The Divine Orchestrator

God is the Divine Orchestrator
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
Read Genesis 50:12-21

When we look back throughout our lives, the events that shape our destiny are often circumstances and decisions that seem inconsequential and insignificant at the moment. We would like to think that the major events that determine our lives are decisions grounded in careful thought and fervent prayer as we seek the guidance and direction of God. Yet, in reality, when we look back at our life, we find significant shifts in the direction of our lives hinge on trivial events that are outside our control. In the end, we are left to wonder if life is merely driven by chance and random events where some succeed because they had “all the breaks” while others struggle through life because everything seems to work against them.
For much of Joseph’s life, circumstances beyond his control determined his destiny and undermined any opportunity to succeed. The decision of Jacob to send Joseph to check on the welfare of his brothers seemed appropriate. His brothers were tending their sheep near Shechem, where they had previously had a significant conflict. Because of the sexual assault against their sister, Simeon and Levi enacted revenge by killing every male in the city. Consequently, it was natural for Jacob to be concerned about their welfare. Yet his seemingly innocent decision to send Joseph to check on his brothers set in motion a series of events that would lead to Joseph being sold into slavery. Because of their jealousy of Jacob’s favoritism to Joseph, Joseph’s brothers conspired to kill him. Later, as “luck would have it,” some Midianite traders passed, and they decided to sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt. There it seemed that whenever Joseph started to achieve success and prosperity, events conspired against him until he was finally imprisoned because of a false accusation of rape by Potiphar’s wife. However, it is here that we discover a sudden, unexpected turn of events that again changed Joseph’s destiny. Pharoah had a troubling dream that perplexed him. When no one could explain the significance of the dream to him, “by chance,” a forgetful cupbearer remembered that there was one in prison who was an interpreter of dreams: Joseph. Consequently, Joseph awoke that morning in the despair of a dreary prison and went to sleep that night in the palace of Pharoah, having risen to a position of being second in command over the whole nation.  
Through all the twists and arbitrary events that continually worked against Joseph, he gained a perspective of God that enabled him to maintain his faith and confidence in God’s plan even when it seemed to work against him. Joseph realized that in all the events of life, the unseen hand of God was working in and through every circumstance to achieve God’s purpose in his life and bring salvation to the whole nation of Israel. Even when his brothers conspired to harm Joseph and erase his memory from them, Joseph recognized the hand of God.
From our perspective, life seems driven by chance, where insignificant events result in life-altering changes. But behind all events stands an all-powerful God who orchestrates everything to achieve his purpose in our life. We often look for God’s hand in the significant events. However, more often than not, it is in the insignificant events that God’s hand is most event. Therefore, when life seems out of control and events to seem arbitrary, recognize that God is the divine orchestrator working in even the most minor events to guide you to the center of his purpose.