We've been thinking all this week on the podcast about the mystery of God's providence,

and trying to draw out some of the lessons that emerged from the story of Joseph in Genesis

37 through 50.

And we've seen how this whole section is actually headed, these are the generations

of Jacob, and we've been watching the way the Lord worked providentially and graciously

in Jacob, and in Joseph, and then in his brothers.

But before the weekends, I think we need to say something more about Joseph himself.

There are wonderful words towards the end of the book of Genesis, aren't they, when he

tells his brothers, you meant evil by what you did to me, but God meant it for good.

He was really expanding on what he'd said earlier, when they discovered to their horror

that he was the Prime Minister of Egypt.

It wasn't you who sent me here, he said, but God.

Well, it probably didn't feel like that when he was down the pit, or when he was sold

as a slave in Egypt, or when his success in Egypt was destroyed by Pontifish wife, or when

his hopes were dashed when the cup bearer, who's dreamy-dintapprited, forgot him, and

he was left in jail.

This isn't a story about how God's providence means God's people always enjoy a health

wealth and happiness, isn't, but it is a story about how God sovereignly works things

out for his own glory.

I think we can see that in several ways.

For one thing, God brought Joseph to the right place, at the right time, didn't he?

God's timing is significant.

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