God is always looking to help the many by helping the one
When evil looks like it is good.
Genesis 50:19-20 shares the conversation Joseph had with his brothers after their father died. The brothers had sold Joseph into slavery years earlier and now they were all in Egypt where Joseph had risen from slave to second in command to Pharoah of all Egypt.
In the scripture, Joseph says this to his brothers about what they had done to him and how he felt about it then. “do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.”
Joseph was saying to his brothers, “do not worry about what I might do to you now that our dad is dead. I do not hold any grudge against you. What you did to me years ago was evil, but God used that as an opportunity to do good for you today.” Joseph was saying you did evil, but God used it to bring about His good.
If you remove the letter “d” from the word devil you will have the word “evil.” The devil can do nothing but evil because it is who he is, and it is his name. Selling your brother into slavery was wrong. That’s easy to see. It’s easy for us to understand that God can use anything for our good. But it is difficult for us to see the subtle evil that is all around us daily looking like it is good for us.
This deception all started in the garden of Eden when the serpent tricked Eve into believing God’s command to them was not good for them because it kept them from something better. Remember, the devil can do no good so when you believe anything the devil says or does, no matter how good it may seem, you believe a lie.
Joseph probably didn’t realize at the time things were happening that God would use the evil his brothers did for Good. Joseph probably didn’t go to bed in prison saying God has a plan for him in all that he was facing. All Joseph could do was to continue to be faithful to God.
When we don’t understand why and what is happening around us, we will generally say “God has a plan.” But this is really just an unbelieving way of saying since I cannot change things, I have to believe God can and He will. God does not always tell us He has a plan for all the things that happen with us. We would spoil His plans just as Eve did.
We do not get cancer so that God can use it as an opportunity to bring us to a saving faith. Cancer is evil. It happens to many of us. The devil orchestrates evil against us, but God can use that evil to bring good to us. I know some of you may think that God does cause sickness so we can learn to value health.
I won’t argue that He does or does not cause sickness. But if and when God brings a sickness upon us, it is not evil but good. Everything God does towards us is good just as everything the devil does towards us is evil. God’s good can never be mistaken as evil but the evil the devil does can sometimes look like it is good for us.
How then do we learn to recognize evil when it looks like it is good? Well, the answer is simple. The devil uses evil to appeal to something for yourself. The devil wants to destroy you and those around you by making you make choices that seem like they are good for you. You cannot see evil in what is before you because you want to see the good that can happen to you.
God is never just after satisfying your selfish desires. He is after those around you, and He will use you to get to others. You can recognize His good more easily when you start seeing the impact your decisions will have on those around you that God loves. God’s good is always looking for ways to help the mass never just the individual.
The devil destroyed Eve, then Adam and then many more because each person chose not to sacrifice something they had for something greater that they could not see. God used the sacrifice of His One and Only Son to save all who will believe on Him.
If you are not willing to sacrifice what you have for the unknown God may have planned, you may never be able to recognize the evil that looks good. Bring your good to all the evil around you and many will have good in their lives they could not have had before.
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