The Forgiven

Scripture: Genesis 45 Key Verse: 45:4-5

"'Please come closer to me' Joseph said to his brothers. When they did so, he said, 'I am Joseph, the brother you sold into slavery in Egypt!' Now, don't be sad or angry with yourselves that you sold me. God sent me ahead of you to save lives."

Objective:

After a few chapters of build up chapter 45 has the big reveal. This reveal is not what I think we would expect in this situation. Joseph forgives his brothers, and more than that realizes it was God's doing that brought him here. Both Pharaoh and Joseph tell the brothers to go get there families and return to Egypt. They do as told and as promised they receive a great plot of land.

Application:

Why is forgiveness so hard? Why is that we would rather hold grudges, hurt those that hurt us, and talk about people behind there backs? I believe we can learn a bit from Joseph, because he didn't want to forgive them (Gen. 42:7) at first but knew he had to in the end. I think the first reason we don't forgive people is pride. Our pride is on the line when someone hurts us. A far out example of this is how some people are treating the whole Britney Spears fiasco. I was talking to someone the other day who was almost angry about how Britney is acting. As I thought about it this young lady had spent countless hours listening to Britney's music and in general being a big fan. Now all that time seems to have been wasted. This is where the anger stemmed from. I asked the young lady to forgive Britney and pray that she can turn her life around. When we are hurt by someone's actions, our pride gets taken down a bit. The second reason it is hard to forgive is we lose sight that we ourselves need to be forgiven constantly. I think the actions Joseph takes in the previous two chapters, makes him realize that he needs God's forgiveness just as much as the brother's needed his.

Prayer:

Lord, you gave your life on the cross so that we could be forgiven. You have made away for us to be reunited with our Father and our family. I ask that you help us see the people in our lives that we need to forgive and gives the heart to forgive them. Help us put our pride aside and show them the forgiveness you showed us.