FROM YOUR PASTOR’S HEART May 28,2024

The Sunday School lesson for last Sunday was taken from Genesis 50:15-26. It dealt with the story of Joseph and his brothers, after the death of their father, Jacob. The brothers feared that, following the death of their father, Joseph would take revenge on them for the way they had mistreated him. It was clearly their guilty consciences that caused them to send a message to Joseph, stating that before he died his father had told them to say to him: “Please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.” Then, the brothers came to Joseph and bowed down before him, fulfilling his earlier dream, and pleaded for his forgiveness. Joseph put their minds at ease, but stated: “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”

That manner of thinking by Joseph has been on my mind, since I prepared to teach this lesson. Almighty God, who knows all things, is busy arranging the details of our lives even before we are born. He has a clear plan and purpose for each person who He brings into this world. He chooses the parents and the siblings for each of us, according to His perfect will. And even the actions of those who are opposed to us, intending to do evil against us, can be redirected by God to be a blessing in due season. The things that the enemy means to be detrimental to our lives can, by the power of the Lord, be turned into a beneficial experience for us, as well as for others.

As I reflect on this journey of my life, with all the hills and valleys, twists and turns, I cannot help but see that the hand of God has been upon me. Even though my siblings did not sell me into slavery, there have been some challenging times in my life. I have felt the enemy’s attacks on more than one occasion. Yet, the Lord has always proven true the promise of 1 John 4:4, “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Like Joseph, I can look back and see how God was positioning me to be in the right place at the right time, where I could minister to the needs of hurting people.

Serving in love,

Bro. Jim