“The mind of a person plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9, NASB).
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Prov. 19:21, NIV).

Last Sunday in chapel, a major milestone in my life came to mind. I wrote about it briefly in my book, Immanuel Labor: God’s Presence in our Profession, and mentioned it in a few articles. Somehow, I have never written this story from start to finish and elaborated on its significance.

Forty years ago, I was let go from my youth ministry position. It changed the course of my career. Now, I can rejoice in God’s leading, provision, and care as he graciously brought my family and me through that tough time. Moreover, I can reflect with gratitude how God worked all things out for his good by using that unexpected blessing to guide me into my Army career.

I invite you to travel back with me as I reflect on that growing season of my life. There is a fairly obvious tie to the Joseph narrative that I will expand on, and I will also discuss the New Testament statement of what this story illustrates, as written by the Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Romans.

July 1985

About six years ago, in an article I wrote for the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work entitled “How God Uses our Failures at Work,” I shared my story. Perhaps this is a good place to start:

I am reminded of one of my own failures at work. I was let go from my youth ministry position in July 1985. During the first few days of a summer vacation, the senior pastor called me at home and asked me to come in for a meeting. He informed me that the church no longer needed me to be the youth director. I had been fired!

There is much more to the story. Let me provide a little background and context.

This mainline Protestant church was not associated with Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon, where I was a student off and on in the early to mid-1980s. It was about eight blocks from the school, and had a series of part-time youth ministers from the seminary who had all worked there for very short tenures. (I did not know about that when I accepted the position.)

I had my challenges, no doubt, but I did not think I was doing a bad job. There were a couple of things that worked against me, though. When our Director of Christian Education had quit, the church decided to eliminate my position and hire one full-time person to do both jobs. Another deciding factor may have been the fact that my wife and I had chosen not to baptize our baby girl.

It took me a long time to get over this deep emotional trauma. I was disappointed, unsure of the future, and wrestling with my Christian faith. I had felt a strong call to youth ministry. I had chosen it not once, but twice over teaching as a vocation. I had tried every way I knew how to pay for school. However, I had a young family to take care of. Without a definite financial path to complete my seminary education, I could not bear to even look for another ministry position. I had to let it go.

Genesis 50

I do not know exactly where I was, but sometime later, I discovered this amazing passage in Genesis about Joseph that radically and forever changed my perspective on this event.

At the end of the Joseph narrative, he is second in command to Pharaoh. His brothers have joined him in Egypt, and his father Jacob has just passed. As you might expect, his brothers were a little concerned that Joseph might hold a grudge against them and pay them back for all the wrong they did to him, i.e., throwing him in a well and selling him into slavery. (See Gen. 50:15). They humbled themselves before him, and Joseph eased their minds with one statement that grabbed my heart.

Joseph stated, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:20, NIV). This not only highlighted his grasp of grace and forgiveness, but more importantly, it showed his deep understanding of God’s ultimate purposes for allowing these things to happen. Without their evil actions, there would have been no deliverance for God’s people.

I hope you can see the connection with my situation as clearly as I did when I was first confronted with this biblical principle. Even though the church leaders may have done me wrong by firing me unjustifiably, ultimately, God had a much greater purpose in mind. Obviously, I cannot say that my joining the Army brought deliverance from a great famine as Joseph’s situation did. However, I can humbly offer that God brought me through this trial to provide a multitude of blessings for God’s people.

The Theology of Work Bible Commentary reminds us, “God’s work in and through Joseph had real, practical, serious value – to preserve lives. . . The things we make and do in our work are themselves crucial to God and to other people.” They continue to unpack this story: “Joseph saw himself as an agent of God who was instrumental in effecting the work of God with his people.” (Note the connection between God’s presence and human work, which I call “Immanuel labor.”)

In the next article, I will share more of my professional journey and trace how God used my early, challenging circumstances for his glory.

Editor’s note: This article was adapted from the author’s personal blog. Republished with permission.