Episode 9: Meant For Evil, Transformed For Good

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What if the worst thing that ever happened to you becomes the doorway to your greatest purpose? Genesis 50:20 delivers one of Scripture's most revolutionary perspectives on suffering and divine intention when Joseph tells his betrayers: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good."

Joseph's journey reads like the ultimate plot twist. Sold into slavery by jealous brothers, falsely accused, wrongfully imprisoned – his life was a masterclass in injustice. Yet through this exact path, he became Egypt's savior during devastating famine. The profound truth emerges: God wasn't scrambling to fix what Joseph's brothers broke; He was orchestrating something bigger through those very events. Two completely different intentions – human harm and divine good – flowing through identical circumstances.

Most challenging is God's timeline. Joseph endured years of suffering before glimpsing any purpose in his pain. While we grow impatient when our prayers aren't answered immediately, Joseph's experience reveals that God's "working for good" rarely follows our preferred schedule. What feels like pointless waiting often serves as essential preparation. Joseph couldn't have effectively governed Egypt without the management skills developed in Potiphar's house and prison. God wasn't delaying resolution – He was developing Joseph's character and competence for a role Joseph never imagined.

God specializes in taking our worst moments and weaving them into our greatest testimony. Not because every bad thing is secretly good, but because God can intentionally use painful experiences to develop compassion, wisdom and perspective we couldn't gain otherwise. Your current struggle might be the very training ground for your future purpose. The plot twist hasn't happened yet, but the Author of your story is still writing, and He specializes in redemptive endings. Trust the process – your journey through the pit and prison might be leading to places you never dreamed possible.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yo, what's good?
Faithful foxes, welcome back toanother episode where we dig
into God's Word with zero filterand maximum truth.
I'm your host, justin, andtoday we're talking about one of
the most mind-blowing verses inall of Scripture.
That's Genesis, chapter 50,verse 20.
So buckle up, grab your Bibleand let's see what God's got

(00:20):
cooking up for us today.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Yeah, your words give me grace and you're here in
this place.
I've been blind by your holylight.

(00:49):
Give me blessings from abovewhen I broadcast.
Welcome to the Faithful FoxPodcast.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
All right, fam, picture this You're Joseph, your
brothers literally sold youinto slavery because they were
jealous of your fancy coat, like.
Imagine your siblings puttingyou on Craigslist because you
got the good Christmas sweater.
Fast forward, though, throughslavery, false accusations,
prison time basically everynightmare scenario you can think

(01:27):
of.
But then, plot twist, youbecome second in command of
Egypt.
Your brothers show up beggingfor food during a famine and
they're absolutely terrified.
You're going to get revenge.
I mean, wouldn't you be?
Hey, bro, remember when weruined your entire life?
Please don't murder us.

(01:49):
But Joseph drops this absolutebomb in Genesis 50 20.
You intended to harm me, butGod intended it for good, to
accomplish what is now beingdone the saving of many lives".
Yo, what?
That's not normal humanbehavior, people.
This verse is so packed withtruth we got to break it down

(02:12):
piece by piece.
Let's start with some plottwist theology.
God is the ultimate plot twist.
Writer Like M Night Shyamalanwishes he could write twists
like this.
Joseph's brothers are standingthere, probably sweating bullets
, rehearsing their apologyspeeches.

(02:33):
Okay, should we mention the pitor focus on the slavery?
Maybe we just shouldn't bringit up altogether.
But here's what blows my mind.
Joseph doesn't say it's okay,or I forgive you.
He says something way deeper.
You intended harm, but Godintended good.
Two completely differentintentions for the same exact

(02:57):
events.
The brothers saw an opportunityto get rid of their annoying
little brother.
God saw an opportunity toposition someone to save nations
from famine.
Think about that for a second.
Every terrible thing thathappened to Joseph the pit
Potiphar's house, the falseaccusation prison that wasn't

(03:20):
God's plan B, it was always planA.
God wasn't scrambling to fixwhat the brothers broke.
He was orchestrating somethingbigger than any of them could
see.
Bigger than any of them couldsee.
It's like when I think I'mbeing really clever by taking a
shortcut that ends up adding 20minutes to my drive, but somehow
I avoid the massive traffic jamI would have hit on the main

(03:41):
road.
Except God actually is thatclever and his shortcuts involve
saving entire civilizations.
The brothers thought they werewriting Joseph's ending, but God
, god was just getting startedon the real story.
But here's where it gets reallywild the timing of all this,

(04:02):
because God's timeline and ourtimeline completely different
Time for the Long Game.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Peanut butter, jelly, the long way.
Peanut butter jelly the longway.
Peanut butter jelly the longway.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
I just literally picked that one before we
started here.
So, okay, real talk.
God's timing is absolutelyterrible by human standards.
Like if God was your Uberdriver, you'd be leaving one
star reviews all day.
Joseph spends years in slaveryand prison before any of this
working for good becomes obvious.

