Our Position of Destiny, Our Character of Destination

UV 1045/10,000 Our Position of Destiny, Our Character of Destination

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 v 20

Sometimes when God our beloved Father in heaven gives some of us a multi-coloured coat, implying many gifts, it inspires not admiration or friendship but jealousy and bitterness among the have-nots. Joseph was doted upon by his father Jacob, perhaps because he was the son of his favourite wife Rachel, the one for whom he had worked fourteen years for his father-in-law Laban. His father gave him a gift of a multi-coloured coat when he was a teenager. His brothers were even more bitter and angry with Joseph than before. When Joseph narrated the gist of a dream that he saw wherein he saw his father and brothers bowing to him, that was the last straw and the nail in the coffin of his future as far as his brothers were concerned. They conspired together against him and decided first to throw him in a pit and then decided to profit by his disappearance by selling him into captivity as a slave to a passing caravan of Ishmaelites bound for Egypt. Quite a parallel to how Jesus was sold by Judas to the Pharisees to be put to death! But God had other plans for Joseph, for Jesus and for each one of us that those who conspire against us cannot imagine. He turned the evil that they planned against Joseph for his good so that step by step he rose to his position of destiny as Prime Minister to Pharaoh. When we rise to our position of destiny we fulfill our potential and God’s purpose for our lives.

Joseph had enough time to reflect on the rollercoaster of his life and he realized that though his brothers planned to harm him, the Lord God had used it to fulfill the dream of his life to take him to the position of destiny and the purpose of his life: to save many lives in a time of famine including that of Israel, his own family. There is a greater plan and purpose hidden in our every present trouble and trial as long as we are walking in faith and not according to our own human and short term calculations of profit and pleasure. From God’s perspective the down turns in Joseph’s life became opportunities for Him to invest into his character and prepare him for his eternal destination. Joseph lost the desire to pay back his brothers. He lost the sting of vengeance. Instead, Joseph yearned to nourish the brothers and their little ones. He comforted them, assuaged their guilt and allayed their fears. God had built character, magnanimity, patience and faith into the warp and woof of his heart and mind. These are the godly traits that enable us to bless our enemies, to seek the good of our malefactors. God was also establishing for all time that not only His Son Jesus but even a son of Jacob, a mere man could display such Jesus-like qualities.

When I was exactly the age of Joseph, I was falsely accused by some kith and kin of having done something I had not even imagined. That rude shock, the shame and embarrassment, the betrayal taught me to put my faith in the Lord and to aspire high, to work hard to achieve a position of destiny and influence. So much so, the same kith and kin came on various occasions for my help and intervention in their times of trouble. What they had thought for bad, God had turned to good, my own as well as theirs. This is a kind of divine judo where the strength of the opponent is turned against him in some deft moves. Indeed, as scripture says, “all things happen for good to them that love Him.”

Prateep V Philip