Articles

God has a reason and a purpose for allowing it

Written by Daniel Dzamesi.

“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. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” (NIV) Genesis 45:5–8

Very often in our lives, certain things happen and we find it hard to understand why they happen. If someone is responsible for those things, we quickly try to put that someone “where he belongs”. If there is no one to blame, we just sit back and sulk all we can and wonder why the whole world is against us. We ask God why he allows such things to happen to us – this is human nature and I am the guiltiest of all. Very rarely, do we think that maybe, just maybe, God allows such things for a reason.

Ok; so I was watching a TV show recently. Mr. Woodward’s wife fell and twisted her shoulder a little so he called in a doctor to examine her shoulder. As the doctor was examining Mrs. Woodward’s shoulder, he heard, “Mr. Douglas, take your dog and get off my yard”; that was Mr. Woodward yelling at his neighbour, Mr. Douglas. The doctor was surprised and asked why. It turned out that Mr. Douglas was in the habit of walking his dog on Mr. Woodward’s yard without picking up after the dog. “He walks his dog on our yard without picking up after it; my wife fell and twisted her shoulder while picking up after his dog”, said Mr. Woodward. Mr. Woodward went as far as dumping compost on his neighbour.

Well, the doctor examined Mrs. Woodward’s arm and said it was fine but he did notice something unusual about her jugular vein. He recommended some tests and it turned out, she had a cardiac problem (which of course she was unaware of). She saw an expert who told her how lucky she was that the cardiac problem had been detected early and then prescribed some medication for her.

Alright, now let’s get to the end of the story. The doctor paid another visit to the Woodward’s, to check on Mrs. Woodward. He saw Mr. Woodward run outside again when Mr. Douglas walked by with his dog; only this time, Mr. Woodward said, “Mr. Douglas, good morning to you. It’s so nice to see you again”. Seeing that the doctor was confused, Mr. Woodward said, “If it hadn’t been for him, my wife wouldn’t have hurt her shoulder; if she hadn’t hurt her shoulder, we wouldn’t have called you; and if we hadn’t called you, my wife’s heart could have stopped beating”.

Sometimes, when things go wrong – like Mrs. Woodward hurting her shoulder – we get angry and wish so much to blame someone. But God allows some of these things to happen for a reason – in this case, so that the problem with Mrs. Woodward’s, heart could be detected and treated.

Now, this was just a TV show. But we learn this same lesson from the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. His brothers sold him into slavery but he became the prime minister of Egypt and saved Israel during the time of famine. So in Gen. 45: 5 – 8, Joseph said, “… it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you…… so then it was not you who sent me here but God”.

God had a reason and a purpose for allowing Joseph to be sold into slavery. Take heart, no matter what situation you face in your life today; rest assured that God has a reason and a purpose for allowing it.

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