You’ve heard of Murphy’s Law: If something can go wrong, it will. But there’s another that we’ll call Joseph’s Law. If something can go wrong, and it does go wrong, God is always behind the scenes making it right.
It’s the Romans 8:28 principle: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Murphy’s Law is for the pessimist—Joseph’s Law is for the believer. The first views life only on the horizontal plane. The second takes the vertical into perspective: “But what about God? What could God’s plan be in the midst of this?” That was always Joseph’s perspective, and the more I study this young man’s life, the more amazed I am at his faith that the Lord would take care of it all.
As we study the life of Joseph, we find an excellent example of how to forgive people who have wronged us.
In Genesis 45, Joseph’s brothers were in Egypt to buy food. But they also needed forgiveness, and Joseph chose to forgive them. Someone once said, “Love your enemies. It’ll drive them nuts.” Authentic, lavish, agape love is a force no one can withstand for a long period of time.
Why did Joseph want everybody to leave when he revealed himself to his brothers? Was it because he didn’t want them to see his emotion? Maybe. But genuine forgiveness doesn’t parade other people’s sin. If you’ve genuinely forgiven somebody, you won’t have to tell others what they did to you.
And why did he say to his brothers, “Please come near to me” (v. 4)? Joseph was saying, “I may be the ruler of Egypt but I’m your brother and I’m not angry at you.” That’s another sign of genuine forgiveness—it aims to set those who’ve wronged you at ease, not make them squirm or feel embarrassed.
And in verse 5 we get to the heart of Joseph’s theology—his vertical perspective. “But now, do not therefore be grieved nor angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.”
He was saying, “It wasn’t your ploy that got me here, it was God’s plan.” His theology was “I live in a world where God is sovereign above everything that happens and I’m okay with that. Even the bad stuff—even being sold as a slave and falsely imprisoned—God sent me.”
I don’t know what’s going on in your life. I don’t know what pain you’ve personally experienced—what someone may have said that severed a relationship, or what they did that left you carrying the consequences. But happy is the man or woman who can see God’s plan in everything.
Do you know what life will become? An adventure! You can simply look forward and ask, “What’s God going to do? What is He planning?”
You just need to have that vertical perspective.
