Joseph's full statement: you meant it for evil, God meant it for good. Both motives are true simultaneously. Their evil intention and God's good purpose coexist.
This is the paradox of evil and providence that runs through all of Scripture. Neither cancels out the other. The brothers' cruelty was real and motivated and wrong. God's redemptive use of it was also real. Both/and.
When I was assaulted as a teenager, people sometimes said God had a plan. Like the plan required the assault, which felt like they were making God complicit in my abuse. Joseph's formulation is different - the assault was evil. The plan is good. They're separate, and the goodness doesn't justify the evil. But goodness can grow from it anyway.
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