Don't Be Angry at Yourselves

"And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you." — Genesis 45:5
 
Could you say that to the people who wronged you?
 
You talk about somebody whose life didn't go according to plan—Joseph's story is a masterclass in detours. Sold into slavery by his own brothers. They told their father he was killed by a wild animal. He ended up in Egypt as a slave, then was falsely accused and thrown into prison.
 
From prison, through a series of God-orchestrated events, he eventually became Vice Pharaoh—in charge of the entire country during a famine that brought his brothers crawling to Egypt for help.
 
If anyone could be justified in holding a grudge, it was Joseph. If anyone had earned the right to bitterness, he had. If anyone could say, "Look what you did to me," he could.
 
But instead, he says, "Don't be angry at yourselves because God had a plan."
 
That's a positive perspective that only comes from years of watching God work in the detours.
 
Joseph didn't minimize what happened. He didn't pretend it didn't hurt. But he chose to see God's hand in it all. "God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance" (Genesis 45:7).
 
What if the detour you're in right now is God sending you ahead?
 
What if the pain you're experiencing is preparation for someone else's preservation?
 
What if years from now, you'll look back and see that every twist and turn was part of a rescue plan you couldn't see at the time?
 
Find the positive perspective. It's there. God is working—even through the people and circumstances that hurt you most.