I have a philosophy of life that goes kind of like this: Because I believe in God, His second plans can seem like the first. What I mean is this: God has a perfect will for my life. I may mess it up. Certainly others will too. Have your dreams been delayed? Ever been mistreated and misjudged? I have! Listen carefully, not everything that happens is God’s will! But, when I trust in the Lord, who is the king of redemption, whatever loss I may suffer, He makes up in my life in ways that seem equal to the first plans. God will not be a debtor to any man. So, in this way “His second plans, seem like the first”. How often I have heard people say of their hurtful past… “I wouldn’t change anything because of what I have experienced of God’s love and redemption and who I have become”. Now that’s a mature Christian philosophy. Joseph is the poster boy for this philosophy. Near the end of his ordeal. And what an ordeal it was (being sold into slavery, placed in jail, nearly killed). He framed it this way: Joseph’s brothers meant it unto to him for evil, but God for good, to save many people alive. Suffering is often redeemed and can be understood as having purpose in a Christian’s life.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Genesis 45:4-8 NASB
What bitterness remains in my heart from mistreatment? How has God, time and time again redeemed me and my sufferings?
God, as this day begins- Oh, I have found You to be faithful and true. I owe you everything. You owe me nothing. You continue to be gracious with me. May I be part of Your redemptive work in the world today. Help me care for the hurting (especially at the memorial service today), those I visit at home an in the hospital as well. I truly feel your second plans for my life are as good as the first.
