The Comfort of Intent

I think of Genesis 50:20 as the "Romans 8:28" of the Old Testament. Sort of. You know the text. It's the end of Genesis. Jacob and his family have all moved to the safety of Egypt where his son, Joseph, is the #2 guy in the land. Then Jacob died. And Joseph's older brothers were scared. "When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, 'What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!'" (Gen 50:15). Not an unreasonable concern, given that they 1) planned to kill him and then 2) threw him in a well and, finally, 3) sold him into slavery. Given that in slavery he was falsely accused of rape and imprisoned, forgotten, locked away. It doesn't seem unreasonable that someone might harbor resentment, right? And you don't want the #2 man in the nation resenting you. So they went to apologize. But Joseph told them, "Don't be afraid; am I in God's place?" (Gen 50:19). Then the great line,

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." (Gen 50:20)

Do you see the beauty in it? On one hand, Joseph did not excuse their actions. He didn't have to call what they did "good" when it clearly was not. He didn't have to fudge the facts, so to speak. On the other hand, he didn't have to stew over it. He didn't have to sweat it. Why? Because, while their intent was evil, God's intent was good.

I find such comfort in that on a daily basis it seems. People I know and people I don't know often intend evil against me. I don't have to sugarcoat it. I don't have to deny it. I can acknowledge it. But I can acknowledge it without malice or resentment because I know the ultimate intent -- God's intent. God intends it for good. God works all things together for good. He defines good and never fails to accomplish it. It's okay! God intends it for good, and He can even use the actual evil intentions of others to accomplish it. And that is a great relief!