Faith in God’s Plan...

Turning darkness into light

Kindly note that the following is related to our Torah reading for this week, parashat Vayigash (Gen 44:18-47:27). Please review the portion to find your place here….

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After Joseph dramatically revealed his true identity to his brothers, he asked them to draw near to him and then reassured them saying: “Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen. 45:4-8). Here we see that Joseph was completely assured that everything that had happened to him up to this moment in time was by divine design, and that even his brothers' cruel betrayal was used by God to elevate him so that he would save many lives and to preserve the future of Israel.

The brothers still wrestled with the shame of their past, however, not fully realizing that Joseph's elaborate charade as a disguised Egyptian was designed to give them opportunity to confess their sin and find healing. Because Joseph was so confident in the providential plan of God, however, he bore no ill-will or grudge against his brothers. The sages note that after the burial of their father Jacob, however, the brothers were fearful that Joseph would finally seek retribution for what they had done to him, so they sent a fabricated message to him which said: “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father’” (Gen. 50:16-17). Joseph then wept when he heard this because he realized that his brothers did not believe in his love for them. He repeated that God had sent him there to save lives, and for that he was grateful.

In this connection it is interesting to wonder how Jacob might have reacted after he had discovered the truth that his sons had lied to him after they had maliciously sold his beloved firstborn son into slavery. Perhaps Jacob would have identified with the plight of Joseph because they had much in common. After all, Jacob, like Joseph, had experienced slavery through the betrayal and animosity of his brother Esau. He may also have reviewed his own complicity with his mother when he treacherously “stole” the blessing" from his brother... Perhaps he blamed himself for showing partiality to Joseph after the death of his chosen wife Rachel, too... And we wonder: Did Jacob recall the vision of the ladder that ascended to heaven with the LORD standing above, proclaiming his promise to give him the land, and that in his descendants, all the families of the earth would be blessed. and moreover that the LORD God would never leave nor forsake him? (Gen. 28:12-15). Did he remember wrestling with the Angel, agonizing in his struggle to surrender his life to God's care by holding him to his promise? (Gen. 32:24-28). And how did he understand his beloved Joseph after he realized that he had been alive all along? When he was released from Pharaoh's dungeon, surely he could have sent messengers to inquire of his father and to tell him that he was alive? The story is bittersweet throughout.

Though we are not told of Jacob's emotional reaction to all of this, we later read in the Torah that he blessed all of his sons, both Joseph (and his sons Ephraim and Manasseh), and also his other sons, despite their having grieved his heart for over 22 years because of their cowardice and duplicity. But like Joseph, Jacob believed that God had orchestrated the affairs of his life - both the good and the evil - according to His sovereign will. Jacob would affirm Joseph's words to his brothers: "It was not you who sent me here, but God," though he also would confess his struggles and suffering along the way: "Few and evil have been the days of my life" (מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי) he had told the Pharaoh (Gen. 45:8).

Despite the ambivalence he undoubtedly felt, Jacob did not question God's justice or impugn God's character, nor did he blame his sons for his heartache. Jacob's silence in the face of his grief teaches us how to endure by faith, even in the midst of our own fears, struggles, and losses along the way.

And there remains a blessing to impart to others, despite all the troubles that beset our way, too. Our wounds are wounds borne within a heart of faith that refuses to let go of hope and healing. We may have made a mess of our lives; we may have hurt others and betrayed the duty to love, but we do not give up, we do not let our fear be the last word, we do not consign ourselves to despair. We find our consolation in the promise of God. As the book of Job teaches, we receive both the evil and the good from God's hand while affirming his justice, so that even though we return to the dust, we will keep our hope in him (Job 13:15).

We suffer, and life hurts. Often we are afraid. And if suffering is part of God's overarching plan for creation, if it is part of the "divine idea," then how do we learn to emotionally accept it without becoming bitter? We earnestly desire the love and blessing of God, but we are shaken when terrible things happen. We are told not to be afraid, that we are not alone, but we often do feel afraid and alone in our suffering...

First we must find faith that God's decision to create us is for our blessedness rather than for evil, or minimally that it is better for us to have been created than never to have been born (Jer. 29:11). In that sense trusting God represents an affirmation of our life and its value. Whether this is the "best of all possible worlds" is an abstract question for speculative theology, but where we live, in the raw and messy struggles of life, in the midst of our joys and elations, but also in our darkness and pain, we need faith to believe that our existence has some meaning and purpose, that our lives carry some significance, and that not everything is hevel havalim, "vanity of vanities."

The late Frederick Buechner reminds the heart of faith: “The worst isn't the last thing about the world. It's the next to the last thing. The last thing is the best. It's the power from on high that comes down into the world, that wells up from the rock-bottom worst of the world like a hidden spring. Can you believe it? The last, best thing is the laughing deep in the hearts of the saints, sometimes our hearts even. Yes. You are terribly loved and forgiven. Yes. You are healed. All is well.” Amen.

So never yield to despair, since that leads to further darkness and fear. Press on and keep fighting the "good fight" of faith (1 Tim. 6:12). Remember that you infinitely matter to heaven; your life has great value; you are significant and you are truly loved by our Heavenly Father. There is a "future and a hope" reserved for you; there is "a white stone, and on that stone will be written a new name that no one can understand except the one who receives it" (Rev. 2:17). May "the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tested with fire, be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of the Messiah" (1 Pet. 1:7).

Jeremiah 29:11

כִּי אָנֹכִי יָדַעְתִּי אֶת־הַמַּחֲשָׁבֹת
אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי חֹשֵׁב עֲלֵיכֶם נְאֻם־יְהוָה
מַחְשְׁבוֹת שָׁלוֹם וְלֹא לְרָעָה
לָתֵת לָכֶם אַחֲרִית וְתִקְוָה

“For I know the plans
that I have for you, says the LORD:
plans for peace and not for evil,
to give you a future and a hope.”