Wednesday, February 11, 2015

     If you've ever read the Bible's book of Genesis, you may have come across the story of Joseph.  It is a classic account of how even when things seem to go as badly as they possibly can, God nevertheless works good--for everyone involved--from them.  There are no interminable endings with God.
     Briefly, Joseph, the favorite of his father Jacob yet hated by his brothers, was one day sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt.  In Egypt, however, he quickly gained favor with his master Potiphar until in a fit of jealousy and rage, Potiphar's wife accused Joseph, falsely, of trying to seduce her.
     Thrown into prison without appeal, Joseph, remarkably, found favor with his jailers. Eventually, after he had established a reputation for interpreting the most difficult and arcane of dreams, he came to the attention of the nation's ruler, the pharaoh. Recognizing Joseph's gifts, the pharaoh elevated him to a place second only to him, charging him with ensuring that when, as Joseph had predicted on the basis of Pharaoh's most recent dreams, famine comes to Egypt, the nation would be ready.
     So successful was Joseph in his duties that when famine came, the entire Mediterranean world was soon knocking at Egypt's doorstep for food.  Among the suppliants were Joseph's brothers.  After some complex and almost recondite exchanges between them, Joseph made himself known to his siblings.  As the story draws to a close, he tells them that, "You intended to do evil to me, but God intended it for good."  Indeed: across the ancient world, thousands of lives were saved from starvation and loss of their nations.
     Throughout, God didn't try to stop anyone from making his choices.  He let matters unfold.  In the end, however, he prevailed.
     In God's world, nothing is ever left unsolved or undone.  There's always an ending, a thoroughly rational, in the broadest and deepest sense, ending.
     

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