“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28 (ESV)
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” (Genesis 50:20 ESV)
The Scriptures affirm God uses all things, even evil, for our good and for His glory. He does so while remaining perfectly holy. In what ways does the LORD use evil for the believers’ good and for His ultimate glory?
“There are two areas in which God’s use of evil for good must be considered. First, there is the evil of others. Does this work for the believer’s good? The Bible answers Yes by many examples. When Naomi’s son, an Israelite, married Ruth, a Moabitess, the marriage was contrary to the revealed will of God and hence was sin. Jews were not to marry Gentiles. Still the marriage made Ruth a daughter-in-law of Naomi and thus enabled her to be exposed to the true God and eventually come to the place where she made a choice to serve him. “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). After Ruth’s husband died, she married Boaz. Through her new husband, Ruth entered into the line of descent of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah (Matt. 1:5),” explains Dr. James Montgomery Boice.
David suffered greatly through the sins of others against him: including King Saul (I Samuel 19-31) and the sins of his sons (2 Samuel 13-18). However, the LORD worked through these experiences. David, grew to understand the hand of God in his suffering and expressed his faith in great psalms (Psalm 3; 18)
Hosea suffered through the unfaithfulness of his wife Gomer. But God used his experience to bring forth one of the most beautiful, moving and instructive books of the Old Testament.
“The other area in which God’s use of evil for his own purposes must be considered is our own sin. This point is somewhat harder to see, for sin also works to our own unhappiness and blinds our eyes to God’s dealing. But there is good involved anyway,” states Dr. Boice.
One such individual who understood the truth of God using evil and adversity of our sin adversity for the believer’s good and God’s glory was the Old Testament Patriarch Joseph. Decades after his brothers sinned against him and sold him into slavery (Gen. 39), Joseph told his brothers this was by the providential purpose of the LORD.
Genesis 45:1–8 (ESV) – “Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. 4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”
Three times in the text Joseph declared God sent him to Egypt (45:5, 7, 8). Joseph affirmed God used the evil of his brothers’ sin for humankind’s good (vs.7) and for God’s glory.
Joseph declared this again in one of the most significant biblical texts concerning God’s use of evil for good: Genesis 50:20. What Joseph’s brother meant for evil, their hatred of Joseph and their selling him into slavery, God used for good in order to keep many people alive. The evil of Joseph’s brother brought about great good for many people and great glory for the LORD.
“Scripture clearly says that Joseph’s brothers were wrongly jealous of him (Gen. 37:11), hated him (Gen. 37:4, 5, 8), wanted to kill him (Gen. 37:20), and did wrong when they cast him into a pit (Gen. 37:24) and then sold him into slavery in Egypt (Gen. 37:28). Yet later Joseph could say to his brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:5), and “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:20). Here we have a combination of evil deeds brought about by sinful men who are rightly held accountable for their sin and the overriding providential control of God whereby God’s own purposes were accomplished. Both are clearly affirmed,” states Dr. Wayne Grudem.
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). It does not say “God used it for good.” It says, God meant it for good—the same word used for the sinful intention of the brothers: they meant it for evil. They have one intention in the act. God has another intention in the act. Theirs is sinful. God’s is saving –to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today,” explains Dr. John Piper.
“God has given us these words so that we can grasp, in some small measure, how His providence relates not only to Joseph’s brothers’ sin, but to all sin, including the first human sin. Thus, we may say, “as for you, Adam and Eve, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Your purpose in sinning was the vain pursuit of pleasure through self-exalting autonomy. God’s purpose in permitting your sin was to give His people the pleasure of seeing and savoring the glory of His grace in the inexpressible suffering and triumphs of His Son.”
How has God used evil and adversity in your life, by the sins of others and your own sin, to bring about your spiritual maturity for His honor and glory? How may you express to God today your gratitude for the inexpressible suffering and triumph of Jesus Christ respectively through the cross and the resurrection?
Soli deo Gloria!
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