Life’s Tangles

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Ah, providence—God’s providence is everywhere in the story of Joseph: “God both possesses and exercises absolute power over the works of his hands.”* As Kelly Minter writes: “Is it possible that what appears to be nothing but a tangle of other people’s agendas will somehow be the very ball of yarn God will use to weave one of the most redemptive masterpieces in human history?”**  

If you have ever worked with yarn you will understand the analogy. At the moment I am knitting a Christmas stocking for Hallee, our middle grandson’s bride. (Yes it is July; I’m a tad slow.) As I carefully knit her initial “H” into the top with a different color, the tangle of loose ends on the backside is messing with me. I have no choice but to stop every row and unwind green from red until my threads are in order. Only then can I knit on. Only that way will the stocking look as it is designed to look.

Well, God was working away on the backside of Joseph’s story. The famine would come to Egypt and the surrounding areas. Joseph’s plan to store the plenty would feed not only the Egyptians but those who would come for grain. And that would include Joseph’s brothers and eventually his father Jacob. Yes, God had called Joseph in this bizarre scenario according to his purpose!  

And God is working away on the backside of your story, working for the good of you who love him and are called according to his purpose. Despite the seemingly snarled tangles in your life, He is working for your good, according to your design. Trust Him!

“God is too wise to be mistaken

 God is too good to be unkind

 So when you don't understand

 When you don't see His plan

 When you can't trace His hand

 Trust His heart”

  —Babbie Mason and Eddie Carswell, 1989

Nancy P

*Thomas Constable, Sonic Light online

**Kelly Minter, Finding God Faithful, p.30, Lifeway Press, 2023

All Scripture quotations are from the NIV Translation 1973, 1978, 1984, unless otherwise noted