God Has a Plan

There is never a moment when God doesn’t have a plan. This is true both in the big picture, as well as the small. God has a plan for the course of events in history, and God has a plan for the gritty details of each of our lives. Political crisis? God has a plan. That person at work? God has a plan. Human rights violations and corruption? God has a plan. A loved one with cancer? God has a plan.

This point is evidenced all throughout the scriptures, but the story that has this very message at its center is the story of Joseph and his brothers that we find in the book of Genesis. The story begins by highlighting the disfunction in Joseph’s family. There are many children, and a few different mothers and more than enough jealousy and resentment brewing between them. God has a plan.

The problems come to a head when Joseph’s brother conspire to kill him, then decide to be gracious and sell him into slavery instead. These are supposed to be his dearest loved ones, the ones who look out for each other. Instead they hate Joseph, they betray Joseph, and just want him to disappear. They sell him into slavery and Joseph ends up in prison in a foreign land (Egypt). God has a plan.

While we’re reading this story, we must remember that it happens against the backdrop of the larger narrative of the Bible that began in Genesis 1. We have to remember that this very family, Abraham’s family, is the family through whom God has elected to redeem all of the world. But look at them! They are a mess! They not only fight, bicker, and compete with one another, but they are literally trying to kill one another! As readers, we scratch our heads and ask, “Really, God? This family is your plan to redeem the world?” The answer is a resounding YES. God is SO BIG that he can even pull off his plan through the likes of these.

Back to the story.

Joseph eventually makes his way from the bottom (among criminals) to the top (among princes). Not only this, but his rise to power (because of his supernatural gift of dream interpretation), ends up being the means through which his family is saved from a great famine in his home land. In other words, for all of the injustices and disfunction throughout the story, God redeems it all by using this family’s evil intentions for good. God had a plan all along.

Sounds like the cross. They rejected him; they betrayed him; they abandoned him; they murdered him; and God used every bit of it to save them and the rest of the world. As Jesus hung on the cross, God had a plan.

While Mary walked weeping towards the tomb, Jesus was already risen. God had a plan. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, God had a plan. When Abraham couldn’t have children, God had a plan. When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, God had a plan.

Things in the contemporary world aren’t looking too good. God has a plan.