(04:43):
Years, that's not like a badweek or a rough month.
That's like multiplepresidential terms of waiting.
I get impatient when my foodtakes more than two minutes in
the microwave.
Joseph's out here playing thelongest game of trust fall in
history.
But here's what I'm learning,and this is gonna hurt a little.

(05:04):
God's version of working forgood isn't about making our
lives comfortable right now.
It's about accomplishingsomething way bigger than our
immediate happiness.
Joseph couldn't see that hisprison time was actually
graduate school for running acountry.
He couldn't see thatinterpreting dreams for

(05:27):
prisoners was training forinterpreting Pharaoh's dreams.
All he could see was the fourwalls and the injustice.
And, honestly, that's probablywhere most of us are right now,
in some version of a pit orprison, wondering if God even
remembers our address, wonderingif this terrible situation
could possibly lead to anythinggood.
But here's the thing aboutGod's long game he's not just

(05:47):
trying to get you out of yoursituation.
He's trying to get somethingout of your situation that can
only come through that exactexperience.
Joseph couldn't have savedEgypt without understanding both
privilege and powerlessness.
He couldn't have shown grace tohis brothers without
experiencing betrayal himself.

(06:08):
Sometimes God's GPS takes youthrough places you never wanted
to go, to get you to places younever knew you needed to be.
Speaking of GPS and unexpectedroutes, let's talk about when
life completely reroutes yourplans.
This is Divine GPSRecalculating You've arrived at

(06:29):
your destination.
Y'all know that moment whenyour GPS says recalculating and
suddenly you're driving throughneighborhoods you've never seen,
wondering if you're about toget murdered, or discover the
best taco truck in the city.
That's basically Joseph'sentire life story.
Recalculating turn right intoslavery.
Recalculating continue straightthrough false accusations.

(06:52):
Recalculating you have reachedyour destination second most
powerful person in Egypt.
Wait what?
But here's what I love aboutJoseph's response to his
brothers.
He doesn't say everythinghappens for a reason, because
honestly, that's kind of acop-out when someone's genuinely
suffering.
He says something way morespecific.

(07:13):
God intended it for good, notjust it worked out or it could
have been worse.
God had a plan, a good plan thewhole time.
See, there's a differencebetween believing that bad
things randomly turn into goodthings and believing that God
can intentionally use bad thingsto accomplish good things.

(07:35):
When your boss is beingimpossible, god might be
developing your patience for theleadership role he's preparing
you for when your relationshipfalls apart, god might be
protecting you from somethingyou can't see or preparing you
for someone better.
When your plans completelycrumble, god might be
redirecting you towardssomething you never would have

(07:56):
chosen, but desperately needed.
Now, I'm not saying every badthing is secretly good.
That's toxic positivity andwe're not about that.
Life, pain is real, injusticeis real and we don't have to
pretend otherwise.
But what I am saying is thatGod specializes in taking the
worst things that happen to usand somehow weaving them into

(08:17):
the best things he wants to dothrough us.
Like imagine someone who wentthrough a really messy divorce
and thought their life was over,but then they become the person
who helps other people navigatetheir own relationship
struggles with wisdom they neverwould have had otherwise.
God didn't cause the divorce,but he absolutely can use it.
That's working it for good inreal time.

(08:40):
You know what's beautiful aboutGenesis 50-20?
Joseph didn't say this while hewas in the pit.
He didn't say it while he wasin prison.
He said it years later, when hecould finally see the bigger

(09:01):
picture, and maybe that's whereyou are right now In your pit,
in your pit, in your prison,wondering if God even knows your
name, wondering if this paincould possibly lead to anything
good.
I can't promise you'll see thepurpose tomorrow or next month,
or even next year.

(09:22):
Joseph waited decades, but whatI can promise you is this the
same God who was writingJoseph's story is writing yours,
and he's really, really good atplot twists.
The brothers intended harm, godintended good.

(09:43):
Your circumstances might bescreaming one thing, but God is
whispering something completelydifferent, something better,
something that will make sensesomeday, even if it doesn't make
sense today.
So hang in there, faithfulfoxes, trust the process, trust
the author.
Your story isn't over, it'sjust getting to the good part.

(10:06):
Peace out, thank you.