God: sovereign and good

A terrible earthquake happened in Haiti.

How do we respond to this event? I don't mean in action, such as giving money to a relief effort (which we should all do), I mean what do we think of this tragedy? Why might God allow this to happen? Is it possible that He even caused it to happen? Is He so wrathful that every once in a while He kills a bunch of people? Has there been a shift in the power balance that has allowed an evil force, perhaps the devil, to cause unchecked damage in the world and the lives of its residents?

These types of questions are natural. But I think we tend to avoid difficult questions. I know I've personally been pretty callous about the earthquake; I've given some money, but have I prayed often for the victims? Have I allowed myself to ask some of the questions above and wrestle with the possible answers?

I just finished reading the story of Joseph, and I think it can shed a little light on God's presence in the midst of suffering. I'm not pretending it will do more than that -- this blog post won't give you all the answers. But it might be able to shed a little light.

Forget what you know about the end of Joseph's story and try to imagine that his story is happening to you:

All your siblings (if you're in a small family or an only child, perhaps imagine the group of your 5-10 closest friends) become insanely jealous of you. They're so fed up with you, they decide to kill you. Yes, your closest friends and family have decided to murder you.

At the last moment, one of them convinces the rest to have mercy on you and just leave you for dead instead. Wow, thanks a lot for that change of heart. But then one of them has a greedy thought and realizes if they sell you to a nearby caravan of slavetraders, they can actually make a little profit from this endeavor. Classic "two birds with one stone" moment. And so, you become a slave to a band of foreign travelers.

How do you think you'd be responding to this as it happened? What would your emotions be? Your attitude toward this group of "friends"? Your theology? Take a couple minutes and try to ponder what your responses would be.

What amazing faith Joseph had! God blessed him and raised him to a pretty powerful position, as far as slaves go. Then his master's wife tries to seduce him; here's Joseph's response: "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"

God had allowed Joseph to be hated by his family, be left for dead in a pit, and be sold into slavery. And yet, when tempted to commit adultery, Joseph refused because it would be sin against God.

Well, Joseph's story only gets better. He is framed for the adultery anyway, and is found guilty without a trial. He is immediately thrown into jail to serve an indefinite sentence. Surely it is time to conclude that God has turned His back, or never existed, right?

Not for Joseph. When two of Pharaoh's servants are thrown in jail and are troubled by strange dreams, Joseph offers, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me." When he's asked about the interpretations years later, he again gives all the credit to God.

I won't tell you the rest of Joseph's story, except in the briefest possible summary: he interprets a dream for Pharaoh, predicts a long famine, rises to second in command of all of Egypt, then saves Egypt and the surrounding lands from the famine.

Rather than dwell on the story, I'd like to explore how Joseph could be so faithful during tragedy after tragedy in his life! What was it about his faith that allowed him to conclude, over and over again, that God does still exist, that He hasn't turned His back, He is still in control?

I think we start to see the answer at the very end of his story in Genesis. The brothers (still scheming, trying to trick him into forgiving them for their terrible misdeeds) have just asked for his forgiveness, and here is Joseph's crucial reply:

"You meant [selling me into slavery] for evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be left alive [after the 7-year famine]."

So all along Joseph knew that -- even when terrible things were happening to him -- God had a plan; Joseph didn't know what the plan was during the events, but afterward was able to see the divine purpose to his sufferings. Notice that Joseph's perspective isn't one of "despite the fact that you did this to me, God used me to accomplish good"; no, it's radically different from that. His perspective is that "the very thing you did to me, though it stemmed from evil in your heart, is what God had previously planned to use to save many lives." So Joseph was able to be full of faith even in the hardest circumstances, because he knew that God is good and that He is powerful and wise enough to use terrible, wicked things to bring about His purposes.

It's sort of mind-blowing. Joseph was able to say that before he was even born, God had ordained that he would be sold into slavery, thrown in jail, and ultimately save thousands of lives (including Jacob's family and, therefore, the entire future people of Israel).

Now, do we always have the blessing of, after our hardships, knowing why God planned for us to suffer? Sadly, no. Do our problems usually result in a grand gesture of heroism? Almost never. But we can take heart that, even if we'll never learn His plan in this lifetime, God has planned our tragedies beforehand to bring about our eternal good.

"We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Jon