"And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."
Genesis 50:19-21
This is after Jacob dies, and Joseph's brothers think that *now* he will take revenge on them for plotting to kill him, and instead selling him into slavery. But he doesn't, noting that it was God's will.
I think there are a lot of bad things that happen to us in our lives that are God's will and part of the plan, but we don't realize it until later. It doesn't make what Joseph's brothers did right, and it doesn't make the bad things in our lives automatically good... but God uses everything to bring to pass his righteous purposes and turn us to good. Even the worst things, like Joseph's brothers hating him and selling him into slavery. God helped Joseph get over that and move on without bitterness and hate filling him up, and he can help us similarly to move on and to forgive. Let's talk to God about our circumstances and our hearts, and be willing to change our hearts and our heads with God's help, so we can move onward, and upward, towards God and a happier, better life filled with a new purpose.
