You Can Correctly Understand The Will Of God

Gen. 50:20 - “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…”
 
In the above text Joseph is saying these words to his brothers who had sold him into slavery.

What can be worse than having your own flesh and blood do something evil to you? 
 
Joseph’s brothers had sold him to the Ishmaelites (Gen.37:27) who in turn would sell him to the Egyptians to be their slave.

Then the brothers would return to Jacob, their father, and purposefully deceive him by lying to him.  
 
Yes, it is true some people will do some very mean, wicked and cruel things not only to their siblings but to people they work with or people who are considered their friends. 
 
How are we to handle such situations? 

• By Correctly Understanding The Will Of God

There are three aspects or ways to view the Will of God.
 
First, there is the Permissible Will of God, second there is the Preceptive Will of God and lastly, the Purposeful Will of God. 
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• The Permissible Will of God: are events we see happening in life where God permits them but it is not His desired will. 

When we look at the evil in this world and ask, "How can God allow this to happen?" You have the answer. Just because God permits it doesn't mean He sanctioned it.
 
In the story of Joseph recorded for us in Genesis, God permitted the brothers to sell him into slavery. When someone does evil to someone else it fits into God's permissible will.

What the brothers did was not what God wanted or desired to have happen, but it is what He permitted. 
 
You will notice that God not only permitted it but He used it to elevate Joseph to second in command of all Egypt. God can turn an evil deed into something beneficial.

• The Preceptive Will of God: anyone who obeys God's laws or precepts can consider themselves doing or fulfilling the perceptive will of God. 

Every time I take the Lord's Supper I am fulfilling the perceptive will of God.
 
1 Corin. 11:26 - For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.  I want to proclaim the Lord's death and so should you. When we proclaim His death it tells the world how much God loves us. 

• The Purposeful Will of God: nothing or no one can hinder God's purposeful will from happening. This can be seen in Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. 

Acts 2:23 - "… this 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." 
 
There was nothing that was going to happen that would have hindered Jesus from going to the cross. It was God's Purposeful Will that Jesus dies on the cross to atone for the sins of mankind.
 
1 John 2:2 - and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 

• Conclusion 

The next time you hear someone say, "That was the will of God." You can ask them, "What aspect of the will of God would you place that under?"
 
Then prepare yourself for a "deer in the headlights" look, which will give you an opportunity to teach them this lesson. 
 
Think About These:

When things get rough, remember: It is the rubbing that brings out the shine.

The best way out of a difficulty is through it.

Stay Pumped,
 
Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word