GENESIS 50:15-20 – When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
THEME OF THE DAY: ROMANS 8:28 LIVED BEFORE THERE WAS A ROMANS 8:28. Enter into the thinking of Joseph’s brothers in today’s scripture. They are afraid, even for their lives. The protector, their father, is now dead. Their hearts are sinking in fear imagining it is now “payback time” from Joseph for the way they treated him. And he is powerful. 2nd in command over Egypt and whatever he wants done to them, it will happen. I wonder if any of them thought, “Joseph is going to throw us into some deep pit with no way out, leaving us to die just like we did to him.”
Well, two things these fearful brothers are forgetting. First, the kindness of Joseph. He went out of his way to care for them and it wasn’t just a show. He loved them despite them. Another thing they forgot was Joseph’s walk with the living God. He was real in his love for them and in his walk with His God.
Joseph quickly brings peace and calm to their hearts. The family reunion is complete, tied by the cords of love from a brother to brothers who didn’t deserve his kindness. By the way, that is a great illustration of Christ embracing us after all the sinning and mistreatment we have given Him! But there is something else here. Joseph’s keen spiritual discernment of the God who works all things for good. He interrupts his pleading brothers and basically “quotes” Romans 8:28 to them before there was a Romans 8:28 – And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
The lesson from Joseph for us? Two. First, live Romans 8:28 by renewing our minds with Romans 8:28 even when all things don’t feel good, look good, and make no good sense to us. God said, “All things work for good.” He doesn’t lie. He is trustworthy. We can believe Him when circumstances want to create unbelief in us. The other lesson from Joseph is implied but surely true. He couldn’t quote Romans 8:28 sincerely or would have even thought about it when languishing in the pit his brothers threw him in or the jail Potiphar imprisoned him. Before he lived Romans 8:28, he struggled to understand Romans 8:28, but the Lord is a faithful teacher and Joseph a teachable child of His. And it will be the same for us. May we find ourselves like Joseph learning and then applying Romans 8:28 all the days of our lives.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for the truth of Your love that uses all things in my life for my good and Your Glory.”
QUOTE: “God does use all things for good in His children, and yes, all things include our sins and failings.”
Because of Him,
Pastor Jim