“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save [many] people alive.” (Genesis 50:20 KJV).
I was moved while reading The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. The narrative of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author clearly depicted a strong sense of romanticism and zeal for Longfellow, land, love, learning, and nature. Roosevelt’s infatuation and romance with Alice Hathaway Lee, his first wife, piqued my interest. Like many men who lose a loved one, Roosevelt thrust himself into increased work after her death, obsessively filling his days with learning and climbing the government ladder so he could cope with the pain and grief.
In chapter 10, Morris illuminated Roosevelt’s deepest struggle against despair, noting how the “double tragedy” of losing his mother and wife on February 14, 1884, transformed him into a “changed man” of emotional grief. From this point forward, Roosevelt refused to speak of his first love, Alice, and temporarily placed his newborn daughter in the care of his older sister, Bamie, to avoid the painful reminder. When Roosevelt struggled to take in Baby Lee’s blond hair, blue eyes, and prettiness that reminded him of his beloved Alice, he fled to the Republican National Convention and politicked with what Nicholas Murray Butler, president of Columbia University, remembered as “the ablest body of men that ever came together in America since the original Constitutional Convention.”
In Genesis, Jacob grieves the apparent loss of his favorite son, Joseph, and worries about losing Benjamin, his and Rachel’s other son. As a father, Jacob speaks of bringing his “gray hairs with sorrow to the grave” (Gen. 42:38 KJV). Roosevelt experienced a similar grief and loss, and both men ultimately walked a redemptive path much like Joseph’s.
Yet God displays His greatness in the lives of Roosevelt and Joseph. In many respects, God ordained the paths of both men, who suffered the pain and grief of a loss. Though separated by thousands of years, Roosevelt’s path echoes the profound truth Joseph shared with his family in Genesis 45:7 (KJV): “And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” While Joseph saved a nation from famine, Roosevelt’s refining grief ultimately forged a president who preserved American landscapes and guided a modern nation. Often, our good Father uses our deepest pain and suffering to bring about a great good and build strong leaders for the generations to come.
