All thing work together for our good ~ Bob Coy

All thing work together for our good

Jacob exclaimed . . . "Everything is going against me!" Genesis 42:36 (NLT)

"Everything is going against me!" Ever been there? Have you ever found yourself in a position where it seems like absolutely everything is working in direct opposition to you? Jacob did.



As we learned over the past few days, it all started when he was told that his favored son, Joseph, had been attacked and killed. Then a severe famine hit, prompting him to send his remaining sons to Egypt for food. But his sons came back without Simeon, who had been detained on a trumped-up charge of theft. To make matters worse, they were commanded to return to Egypt and to bring their younger brother Benjamin with them.


Now imagine you're Jacob. "First I lose Joseph, then this famine pushes my family to the brink of starvation, then I lose Simeon, and now I'm about to lose Benjamin!" If it were us, we'd probably come to the same conclusion he did. "Everything is going against me!"


But neither Jacob nor we have the authority to make such a statement because we don't know everything, much less if it's going against us or not. Only God knows everything, and the great irony here is that God was actually working on Jacob's behalf. Joseph wasn't dead; he was alive and had become a powerful ruler in Egypt. The famine was a tool to reunite Joseph with Jacob. And Simeon and Benjamin would soon be reunited with their dad, as well.


Although he couldn't see it from where he was standing, everything was actually working for and not against Jacob. God loves us just as much as Jacob, and He promises to take the trials that seem so against us and make them work for us:


And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God . . . (Romans 8:28 NLT)

Discuss, Dig, Decide:

Discuss a season in your life that initially was chaotic, but in the end had circumstances that wound up working for your good. When you felt like everything was going against you, what made the difference?

Dig into Genesis 41:50–52. As Joseph names his first two children in Egypt, what insights can we gather about his perspective on trials compared to his father’s perspective?

Decide that each individual in your group will read the account of Joseph’s time in Egypt this week (Genesis 39–46). Come back next week prepared to discuss what led Joseph to have the outlook that God is sovereign and good, even through his trials.