God Turns Evil unto Good for His Children. 

"Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good."              Gen. 50:2O.

Sin and wickedness are subject to God’s government. God suffers the iniquity of men to reach only a certain limit; and He overrules it to the accomplishment of His designs. Joseph was sold by His brothers to slave-dealers, who carried him to Egypt, and there, in the course of time, he became a mighty lord and the means of saving many alive. God’s divine guidance and direction turn evil unto good. What God did to Joseph He does also to you if you are a child of God. It is written in the Bible in order that you should be convinced of this consoling fact. “For whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scripture might have hope.” Also in your life God turns evil unto good. Believe this firmly.

“All things work together for good to them that love God.” This does not mean that God will make you a great lord on earth, as was the case with Joseph. But it does mean that God will make you to be something much greater than that. Here beneath you shall be His loving child, and at the end of your earthly pilgrimage He will receive you into His Kingdom of Glory, where fulness of joy and pleasures forevermore will fill your heart with bliss eternal. To that end all evil that befalls you must end as it did in the case of Joseph. God turns our sufferings into blessings.

What a comfort for every Christian! God’s ways always lead to triumph, though we often cannot understand them. The Lord safely and securely directs the ship of His holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, through the stormy ocean of this world into the haven of eternal rest. He says, Is. 54, 7: “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.” Let each, then, say to H im : “ Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel.”

Prayer.

O God, almighty and powerful in heaven and on earth, pre­ serve our body and life, house and home, city and country, our property and all our belongings, also the fruits of the field, from hail, lightning, devastating floods, and all harm. Keep us also from a sudden evil death and graciously grant that the hearts of many sinners may be turned to Thee in true repentance and faith. Let us at all hours and moments be mindful of Thy glorious coming to Judgment and be prepared to receive Thee with joy and to enter eternal bliss with Thee. Amen.