Genesis 45:3-5, 50:20 (NIV) 3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Acts 2:23-24, 36-37 (NASB) 23this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24"But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 36"Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ--this Jesus whom you crucified." 37Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"
1 Corinthians 11:24 (KJV) And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
When we say that God is sovereign we mean that God is in control. But, if God is in control why does God let children kill one another in school? How could that possibly serve any divine purpose? Most of us have heard the objections. Many of us have felt that objection.
Joseph was born the blessed child in the family, then his own brothers sold him into slavery. Joseph was not actively climbing the ladder of success. But then it happens. Through a strange quirk of events the Pharaoh of Egypt hears about a special gift that Joseph has, and Joseph is soon made a leader in Pharaoh’s court.
Believing that God is sovereign is not based on what we see God doing or not doing in the world, but because of what we see in scripture, and particularly in the person of Jesus, the Christ.
When we believe in the sovereignty of God, it is not a logical conclusion. It is a heart-felt conviction. It is an urgent waiting as to what God will do. “Pierced to the heart” is Greek slang that describes the power of words to get through the hardness and callousness of our hearts.
How could God allow a wife to die? This is my body, which is broken for you.
Why doesn’t God do something about these senseless shootings? This is my body, which is broken for you.
If there is a God, I just can’t believe He would let my mother suffer this way. This is my body, which is broken for you.
Sometimes suffering helps us to hear and to believe, sometimes our suffering, sometimes the suffering of Someone else. This is my body, which is broken for you.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 7, 1998
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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