"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 50:20 NKJV
We have seen jealousy, envy, pride, bad parenting skills, abuse, slave trafficking, attempted rape allegations, imprisonment, hopes dashed and finally major blessing and restoration. Crimewatch has nothing on this family. But who was to blame? Who could we point the finger at for Joseph's suffering. It was not the brothers, they were part of it, yes; but the main culprit behind all of this was Jacob. He was the father and had the responsibility, he should have kept control of the family and most definitely, he should have shared his love and care equally, and not favoured one over the other.
What the brothers saw was learnt behaviour. Jacob had a shady past and had been far from trustworthy in the past. If he knew about all this jealousy, he did nothing to change things and Joseph had to put up with it all. Yes, the brothers acted in an evil manner and when Joseph finally revealed himself to them, he could have paid them back 100 fold, but he didn't. What he did tell them was, 'But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.' God saved the day and restored this family, but their values were changed they had learned some lessons over all of this.
You may not have been through all Joseph had, but probably you can echo with a part of it. You may have been wronged, abused and treated abysmally but look how Joseph handled it. If you do the same, God will match it and turn evil into good.
To a degree, Joseph handled things the way Jesus would have done. He could have wiped his brothers off the face of the earth and Pharaoh would have turned a blind eye. But he didn't. Forgiveness, promise of care and love was what he offered them all. He knew that vengeance was of God; he knew that He would repay, he didn't have to do a thing. Vengeance is of God, we forgive. Did you get that? We forgive.
Is there someone you need to forgive? If there is, then do it. Even if they have died, you can still forgive them and unhook yourself from the past. If you do, God will turn it into good.
Copyriight 2021 Grahame Howard
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