Meant for Good

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Friday, June 05, 2015

"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."
— Genesis 50:20

Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, California, shares the Gospel with a sold-out crowd of 19,000 for Harvest America at the American Airlines Center and Victory Park in Dallas, Texas, Oct. 5, 2014. | (Photo: rever Hoehne for Harvest Ministries)

Aren't you glad the word oops is not in God's vocabulary? God is sovereign, which simply means that God is in control. He doesn't make mistakes. He does what He wants when He wants with whom He wants in any way He wants.

That could be a little frightening if we didn't know that God is also good. The things that He allows into our lives are for our benefit and for the benefit of others.

Joseph understood that. And one cannot read the story of Joseph without thinking of Romans 8:28: "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." All things work together—not just the so-called good things. Joseph summed that up in his way when he told his brothers who had betrayed him, "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" (Genesis 50:20).

As you get a little bit older, some of the things you thought were good may end up being bad, and some of the things you thought were bad may end up being good. And then, sometimes good things are just good things and bad things are bad things.

God helps us sort it all out. And with the passing of time, you look at things a little more objectively and a little bit differently. There are things that God allows in life that don't make sense. But I believe that ultimately in my life, all things will work together for good. That may not be fully realized until I get to heaven. But until then, I am willing to live by that promise.

Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000 Used with Permission