It Doesn't Look Like Mercy

The old spell check was acting up this morning and would not function properly. Any words that are not correctly spelled should be looked over and not assigned with the opinion that the writer is, in any such manner, a goober of royal proportions. Thank you for your patience.

Genesis 45:7-8
"And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity (remnant) for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God....."

You know, when we talk about the mystery of God....the greatness of God...the plans of God...
it is hard to wrap our finite minds around such.
I have been planted in Genesis for the last few days and found myself going back over the story of Joseph, his brothers and the entire dysfunctional clan (talk about a reality show in the making...).

If you read the story, you would be hard pressed to say..."Isn't God wonderful." But when you read the story, if you open your heart and see with your spirit-eyes, you can proclaim, "Isn't God wonderful!"
Let's see how it goes:
1.) Young brother has dreams given to him by God that speak of the future. The boy doesn't know that. He is just taken with the dreams because in them, he is elevated to a place of honor above his siblings.
In fact, the dream shows all his family bowing down before him. If you don't think that would wrankle an older brother...you haven't been in a family.

2.) The younger brother, Joseph, keeps pushing the "dream" thing. Top it off with the fact that his own father openly acknowledges Joseph as his favorite son doesn't help matter much. He adorns the kid in a coat that looks like a rainbow...kind of hard to miss that one coming isn't it. Now the kid sticks out like a sore thumb...as if to say, "Here I come...ol' colorful me....look at me..."

3.) The brothers conspire to kill the little snot (that is big brother talk). Kill him, take the coat and return it to dad..."Sorry pops...the boy was eaten by wild varmit's."

4.) God intervenes. Instead of killing him, one of the brothers pushes for another solution. There just happens to be a traveling caravan come by so they get the bright idea to sell the kid, get rid of him and make some money in the mean time. Nothing like a little profit to brighten the day and cleanse the conscious..."Well..we didn't kill  him, did we? We're not that bad."

5.) Joseph goes down to Egypt and becomes a slave.

As terrible as all that sounds...it overflows with the mercy of God.
God kept Joseph from being killed.
God kept his brothers from staining their hands and conscious with the blood of his brother.
God was putting into place a plan that would result in the saving of the entire family's life because of a coming famine that they did not know would take place.
Yet it was God at work in the lives of everyone involved that would save not only a family, but a nation.
Saved through a Hebrew slave upon whom the Spirit of Almighty God rested.
What we think is mercy, doesn't always line up with the reality of God's mercy.
I'm sure that during his time in Egypt, Joseph may have never thought that God was being merciful by bringing him to that country, but He was.

On into the story, we see a reunion between Joseph and his brothers. The famine is at its height in the land and Joseph's family have come down to Egypt to buy food. Joseph finally reveals himself as their brother. As he does so, he explodes with emotion...weeping. Why? Come on Joseph...buck up! These guys tried to do you in...now's your chance to get even.

Truth is...what the brothers meant for evil...
God took and meant for good and salvation.
God took the sin of the brothers and turned it into a blessing, ultimately saving their very lives.
That is why when I find myself in hard, dark times and I can't see the reason or I don't understand why such things are happening....I press harder into God. I lean on Him that He knows best and sees all. That even in the darkest of times, God's mercy is present covering me and keeping me for the plans He has prepared for me. Real deliverance comes when we realize that everything that happens to us has sifted through the sovereign hands of God.
Now that is a real comfort.....

God on you...
mb