Genesis 50:20 he would put it this way, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” • Even as his dreams are being fulfilled, as his brothers are bowing before him, as his beloved father is being preserved by him, he finally sees the hand of God in it all.
• And, in Genesis 45, when he finally comes to the point of revealing himself to his brothers, this is how he summarizes the whole affair:
o “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. “(Genesis 45:4-8 ESV).
• There is enormous irony in his words.
o The very thing used against him resulted in his exaltation.
• You meant it for evil, he said, but God made it for good!
• It wasn’t you who sent me here, it was God!
• It wasn’t you who determined the course of my life, it was God.
• You meant to hurt me.
• You meant to silence me.
• You meant to destroy me.
• BUT GOD meant to preserve and strengthen me.
Between Bitter And Better
• I want to preach to someone this evening that is standing between bitter and better.
o I want you to know that God is in charge of your life.
• That even in the midst of trouble and trial, he is the one that is working all things together for good.
• That even when you can’t see his hand in your life,
o Even when you don’t feel his touch,
o Even when it seems as if the heavens are brass and you are facing trouble and trial all by yourself,
o God is right there.
• His hand is at work in your life, he is orchestrating things together for good.
o It’s hard sometimes to look at tragedy and trial and see good in them.
o It’s difficult to look at trying circumstances and see God at work there.
• The problem is that our vision is so limited.
o Like Joseph, it is impossible for us to see from the slave traders shackles to Pharaoh’s throne.
• It is impossible for us to see the road from the prison to the palace.
• But I need to tell you this evening not to pass judgment on a thing that God isn’t finished with.
• There is a great and mighty hand at work in yoru life.
• No you can’t see it.
• No it doesn’t make sense.
• No its not easy to explain why things are going the way they are.
• But, if ou will keep the faith and keep your trust in God, there’s a day coming when you will see more clearly the hand of God through your troubles and trials.
• There’s a day coming when you will look back on a long journey and say God brought me here.
• God directed my life.
• God navigated the valley and brought me to the mountain top.
o Your faith is most vulnerable when you’re standing between bitter and better.
• When you can feel the pain and the hurt of the bitter things in your life but you cannot yet see the better thing that is to come.
• If you aren’t careful you will make the mistake of embracing bitterness instead of allowing God to bring about strength and growth in your life.
o There is more going on in your life than you can see or know.
• There is a plan and a purpose that is much larger than your limited understanding.
• God, in his infinite wisdom, is working all things together for good.
Close
• In the middle of crisis and dilemma, it is difficult to see the hand of God at work in our lives.
o But heaven sent me tonight to remind you that even when you can’t see it, even when you can’t understand it,
o God is at work in your life.
o Somewhere beyond the realm of your immediate knowledge God is working events and circumstances together in an elaborate but wonderful plan that is good for you.
o Somewhere beyond the realm of our immediate understanding, God is orchestrating a blessing into your life.
o What we see is far less than what God sees.
o What we understand is far less than what God understands.
• Tonight, some of us are positioned somewhere between bitter and better.
o If you aren’t careful you will allow the bitterness of this life to overwhelm your soul.
o But I can tell you with authority that God has the incredible ability to turn bitter into better.
o And if you will run the race with patience, enduring until the end, somewhere along the way he will turn sorrow to rejoicing.
o Somewhere along the way he will turn mourning to dancing.
o If only you will turn your faith to him and let him turn your bitter into better!
