‘God Sent Me Before You’

‘God Sent Me Before You’

And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

Genesis 45:4&5

God sees the end from the beginning, and has ‘foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.’ God used human hands to thrust Joseph into the forge. He fashioned Joseph into a Christ-like character, with many hard hammer blows. He tempered him in the quench of the oil of the Providence of God. God sent him to Egypt, well ahead of his family, to be their well-prepared savior. He faced them with their sin. He brought about repentance and reconciliation. He then graciously made a place for them and provided for them. So God does with us. He puts us into the hardest of circumstances, often by using the bad behavior of wicked people. He hammers us with blow after blow of hardships to form us into the exact shape He knows will be most useful to accomplish His Divine purpose. He conforms us to the Image of Christ, that we might reflect His Holy Character. He leads us, step by step, to do all that will bring Him the most Glory. It’s often not until the end of things that we begin to understand the value and importance of all of those hard and harsh experiences. Let us dwell today upon the way in which God formed Joseph into a Christ-like character. Let us move from Joseph to Christ. Let us see, in Christ, the Ultimate End to Whom God is conforming us, by all of these experiences.

Our Wise and Sovereign God,
we praise You, that in all of Your history, of being God,
You have never made a mistake with one of Your children,
and that You will not begin with us.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning