"You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened."  (Genesis 50:20 - Good News Bible)

The Bible verse above shows us the words of Joseph (not the one who was Mary's husband) as he confronted his brothers after they'd sold him into slavery in Egypt years earlier.  To recap that story, Joseph was the second youngest son of Jacob, and he had 11 brothers.  Joseph seemed to his older siblings to be favored by their father and they became very jealous.  It got so bad that they originally plotted to kill Joseph, but ultimately sold him to a caravan headed for Egypt where Joseph was sold into slavery.  Joseph endured years of slavery and imprisonment, but eventually he used the gift God had given him to interpret the meaning of dreams to win the favor of Pharaoh, Egypt's king.  Joseph was made second in command of the nation of Egypt, where he used his spiritual gifts and knack for administration to save the country from a severe famine.  Egypt had so much food that they sold some of the surplus to foreigners who came from drought-ravaged areas across the Middle East, including Israel, Joseph's homeland. Eventually Joseph's brothers came to buy food and then learned, to their horror, that the man in charge of distributing it was their little brother, the very man they'd sold into slavery years earlier.  But Joseph did not exact revenge.  Instead, he forgave his brothers and told them, as stated in the verse above, that God had used the wicked thing they did to him to save an entire nation, and region, from starvation.  What they had intended for evil, God used for good.

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The assassination of Charlie Kirk hit many of us hard. The horrible event was streamed across the world as it happened.  Conservatives and Christians wept.  Enemies of our faith and nation rejoiced.  But in the days that followed the Holy Spirit used Charlie's death to kindle and fan the fires of revival.  By the time of his memorial service, social media was filled with posts from people saying they'd picked up and read a Bible for the first time in their lives.  Still others said they'd gone to church for the first time in years.  Thousands made public confessions of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  What Satan had intended for evil had triggered a worldwide revival unlike any seen in our lifetimes.  There's new energy and enthusiasm for Jesus and the Christian faith right now.  May we all seek God and ask Him how he wants each of us to be involved.