Heart’s Cry: What is Being Woven Into Your Story?
By Darlene Winans
I’ve been recently fascinated with the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis – Joseph the Dreamer, Joseph in his lowest valleys, Joseph’s elevation and promotion to second in command of all of Egypt. You may be familiar with his story. We know Joseph was sold into slavery because his brothers hated him. We know he was wrongfully accused in Potiphar’s house. We know he was imprisoned and forgotten. I think we can all identify on some level with the pain that Joseph endured throughout his lifetime.
But then we read Joseph’s statement of forgiveness in Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Joseph calls his brothers out on the evil they committed against him, but then he turns it around by saying that God had a plan all along to accomplish His purposes in Joseph’s life, and, ultimately in the saving of many lives from the famine in the region.
Let’s focus on that word “intended” in Genesis 50:20. The King James version uses the word “meant.” In the original text, in Hebrew, the word is khashav. It’s the same root word used for the word “to weave,” and it’s the same word used in the book of Exodus to describe the craftsmen (and women) who were to weave the curtains for the tabernacle.
That’s interesting. In other words, Joseph is saying, “The evil (or harm) that you wove into my story, God wove something good to accomplish what is now being done…” Joseph was the victim of many evils in his lifetime, but God wove good into his story, to accomplish His purposes.
What evil has been woven into your story? Have you allowed God to replace the evil with good things only He can supply? Has God woven good into your story? In Jeremiah 33:3, God says, “Call on Me, and I will answer, and I will tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know.” Have you called upon the Lord to weave good into your story? Call on Him, make Him your heart’s cry, and watch Him take the evil that men intended, and weave it into good in your story!
