While Joseph could honestly say that "You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people," Moses also records that Jacob had suffered for years over the loss of Joseph because he believed Joseph was dead. Joseph suffered in prison for being falsely accused by Potiphar's wife, a situation that would never have arisen had not his brothers sold him into slavery. Moses records the guilt and family problems that were generated out of the brothers' envy of Joseph and their subsequent kidnapping of him, selling him to the Ishmaelites and lying to their father about Joseph's fate. Moses records the shame the brothers felt all the years Joseph was gone, presumed dead or lost in slavery. None of the participants in this story knew its outcome. They only knew the painful consequences of their choices. Their sin.
Paul lived with this tension. In Romans 6, after clearly saying that our salvation is secure in Christ, goes on to write, "So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not!"
Sin complicates life. God is greater than our sin.
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