Good overcomes evil

There is an expression on the island of Montserrat, “Wha’ start bad a marnin’ cyan come good a evening” meaning, “What starts off on a bad note isn’t going to finish well”.

Not true! At least not true in this chapter of the story where Joseph’s brothers sell him a slave. Joseph becomes a governor. Joseph’s success secures the welfare of his brothers, indeed his family and their posterity. Bad things may come later, but for now, things are going very well.

Joseph, the one who endured the greatest hurt in preceding chapters of the story, insisted on seeing God’s purpose through it all. I am reminded of a younger deceased colleague who would always say, “Put the best construction to the worst situation”.

This is not about being naïve, friends. It is not about having the wool over your eye. The eyes of faith cannot be covered by any sort of wool.

Hope in God. The God of Hope transforms. I’ve been in situations that said clearly “Just give up. It’s over” when it really wasn’t over.

I’m not saying that you should be foolishly defiant like Donald Trump and not admit that you’ve been voted out. In his case, he should really try and see what opportunities there are for his redemption in that situation.

Look out for redemption’s opportunities. Where God is, they are always present. Something that started off on a bad note may well come through with value. But we need to own up to the errors we entertained at the start. Confession is good for the soul. God honours a contrite heart.

We have made foolish mistakes. We may have started out badly, to put it mildly; but God can and will transform our situation is we let him. What we should not do is to try and fix our mess with more schemes. They’ll be uncovered.

See, the brothers scheme about Joseph being killed by a wild animal is about to backfire- not really. It’s backfiring in a glorious way. Let the truth be told, even when it’s unpleasant to the ear.