time elapsing between the evil and the pain, and how God worked it out. And for me, having lived 7 decades, I have a lot in my rear view mirror to provide perspective, and I know that verse 20 is one of the most powerful verses in the entire Bible. I am so very thankful for it!
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Amy Lowther

1. My business associates quietly walked up behind me while I was peacefully working with other associates and drenched me with a Gatorade jug. I was drenched but they had worked hard and it was close to the end of the business day. 2. The associates worked cooperatively in completing their task and proceeded to be stronger workers. 3. There’s nothing right now. 4. Past hurts of mine can be helpful to other people today to help them think of what we each need for protection and that anything can happen at anytime to anyone. Ugliness of the past to change into beautiful things would be great. 5. No, but experts in law and in medicine who have helped me have seen brighter futures since doing a great job of helping me.