When life’s circumstances seem to slam us around and we feel mistreated and misunderstood, how should we view these things? Are we just the random product of this world with unexplainable experiences? Or, is there a God who is divinely orchestrating things to make us a more effective part of His vast plan to save people? In Genesis 45, Joseph had been treated horribly by his brothers and unfairly thrown into jail by an angry owner. Yet, when it was within his power to kill his brothers and his former slave owner, he showed them mercy and pled with them to not be angry with themselves. Joseph said “God sent me to save lives”.
“God sent not his son into the world to condemn us, but that the world through him might be saved”. (John 3:17)
‘Then Jesus said to them (his disciples) again, Peace to you. As My Father has sent Me, even so I send you.” John 20:21
Joseph said, “Don't worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives.” Genesis 45:5 CEV
Leslie Perrott tells about an experience that made her appreciate the power that grace had on her life when her husband showed her mercy. “We all have those days where things go wrong. Like the day I was on my way to the grocery store when I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw my five-year-old had fallen fast asleep. My mind sifted through the possibilities . . .I could wake John up when we get to the grocery store . . . but then he’ll be really crabby, and once he’s awake, he won’t go back to sleep. Or I could just turn around, take him home, and tuck him into bed since Les is working there. I could grocery shop just that much faster. I knew Les was hard at work on a book deadline, but it was more likely that John would sleep at home than in the grocery cart. So I returned home, carried John into the house, tucked him into bed, and told Les that he’d be in charge of our little one for a while. I sped back to the car with the kind of urgency that only a mom trying to fit in multiple tasks during a child’s naptime can entirely identify with. I jumped into the driver’s seat, and as I backed out . . . the open car door smacked against the side of our garage completely ripping the door off the car. I’d forgotten to close the door when carrying John into the house. The ripping and tearing sound brought my husband Les flying down the stairs out of his study, which is directly above the garage. He was wide-eyed as he saw me crying, sitting there behind the steering wheel. The cause of this one-car accident was obvious. I gripped the wheel, bracing myself for what Les was about to say. But he didn’t yell. He didn’t lay blame. He kissed me on the cheek and said, “I was thinking we needed a new card door, so this is perfect.”
Of course I didn’t deserve that kind of grace in that moment. My thoughtlessness not only cost us money, it meant we wouldn’t be driving the next day on our long-awaited ski trip. But instead of guilt, condemnation, and anger, I got grace. Why? As Les said that evening over dinner, “If I were in your shoes in that moment, the last thing I would have needed from you was to be scolded.”
Can we see how God sends us into difficult circumstances to help people we would have never reached out to in any other way. Les was sent into the garage where her wife had just ripped the door right off their car to reassure her of his love. Joseph was sent to Egypt
God did not send Jesus into the world to condemn us; but to save (heal) us. Jesus told us as his disciples ”… as my Father sent me, so I send you.” That means we have a divine mandate to stop condemning and to begin helping people heal. When this truth gets a hold of us, we can say with Joseph…GOD SENT ME.
Al Yoder
8/23/2011
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