by Becky Burns

You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good,
in order to bring about this present outcome – to keep many people alive. 
Genesis 50:20

There is no doubt that the enemy has plans and schemes against us.  His goal is to steal, to kill, to destroy… and he is good at it.  All we have to do is look across our groaning world to see the divisiveness, destruction and death.  That part of this verse in Genesis is not difficult to believe.  The incredible part is that next phrase “but God meant it for good.”

The word ‘meant’ is translated from the Hebrew, in a malicious sense, “to plan, plot or devise.”  Yep, I get that.

And in this same verse, it is also translated literally “to weave, fabricate, to interpenetrate something.”  So God takes what the enemy carefully planned out to use against us and He literally penetrates it, fabricating it into something beautiful, wonderful, GOOD!

We see this over and over.  A child like little Kena is found laying on the ground, abandoned by a birthmother who probably couldn’t feed him.  Death was very close.

But the God Who Sees (El Roi) was already weaving Kena’s life story for his GOOD.  He took those dire circumstances and made them conform to His plan – for life!  Kena was found, rescued, loved and nurtured.  The prayers of our staff and of his sponsor were a vital part of his story.

Two-year-old Kena, the oldest child at the orphanage, was recently chosen for adoption by a wonderful couple living in Addis Ababa.  They too are experiencing the truth of this verse in Genesis… they weren’t able to conceive a child and felt the emptiness in their hearts.  But God has penetrated their circumstances and brought about His plan for their family.

Only God!