But God!

Have you ever noticed the But God passages of the Bible?  In Genesis we read about Joseph, who had been sold into slavery by his brothers, accused of trying to take advantage of his boss' wife, and thrown into prison.  Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined.  But while Joseph was there in prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden (39:20-21).  Joseph was put in charge of the prison so that the warden didn't have to worry about anything, because the Lord was with him.


Here are nine more But God passages.  Be encouraged, whatever you are facing today.  Life can be full of questions, difficulties, confusion, broken relationships, financial problems, hardship -- but God, in His mercy, can be trusted with them all.


You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Genesis 50:20).


Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" (Genesis 50:24).


When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead... (Acts 13:29-30).


Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:7-8).


In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will (Romans 8:26-27).


But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him (1 Corinthians 1:27-29).


But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (Galatians 4:4-5).


As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins... But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved (Ephesians 2:1,4-5).


At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:3-7).