In Genesis 50:20, Joseph looks at the brothers who betrayed him and says, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good… to keep many people alive.”

Through suffering, betrayal, and injustice, God raised Joseph up to preserve physical life during famine. Grain filled empty stomachs. Families survived. A nation was sustained.

But everyone Joseph saved eventually died.

Joseph’s rescue was real—but temporary.

His story points us to someone greater: Jesus Christ.

Like Joseph, Jesus was betrayed by His own. Like Joseph, He suffered unjustly. Like Joseph, what others meant for evil, God meant for good. But where Joseph preserved life for a season, Jesus gives life forever.

Joseph delayed death. Jesus defeated it.

Joseph kept people alive in Egypt. Jesus reconciles sinners to God.

At the cross, humanity’s greatest evil became God’s greatest good. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we are not merely preserved—we are made alive. Forgiven. Adopted. Raised with Him.

Genesis 50 reminds us that God wastes nothing—not betrayal, not suffering, not injustice. And in Jesus, His sovereign plan culminates not in survival, but in resurrection.

Don’t settle for mere preservation.

Come to Christ for life that never ends.

Prayer:

Father,

Thank You for being the God who turns evil into good and suffering into salvation. Thank You for preserving life through Joseph—and for giving eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Keep us from settling for mere survival. Fix our eyes on Christ, who defeated death and secured our forever. Help us trust Your sovereign hand, even when we cannot see what You are doing.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.