ETPing

Our youth pastor Sean often talks about ETPing, which in long form is Enjoying The Process.

I was just thinking this morning how good it is to trust that God has everything in control and that He even takes what others intend for our harm to bring Himself glory. I guess it just clicked in my thick head that when we trust that He does have everything in control, then we can enjoy the process, because it doesn't really matter what comes up, we can just rest in His care. It somehow is freeing to know that even when people are deliberately trying to hurt us, either by slanderous words, or by just being verbally evil, or by physically trying to harm us, God can take those things and use them for His glory.

Gen.50:15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: 17 'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.

19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

Joseph certainly understood God's sovereignty and he could ETP because he knew that God could, and would, work out all the details.

GOD IS GOOD.

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