Tues., 2/12/13 Devotion (Gen. 45:8a)

Today's encouragement comes from Genesis 45:8a, where we read these words:

"So now it was not you who sent me here, but God . . . "

These are the words of Joseph, to his ten brothers who had sold him into slavery in Egypt many years before. Joseph was able to see God's hand in his brothers' evil deed. God used the secondary causation of the brothers' sin to bring about something very good and glorious--though there was much pain and suffering in the meantime.

Are we able to see God's hand at work in our lives--even through the sins of others foisted upon us? If we can see the Lord's providence in all things that happen to us (good and bad), then we are truly blessed Christian churchmen.

[Puritan quote of the day: "Discerning your Father's hand in the crook [trial] will take out much of the bitterness of it, and will sugar the pill to you." --Thomas Boston, in, "The Crook in the Lot"]