A Coin Flip
Tuesday, March 9
A Coin Flip
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. Proverbs 16:33
Today, a coin is flipped, ‘heads or tails’ the referee shouts at football games to find which team will receive the ball first. Similarly dice are rolled to gamble or generate movements in a game. These events appear to be chance or coincidental events from your perspective, but God is LORD of chance. He is the God who calls the shots and makes moves regardless of the side the coin falls or the number the die lands on. We see this in Genesis 37 it reads, “Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” (Verse 18-20).
It can be said that Joseph, at the age of 17, was unwise and immature. Deciding the share his dream was unwise, deciding to share yet another dream was immature and this new revelation enraged his brothers even more. Genesis 37 we read Joseph going out on a mission to bring his father a report on what the brothers were doing. The brothers saw Joseph alone and far away from home and they plotted to kill him.
What’s happening here? The brothers are rolling the dice. Plotting to first kill and then send up selling Joseph. In the moment they could not know or see God controlling the outcome of these unexpected events.
Joseph’s brothers saw him as a bother or as a threat and so they plotted to kill him but what they did not understand is the end of this story. God will use these unfortunate events to position him. Joseph in the end understands this path as he says “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (Genesis 50:20). This enslavement led Joseph to Potiphar. God intervened on Joseph’s behalf.
Even in the darkest of circumstances, God had a plan for Joseph and He has a plan for you.