God Meant it for Good

Joseph in the pit. Obed Bucyana. (Instagram: @bibledesign)

by Murray Keith

One of our cats, Finnegan, has a health issue that requires him to make frequent trips to the vet. This is an awful experience for him. When he sees the carrier come out, he knows it’s time for another harrowing trip to the vet’s office. His fur gets puffy, his eyes turn to saucers, and he hides under our bed. It’s very difficult to get him out. Once we do, his heart is beating almost out of his chest and he lets us know very clearly that he is not happy. To make matters worse for him, his trips to the vet often leads to him wearing a cone. We don’t like taking him to the vet and it isn’t pleasant seeing him in a cone bumping into walls. But we know it’s what’s best for him and it will eventually lead to his getting better.

Finnegan cannot understand why these humans who usually show him great affection are now being so seemingly mean—but it’s for his good. It’s not my intention to trivialize the suffering we experience in this life by comparing it to a cat’s visit to the vet, but there is some similarity in the situation. Just as Finnegan cannot understand how our actions that cause him to suffer are for his good, so we are not able to understand how God’s actions that cause us to suffer can be ultimately for our good.

God created everything and it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). This includes humankind, who are made in His image. The image of God in humanity consisted in the right disposition of our intellect and will, in the right knowledge of God and His goodness, and in the will to do only God’s will. It was all good, and our first parents lived in peaceful communion with God and each other, enjoying His creation.

The Lord God commanded Adam, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17). Sadly, and tragically, Adam and Eve listened to the serpent’s lie that God’s Word and all that He provided for them was not good enough. So they ate from the forbidden tree and sin and death entered into God’s very good creation.

One of the consequences of the fall into sin is that we no longer have an innate right knowledge of God and His goodness. Now we wrestle with what “good” even means. The fact that philosophers have argued about this throughout the ages shows that goodness is not something that is obvious to fallen man.

Only God can reveal to us what is good. We see a great example of this happening with Joseph in the book of Genesis. Joseph’s father, Jacob, loved him more than he did his other sons. Understandably, Joseph’s brothers were jealous and angry about the situation. And they became even angrier when their father made Joseph a fancy, colourful robe.

Their hatred for Joseph would only intensify when he shared with them dreams he had in which his brothers bowed down before him and were under his rule. Their anger and jealousy raged to the point where they plotted to kill him and cover it up by blaming a ferocious animal. n the end, Joseph’s brothers decided it would be more beneficial for them to sell him into slavery—so Joseph ended up a slave in Egypt.

To make a long story short, Joseph’s dreams about his brothers would become reality when they too came to Egypt and threw themselves down before him, seeking mercy for all the evil they had done to him. Joseph—second in authority only to Pharaoh—was in complete control now. He had the power and means to get his revenge, to make them pay for their cruelty. But instead, he forgave his brothers and provided for them. Instead of condemning them, he said these astonishing words: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Genesis 50:20).

Only God can reveal to us the good that comes from our suffering. This doesn’t mean that we will always clearly see the good behind our hardships like Joseph did. Sometimes, perhaps, we might be able to look back and recognize how through our struggles God was drawing us nearer to Him. At other times, we might feel completely lost and abandoned by God, crying out with the Psalmist: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy” (Psalm 130:1-2).

No doubt some of us feel that way right now, given the challenges and sorrows that we are experiencing in the world today.

St. Paul teaches us something very comforting when he writes, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). These are words of comfort, but they can be difficult to trust— especially when we are in the midst of intense pain and suffering. When tragedy strikes our lives, or the lives of those we love, it’s easy to wonder: “How could any good possibly come out of all of this?”

Ultimately the answer that God provides to our suffering is the cross. That God loves us in our suffering was never expressed more clearly than when Christ Jesus endured the agony of crucifixion and died for our sin. It’s hard to wrap your mind around the truth that on Good Friday, through the most unjust and evil act ever committed, God brought about the greatest good: salvation for His people.

God knows our suffering. He defeated it through His own suffering and death, His victory affirmed and attested by His triumphant resurrection three days after His dead body was laid in the tomb. We can trust God when He promises that He is working all things for our good.

No matter what we experience in this life, whether great joy or devastating hardship, God has promised to work all things together for our good—to lead us through it all to our eternal salvation. In the midst of a pandemic, global unrest, devastating news from the doctor, heartbreak, grief—all of the troubles of this life—the God of love and mercy gives us peace and joy and certain hope for this life and for the eternal life to come. Through the Word and Absolution, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Spirit applies God’s life-saving gifts won by Christ to us personally. And He assures us that nothing in all creation can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). Stand firm and cling to Christ and His promises, knowing that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18).

What God ordains is always good: He is my friend and Father; He suffers naught to do me harm Though many storms may gather. Now I may know Both joy and woe; Someday I shall see clearly That He has loved me dearly. - Samuel Rodigast (LSB 760:4)

Rev. Murray Keith is pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.