Genesis 42
I can't imagine the flood of emotions Joseph felt when he first saw his brothers. But as the story unfolds we begin to see some of those emotions. He treats them harshly. He weeps at hearing them speak about what they did to him. I wonder why he did not reveal to them who he was? Maybe he didn't because he had not decided how he was going to treat them.
I believe we see in Joseph the struggle of forgiving someone who has harmed us deeply. When we have been harmed, it is difficult to forgive.
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The struggle we see in Joseph reminds me of Ken's stating in the Sunday sermon that forgiveness is not a natural act. When something doesn't come naturally to me in my life, and I struggle, it reminds me that I CANNOT do that difficult thing on my own, and it is only God in me...God helping me be what I am naturally NOT that allows the better result!
ReplyDeleteWhether I am to forgive when I don't want to, whether I am to be loving when it is not easy/natural, whether I am to understand a new way of looking at a difficult situation, whether it feels like I am trying to solve big world problems...It is not my natural self, but through trusting, praying, and expecting that it will be God who leads me to a better outcome, and not me on my own, then I can more easily move forward. I am grateful He is who He is and that he has done and continues to do what he promises by his example of forgiving me.