I affirm that God is sovereign. I used to attend an Armenian college where I was taught different things regarding free will and pre-destination. However, I affirm that God knows everything that ever has happened and ever will happen. He knows the fate of everyone. He knows each individual person’s expiration date. Heck, he even knows what I will eat for dinner 100 days from now. You may disagree with me on the issue of sovereignty; before you make up your mind let me tell you a story about betrayal.
There once was this guy.. lets call him Joseph. Joseph had a dream about how one day his brothers would have to bow down to him. Naturally, when he told his brothers about this dream, they became uber pissed off. So they decided that they should kill him! In a haste decision, they decided to spare Joseph’s life but instead they sell him into slavery. So there he is, a man who God has ordained for great things; bound and tied into slavery. Joseph’s brothers took his coat however; this was no ordinary coat. Some translators believe that it was a colorful coat, some believe that it was simply striped.. regardless, it was a nice coat. It was a coat given to Joseph by his father and for all practical purposes it would be the equivalent of a modern day Armani sport coat. So this coat is ripped up and covered with animal blood by the brothers so that Joseph’s father would think that he was dead. Good cover if I say so myself.
So now that Joseph is in slavery he gets purchased by this guy named Potiphar who held a position in service to the Pharoah. If you were in Joseph’s situation, what would you be thinking? I would feel such betrayal. I would wonder why my brothers would do this to me; more importantly, why would my God do this to me? However, it is clear from the scriptures that “the Lord was with Joseph and blessed him greatly” (Genesis 39:2, NLT). He may have been praying to be moved from his situation. Yet, one has to keep in mind that nothing should come instantaneously.
As if the life of a slave is not hard enough, things only get worse. It is clear from the scriptures that Joseph was an attractive man and with the burden of attractiveness comes more temptation. Potiphar’s wife became lustful toward Joseph. She thought that he was fine and she made up her mind that she should begin to seduce him. Her attempts failed numerously; Joseph refused to sleep with her. Potiphar’s wife began to feel insulted and decided to gain revenge on Joseph by accusing him of rape.
So Joseph is accused of rape and thrown into prison. There he is as an innocent man, first betrayed by his brothers and then betrayed by his master’s wife. Look at what the Bible says about Joseph when he is thrown into prison: “but the Lord was with Joseph there, too, and he granted Joseph favor with the chief jailer.” (Genesis 39:21, NLT). How interesting is this that Joseph would gain favor with the jailer. Probably was not instant, it probably took a few days or weeks of relationship building before Joseph became good chums with the jailer. Joseph had to put forth effort on his part. Eventually, Joseph became in charge of the jail and all of the prisoners.
Fast forward….
Joseph became an adviser to the Pharoah after interpreting some of Pharoah’s dreams. Then when the time came to appoint a ruler over Egypt, Pharoah’s clear choice was Joseph. So from all of the adversity that Joseph experienced, he finally becomes a ruler as his dreams predicted. What should this Old Testament wisdom tell us today? God is sovereign. Joseph had God on his side. Joseph prayed to the Lord however; Joseph still experienced pain, adversity and betrayal. What I get from this story is that prayer without action is simply void.
From this story, I also gather that ultimately, God is sovereign. We cannot change God’s mind on anything. Anything that we go through, rather it is death, illness or any pain is His will. God does not delight in our suffering however, because of the impact of sin on earth, pain must exist. I have been on this journey with God for many years. Me and my family have prayed frequently on behalf of my illness. I have yet to be healed here on earth and I might not be. I will be healed on that day when my body is resurrected and I receive a new glorified body. It brings me comfort to know that GOD IS SOVEREIGN and He uses all things for good. “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28, NLT). The Bible says that God uses EVERYTHING. He uses our pain, he uses our happiness, our joy, our sorrow.. EVERYTHING.
God is sovereign and he uses EVERYTHING for good. It’s amazing, but it’s true.