Repurposed

There are few people who faced more disappointments than Joseph in the Old Testament of the Bible. Although better known for his technicolour dream coat, he actually journeyed through situations where to be honest, I think I would have given up. Sure, he starts off pretty arrogant, declaring to his brothers and his parents his dreams where they all bow down to him, but still, what happens next is pretty harsh. Having been sold into slavery by his brothers, he then finds employment in the house of an important guy, but that falls through when this guy’s wife takes a liking to Joseph and when he resists her advances she screams and accuses Joseph of assaulting her. He’s thrown into prison without trial and spends years there.

Think about that. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d already ended up in slavery, and now it had actually gotten worse. In prison, he uses his gifts to lead and interpret dreams, and this looks like it could lead to him being freed from prison, but that falls through too. From that point on he faces further years in jail, forgotten. The disappointment of being forgotten again must have been crushing, and yet somehow Joseph endures. Finally, his freedom comes when he is remembered and the king calls on him to interpret a dream.

And here comes the part of the story I love, where Joseph is given freedom, authority and ultimately, the fulfilment of his dreams all those years ago. With the wisdom and insight he has from God, he leads a strategic response to a global emergency that results in his (adopted) nation being saved and the surrounding peoples coming to Egypt for supplies.

When his brothers come to buy supplies during their famine, and realise this great leader is in fact their little brother Joseph, they are shocked and afraid. Grovelling, they hope to find forgiveness. Joseph’s response is remarkable: “You intended it for evil, but God meant it for good”.

Is it possible that in this time, God is repurposing for good what was intended for evil? 

Jesus is clear that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. There’s been finances stolen, lives killed and destruction spreads across 24 hour news coverage. It’s pretty clear to me that disease is from the enemy of our souls. And yet I believe God is still working in us, in the church and in the world, repurposing for our good what was intended to destroy. 

Cities of our world where many die each year due to pollution, are currently surrounded by air that’s clear as crystal. A friend was telling of her neighbour, an elderly woman, who’d been estranged from her daughter for many years, but who’d last week received a call, “Just wanting to see if you were ok?” How many other relationships where brokenness spans decades might finally be reconciled as people face their own mortality and the clarity of what really matters? And some would have said of the church that it’s slow to change or that it doesn’t know how to adapt to reach people in our world today, and yet in four days we saw the biggest change to patterns of Sunday worship to have happened across all streams of the church in many years.

God is repurposing this disaster for our good, that we would see what is possible. Our environment can recover. Relationships can be restored. The church can change quickly. The enemy is the thief of hope but the thing with hope is that there’s always more, because its Source is limitless. In a week where fear went on a rampage, hope ramped up!

Because actually this is always what the Lord is doing. We see this in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The enemy thought with the death of Jesus that he’d won, but actually it was his undoing and defeat! Everything seemed lost at the time but actually it was the moment where we gained everything. God is so smart that He always manages to outwit the enemy of our souls… so as the enemy storms the globe with coronavirus, God actually turns situations for healing and reconciliation and hope and restoration and the enemy looks back tearing his hair out because the church has advanced and God has been glorified by His people who stood defiant and sang praises in their living rooms, connected by the internet in solidarity and devotion to Christ!

This of course does not minimise the very real fear we all feel as disheartening news rolls in on our apps and TVs like unwelcome waves in a relentless storm. Nor does it cancel the very real losses many face as their businesses or loved ones’ lives hang in the balance. I still have many questions: why didn’t God warn us? Why weren’t there words to help us prepare? And it means questions for me too – like what do I do next? Having planned to travel but ended up grounded, what should I do? How I handle my own disappointment is still very much a work in progress, and maybe I’ll write about that from the other side in future.

But let’s keep pressing into Holy Spirit together, because resurrection day is coming! And of course, let’s comfort one another knowing in this way we fulfil the purpose of Christ.