Message summary: Remember that God has an overall plan as He guides you with His invisible hand.

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"God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance" (Genesis 45:7).

Last night I called Jeff, a friend who had informed me in an email that he had just received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He is an electrical engineer and was approaching the matter thoughtfully and honestly. Since his faith is firmly planted in Christ he has an assurance writing, "I'm doing fine and looking forward to the destination, never mind the possibility of the trip being rough".

He is working on finishing life will, something we should all be doing. But there is sure a greater urgency with a terminal diagnosis.

I prayed for Jeff as we finished the call that he would experience God's sustaining grace and have an assurance of God's invisible hand at work.

In the course of trusting God we experience those times when we just aren't sure what the Lord is doing in regard to His leading, let alone how it will work out in the end, although we know the ultimate outcome. One benefit I have noticed in regard to growing older is that the disappointments that might have been devastating to me in my younger years I now see more as a stepping stone toward the overall plan God has for my Christian life.

The song "He Sees What We Don’t" has these thoughtful lines that really speaks to our hearts,

Divine providence is a theological term used to describe the sovereignty of God over events in all of creation, including our own lives. Brooksyne often quotes a paraphrase of Proverbs 16:1, "We may make our plans, but God has the final say". See here for this verse in various versions.

Planning and strategizing short and long term goals is an important part of life, but it is especially reassuring that God's sovereign hand overrules our limited knowledge, as we trust our lives to His care. He brings to pass that which He has planned for us even though it might not be what we had desired, expected or in the time frame we had in mind.

Today's Scripture relates to the moment when Joseph is reuniting with his jealous brothers. Twenty years earlier they sought to kill him and, as a concession, sold him into slavery at the tender age of 17.  From the brothers perspective it was all over; they would never hear from this pesky little brother again.

Joseph had lost his favored position and his treasured possession, the coat of many colors. He was separated from his father who presumed he was dead.

He wound up in Egypt and when things started to look up he was lied about and was wrongly accused.  He spent years in prison, forgotten. But he kept his faith. Finally he was called in to interpret Pharaoh's dream and ended up as prime minister, second only in command to Pharaoh.

His brothers, who had no idea whether he was even alive had come to Egypt in search of food due to a famine and now they stood in terror before him. He was in a position to get even and they expected revenge. But instead he had a family reunion with those same brothers who had tried to kill him twenty years earlier.

Joseph had kept his faith and identity. Twice he made a great faith statement regarding God's leading with these words, "God sent me before you" (Genesis 45:5-7). What an astounding acknowledgement of the invisible hand of God! He experienced the emotional pinnacle thatthe late theologian R.C. Sproul refers to as "where the rubber of human anguish meets the road of divine providence".

Joseph demonstrates a remarkable evidence of God's work in His life. He recognized God had a purpose and was providentially leading, even though he went through circumstances of the very worst sort.

He recognized that it was ultimately not the vicious act of his brothers nor the Ishmaelite slave traders that got him to Egypt.  It was God. "God sent me ahead of you", Joseph asserted.

Are you walking in God's ways today? Are you seeking God's direction about a matter? Is He taking you though a major transition like our friend Jeff? (This is a transition we will all experience in one way or another.) Remember that God has an overall plan as He guides you with His invisible hand.

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber