My God Cannot be Beat

Lately I've been so overwhelmed with the thoughts of good versus evil. Truly, what God has intended for good, Satan tries to turn into evil. In so many ways. The battle is won by the Lord, yet Satan still tries to defeat. At first glance, it's comical really, looking from the outside in, that someone would fight a battle that is already won. It's easy to say that the battle is won, but when you're in it, it's scary. Because it's real. Satan is pulling poor souls away from the heart of their God. He tries to defeat by breaking marriages, by breaking families, by breaking hearts, by raping little girls, by instilling violence into the minds of innocent teens. It saddens me. It angers me. When the Bible talks about God being a jealous God, the word "jealous" is often followed by the word "for." He is jealous FOR his people. To return to Him. To choose Him over Satan's lies. For their healing. He is a powerful God indeed. And He is also a wise and loving God who chose to give us a free will.

I love the hope of this good versus evil concept found in the story of Joseph. Joseph... man! What a story. Sold into slavery by his brothers. What hatred and depression he could have fallen into. So fast forward... he's eventually in Pharaoh's palace, eventually wrongly accused and thrown into Pharaoh's prison, eventually put in charge of the prison, eventually given the [god-given] power to translate the meaning of dreams, eventually put in charge of the nation of Egypt. EGYPT. In charge of it! So fast forward majorly, and there is famine in the land. Joseph is [not] ironically apparently the only one that deals out all of the grain and food, so he is reunited with his brothers. Boy oh, boy, I don't know how I would have reacted... but I have a feeling I wouldn't have stood there and smiled without some major God-given grace. This is the crazy part - they didn't even know who he was! Ugh! Wouldn't that have been a secondary offense on top of everything else? I mean, I'm sure by this point, Joseph had moved on and had forgiven them in his heart, but you know how everything just feels different when you see that person (or people) in the physical? I'm sure some old feeling had to have been mustered up, and now he's standing there probably thinking, You have no idea who I even am, do you?! It's important to realize that this whole story took place over a total of a few decades plus a few years, if I'm not mistaken. Wow.

So. Here's where the, "Wow God, you're amazing," chills down the spine finale really happens.

This is after Joseph revealed himself to his family, by the way...

Genesis 50: 15-21

"What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" So they sent word to Joseph saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.

But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good...

He is good. He is SOVEREIGN. I love that description. He is so beyond us. It doesn't mean that life won't be hard and that things will make sense all the time, but it means that He simply knows more than us! Our job is to seek Him, His heart, and to trust. It's easier said than done, isn't it?


Romans 12:9 Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Romans 8:28, 31 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him... If God is for us, who can be against us?

John 16: 33 "...in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."