Sunday 09:09:12

Genesis 50:15-21 Abraham – Isaac – Jacob (Israel) – 12 sons would be the 12 tribes of Israel. Joseph was his father’s favorite. This made his brother’s jealous. God gave him dreams that he would rule over his brothers. This made his brother’s more than jealous, they became furious. They conspired to kill him by throwing him down a cistern. But after they did, they became afraid of having his blood on their hands, so they pulled him out and sold him into slavery to another people. I see Jesus being revealed on every page of the Scriptures – because this book and this world is all about him. Joseph is a foreshadowing of Jesus. He was sold by his own people to be done away with to another people. He was sold for 20 shekels of silver, Jesus for 30 silver pieces. He would suffer terribly from injustice – falsely accused, betrayed by his own people. He teaches a lesson, like many in the Scriptures, that suffering is the path to glory. v. 15 – “holding a grudge” From a human standpoint, forgiveness doesn’t make much sense. Someone hurt you, it seems like the most logical thing to do is to hold it against. It feels like if you hold a grudge that you can keep them from doing it again. v. 17 – “forgive your brothers” “the sins and wrongs” – khat·tä·ä' – sin – missing the mark – sometimes intentional, sometimes not, but falling short. peh’ shah – trespass – intentional wrongdoing. Forgive them for not treating you right and forgive where they intentionally harmed you. v. 19 – “Am I in the place of God?” – Joseph will not take revenge. He recognizes he has no place to judge other people. Maybe he realizes his own sinfulness, but he recognizes holding this against them is not his right, it is God’s. When you became a believer things changed. You realized your need for forgiveness. You realized you had sinned, sin today and will continue to sin. You need forgiveness – and God offers total forgiveness. He accepted you as you were – sin and all. He forgave you by the sacrifice of His Son. Now you walk in the comfort of that forgiveness every day. But somehow we get so used to God’s forgiveness that we take it for granted. We forget that we needed forgiveness. We forget the magnitude of our debt. We received forgiveness in amazing grace, but we don’t show the same grace to others. When you do not forgive others, you have forgotten the debt that was paid for you. v. 20 – “God intended it for good.” All the injustice he went through, he saw God’s hand in it!??!? AND he saw that it was good?!?!?!? When you’re hurt, offended, mistreated, falsely accused – could it be that God’s hand is in it? Could it be for your good? Being hurt is a part of being human around other humans. It is going to happen to all of us. No one escapes this. The question is what are you going to do with it? Will you nurse a grudge? Will you hang on to it and let it make you embittered? Holding a grudge is poison for your soul. Hurt can be a tool God uses to help heal your own soul. When you are hurt, the debt the offender owes you can remind you of the debt that you owed. It was huge. It could not be undone. It was interfering with your relationship with God, just like the one between you. God took the initiative to show grace and forgiveness. Hurt can help you grasp the breadth of God’s forgiveness for you. When you show grace and forgiveness, you are showing others a changed man or woman. By showing grace and forgiveness, you are showing that you are a son or daughter of God, a brother or sister of Christ. This is what God is like. This is what his children are like: forgiving, showing grace. Ephesians 4:31-32