And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. - Romans 8:28 (NLT)
With her dad missing, Tracy new that she had to get the chores done around the farm but she was having a hard motivating herself to do them. All she could think about was her missing dad and the fact that it was all Harold’s fault.
After doing a few things in the house, Tracy headed out to the barn to start feeding animals. As she was climbing up to the hay loft, she thought she heard her dad’s truck pull up. She quickly jumped off the ladder and headed outside hoping to see her dad but it wasn’t his truck that had pulled in, it was Randy’s.
“Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!” Randy hollered as he climbed out of his truck. “How can you be so happy when my dad is lost?” Tracy shouted back. “Lost?” Randy answered back, “He’s not lost, he’s at the hospital.” “That’s nothing to praise God about,” Tracy thought out loud, “What’s wrong with my dad?” She demanded to know.
“There’s nothing wrong with your dad and he was never really lost.” Randy told Tracy Upon hearing that, Tracy got a confused look on her face. Seeing that look Randy went on to tell Tracy about her dad’s adventure. “By taking the wrong road God was able to use your dad to save the life of another farmer.” “What?” Tracy said with some excitement in her voice.
“Yeah,” Randy continued, “When your dad realized he was on the wrong road he went to the closest farm house to call you and when he got there he ended up helping a man who had been pinned under his tractor. They didn’t have a phone so your dad brought him to the hospital and he’s still there with him.”
“Praise the Lord,” Tracy hollered after she heard that, “I guess God really does work all things together for good like Romans 8:28 says. By the way, did you hit a skunk on the way over?” “No.” said Randy as he started sniffing the air and the next thing he knew he was laying on the ground with a rather large Saint Bernard sitting on him.
“Did you find him?” Harold called as he came around the corner of the barn. “No he didn’t!” Randy shouted back, “Now get this thing off of me.” “What are you doing back here, Harold?” Tracy wanted to know for she was sure he wouldn’t have come back after what he had done. “Muffy and I are looking for your dad.” Harold told her, “But all Muffy’s found so far was a black cat with a white stripe down it’s back.
Upon hearing that, Randy and Tracy quickly got in Randy’s truck and headed to the hospital to meat up with Tracy’s dad. As for Harold, he took off chasing Muffy in hopes of catching him before he knocked over any more garbage cans.
Have you ever been frustrated because things are not going your way? Maybe you have been mad at God for letting some terrible thing happen to you or someone else? Maybe you've wished the "bad" had never happened and than later - maybe years later you learn the rest of the story. Let's go to Genesis chapters 37-45 and look at the life of Joseph.
Now Joseph was one of the13 children belonging to Jacob and while Jacob loved him the most, his brothers hated him and could never say a kind word to him. Eventually, their hatred for him led them to devising a plan to kill him. Fortunately, one of his brothers, Reuben by name, was able to convince the rest not to kill him bu to just put him into an empty cistern. As time passed a band of traders heading towards Egypt came by and Joseph was taken out of the cistern and sold to them as a slave while his coat was dipped in goats blood to make it look like a wild animal had killed him.
Down in Egypt, Joseph became the slave of Potiphar and there he worked hard and God blessed everything Joseph did . Potiphar to notice of Joseph's success and put him in charge of everything he owned. Potiphar's wife also took notice of Joseph and tried to get him in bed with her. Joseph refused and as a result Potiphar's wife got him put in jail
Down in jail, Joseph again worked hard and again God blessed him and one day he got some company, some fellow prisoners that worked for the Pharaoh (the king) as a cup-bearer and a baker. While in jail, these two men had some troubling dreams and with God's help, Joseph was able to interpret the dreams for them. The dreams came true and Joseph asked the cup-bearer to remember him when he went back to work for the king, but the cup-bearer forgot.
Two years later, It's Pharaoh's turn to have a troubling dream and finally, the cup-bearer remembers Joseph and he is called to interpret the dream. Upon hearing its meaning and realizing that something needed to be done to protect the kingdom from the severe famine to come, he appointed Joseph as second in command to see the kingdom through the difficult time to come.
It was during the time of famine when Joseph's brothers came to Egypt for food and eventually learned that it was their brother they had plotted to kill and than sold to slavery that was the one from whom they had to buy their food. And while the brother were likely fearing for their lives, Joseph forgives them and leave us with the following verse
Genesis 45:5 - But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. (NLT) What others thought as bad, Joseph realized God was using it for good. In the new testament we read from Paul's letter to the Roman's the following - And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28 NLT)
Here's Something to Ponder
- When things look bad do you continue to serve God
- When things look bad do you look at things through your eyes or God's eyes
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