“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” — Genesis 50:20 (ESV)
Joseph said this to his brothers, but it reads like commentary on the entire book of Esther.
The people who have functioned as Haman in your story, the ones who opposed you, the ones who used their position or their influence against you, the ones who built figurative gallows with your name on them, were not outside God’s providence. They were inside it. Not because God approved of what they did, but because God is sovereign over what they did. His purpose moves through human intentions, including hostile ones, like water through a landscape that was not designed for it.
This is one of the hardest truths in the theology of providence. It is easy to thank God for the Esthers, the people who showed up at the right moment with courage and favour and positioned themselves to help. It is significantly harder to acknowledge that the Hamans were also part of the story that brought you where you are. That the opposition, the blocked path, the person who said no when you needed yes, may have been the mechanism by which you were redirected toward something better than what you were chasing.
Joseph was explicit about this. You meant evil. God meant good. Both statements are simultaneously true. His brothers intended harm. God intended redemption. The same events carry both intentions, and it is only from the vantage point of the other side of the story that the redemptive meaning becomes visible. Inside the pit, there is only the evil intention. From Egypt, looking back at the journey, there is also the good one.
The people who have functioned as Haman in your story are not owed gratitude for their hostility. But the God who worked through them is owed worship. There is a difference between forgiving the instrument and honouring the Author who used it.
Today, name one person whose opposition redirected you. You do not need to call them good. But acknowledge the God who was sovereign over even their bad intentions.
Prayer
Father, I release the Hamans of my story to you. What they meant for evil, you have been using for good. I do not understand how you work through the intentions of those who meant to harm me, but I trust that you do. Receive my worship for the providence I did not choose. In Jesus’ name, amen.
