Genesis 45:1b, 3-8, 50:20 (NIV) 1b So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. 4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me." When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 "So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. (NKJV) 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Genesis 44:33 (CEV) 33Sir, I am your slave. Please let me stay here in place of Benjamin and let him return home with his brothers.
Have you ever been wronged? Betrayed? Treated cruelly and unfairly? And today when you think about the betrayal, the unjust abuse that you received, how do you feel? Are you free from the pain and resentment, or does it still eat away at you? If we sense that there is a plan and that God’s plan has been worked out in the ups and downs of life, it helps open the door to forgive those who have wronged us. Knowing that there is a plan opens the door to be a little more forgiving.
But, what if we don’t step through that door? What if we cannot find it in ourselves to forgive? Could it be that when we refuse to forgive, we lose a sense of God’s plan? Is the refusal to forgive is a denial that there is a plan? I state this in a question form because I am really not sure. And, yet, I know that when I hold on to anger, hurt, and disappointment, and try to be aware that God has a plan for my life it is like trying to concentrate when I have a headache. When we refuse to forgive, it can dull the awareness in our soul that God does have a plan.
Sensing that God has a plan for our life opens the door to forgiveness, and the thing that gets us through the door is God’s willing sacrifice for us. That sacrifice is sensed in Judah’s words to Joseph, and now sir, I will stay here as your slave in the place of the boy, that he might go free. A sense of plan and forgiveness work together, but both sit on a foundation of recognizing Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and accepting God’s forgiveness.
From a sermon by Henry Dobbs Pope June 1, 1997
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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