How Bad Circumstances Can Be Used For Good
by Dan Jones, M.D.
Genesis 50:15-21
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?" So they sent word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘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.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.
But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
As we come to the end of this wonderful story of the life of Joseph, there is one more lesson for us. At the end of his life, Joseph has come to a new level of understanding of God and a new level of faith in him. His brothers were concerned that after the death of their father, Joseph would finally be free to take his revenge on his brothers for their past mistreatment of him. But by now, Joseph’s spiritual maturity allowed him to understand that God was in control all along. Though his brother’s motives were not good, God intended all this journey for good. God needed Joseph in charge in Egypt at the time of the great famine. And what a strange path God chose to get him there. But Joseph understood now in retrospect that God used all this for His purposes.
Those of us wearing the special coats of a health professional often find ourselves in troubling and difficult situations. We should take heart from this story, that despite how badly we are being treated, how difficult our circumstances, God has a plan and can use bad circumstances “for good”.
The story of Joseph and his coat is a wonderful, old, and familiar story, I believe it has lessons for us, as health professionals, about our special coats of distinction. To be the health professionals that our patients need, we need to remember the lessons that Joseph learned in the pits along his difficult journey with his coat. We need the lesson of humility to be reminded that we don’t know everything. We need faith in a Higher Being, to provide us with a direction when we find ourselves humbled, not knowing where to turn for the answers. We need the lesson of stewardship so that we’ll have the desire to give to others and give back to our wonderful profession. We need the lesson of responsibility, to provide the very best care for our patients even when our own skills fail us. And finally, and most importantly, we need compassion and forgiveness, to make the rest work. The practice of medicine without compassion is an empty and hollow life. The practice of medicine based on compassion and mercy is the most fulfilling life one can imagine.
Lord, thank you for the privilege of wearing the coat of a health professional. I pray you constantly remind me of Joseph’s lessons learned through the wearing of his special coat.
Dan Jones, M.D., MACP, FAHA, a board-certified Internist, a former medical missionary to Korea, professor of medicine at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Dean of the School of Medicine, and Chancellor of the University of Mississippi until 2015. Dr. Dan Jones is a member of CMDA.
Dr. Jones welcomes any comments or questions about what he has written and can be reached at - djones@umc.edu
Rounds with the Master, Spiritual Pearls from the Great Physician Devotionals are released every Monday and Thursday.
Photo by Paxson Woelber on Unsplash
