Challenging Changes, Circumstances, Conditions, Consequences and Contingencies-Genesis 50:20

1. What does contingencies mean? Explain the following quotes:
   1. “O to be self-balanced for contingencies, to confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do.” Walt Whitman.
      • * Was Joseph “self-balanced for contingencies”?
   2. “No battle plan can anticipate all contingencies. There are always unexpected factors… A battle must thus become a balance between plan and improvisation” – Sun Tzu, highlighting the limits of planning and the need for flexibility.
      • * Did Joseph improvise? How?
   3. “A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well.” Frederick Douglas.
      • * Did Joseph’s circumstances “carve him out”? How?
   4. “The essential thing is contingency. I mean that one cannot define existence as necessity. To exist is simply to be there.” – Jean-Paul Sartre, philosophically defining contingency as a fundamental aspect of reality and existence.
      • * Was Joseph always “simply there”? Always present?
   5. “We must fall back on the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes (via Arthur Conan Doyle), a logical approach to problem-solving when all other options are exhausted.
      • * Did Joseph live according to “whatever remains”? How?
   6. From the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50 what contingencies did each of the following encounter: Joseph, Jacob, Joseph’s brothers, Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife, the prison warden, the cupbearer and baker of Pharaoh, Pharaoh?
2. You intended harm: What “harm” did Joseph suffer from his brothers and Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 37, 39)? During his enslavement and imprisonment, how did he balance submission and challenge? Maintain integrity and wisdom (Gen 39:2, 21)? How can 2 Cor 4:17-18 and 1 Pet 1:6-7 help you endure the “harm” before seeing the “good”? How does Isaiah’s suffering servant mirror Joseph’s experience (Isa 53:3, 7, 8, 10)? What “good” did God intend through the servant’s suffering (Isa 53:11, 12)?
3. God intended “good“: How did Joseph change from a victim to a vessel of God’s plan (Ps 105:16-21)? How does Ac 2:22-24; 4:27-28 echo the language and theme of Genesis 50:20? Who intended harm, and what was the “good” God intended? How does Mordecai’s words to Esther reflect a similar theology to Joseph’s (Est 4:14)?
4. Redemption: What was the ultimate “good” God intended (Gen 50:20b)? How does this contrast with the brothers’ evil intent? How could Joseph forgive his brothers (Gen 50:19-21)? How can you forgive those who harmed you and trust God’s plan when you experience hurt or injustice?
5. Sovereignty: How does Rom 8:28 exemplify Gen 50:20? What is the crucial condition (“love God”)? The ultimate goal (“the image of his Son”)? When facing “intended harm” (betrayal, injustice, slander, criticism, loss), how can Gen 50:20 and Rom 8:28 provide comfort and hope? What is the difference between this and saying “everything happens for a reason”?
   • Can you identify a time in your life, or someone else’s life, where something intended for harm was later used by God for good? What did that experience teach you about God?
   • Do you have eyes to see how God might be using your current circumstances for a greater good that you cannot yet perceive?

Titles for Genesis 50:20: Man’s Intention and God’s Intention. God’s Reversal. Meant for Good. The God Who Turns Things Around. God in Control. God the Divine Orchestra Conductor. God’s Purpose in the Pain. When God Rewrites Your Story. Does God Allow Evil? When Life Isn’t Fair.