If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31
“This morning I thought I was worth a great deal of money; now I don’t know that I have a dollar.” Former US president Ulysses S. Grant said those words the day he was swindled out of his life’s savings by a business partner. Months later, Grant was diagnosed with incurable cancer. Concerned about providing for his family, he accepted an offer from author Mark Twain to publish his memoirs, which he completed a week before he died.
The Bible tells us of another person who faced grave hardships. Jacob believed his son Joseph had been “torn to pieces” by a “ferocious animal” (Genesis 37:33). Then his son Simeon was held captive in a foreign country, and Jacob feared his son Benjamin would be taken from him as well. Overcome, he cried out, “Everything is against me!” (42:36).
But it wasn’t. Little did Jacob know that his son Joseph was very much alive and that God was at work “behind the scenes” to restore his family. Their story illustrates how He can be trusted even when we can’t see His hand in our circumstances.
Grant’s memoirs proved to be a great success and his family was well cared for. Though he didn’t live to see it, his wife did. Our vision is limited, but God’s isn’t. And with Jesus as our hope, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). May we place our trust in Him today.
How have you seen God bring good out of difficulty? Where do you need to trust Him?
Beautiful Savior, please help me keep my eyes on You and not on my problems. You’re always faithful!
INSIGHT
Genesis 37–50 tells the amazing story of Joseph, Jacob’s son, who dreamed that family members would bow down before him (37:5–11). The narrative takes some providential turns but finally the dream is fulfilled: “So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground” (42:6). Far from God being against Jacob and his family, His bigger plan was to preserve them in accordance with His promise to Abraham to multiply his descendants to be “as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore” (22:17). What was meant for harm humanly speaking (see 37:12–28) was, in the end, used by God for His good purposes (50:20).