God did it

The story of Joseph and the famine is one of the best stories in the Bible. On top of just plain being a great story, there are so many amazing nuggets for people trying to live for God.

This morning, I read another one. The story reaches its climax, in a way that many novel readers will recognize as “The Great Revelation.” Joseph isn’t just the all-powerful satrap who controls the food supply, he’s also the despised little brother they sold to Ishmaelite slavers decades ago. And the result is everything we could hope: Joseph’s brothers were shocked and terrified. They senses their doom hanging over their heads.

And then this, in Genesis 45:4-8 “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come close to me.’ When they had done so, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

I honestly don’t get it. I mean, I love it, but I don’t see how Joseph can actually say this. “Do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me.” Really? Don’t feel bad that you sold me to slavers!?! Obviously there are a few things I need to stop holding against my brothers. What an impossible standard!

Joseph can do this because he’s become closely attuned to God and God’s purposes. “It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you . . . it was not you who sent me here, but God.”

Oh how I hope someday that I can do these two things. I hope that I can see God working, especially in the hardest things of my life – I long to see what he’s accomplishing through me, if anything. And I want so badly to be able to let go of even the minor hurts people have inflicted on me. To be able to forgive such a transgression as Joseph’s brothers committed – that would require a lot more progress on the road to sanctification.

All that said, there’s one thing I know for certain: if it was God’s way of furthering his plan, he’d equip me to do all of it. He’d enable me to bear up under the hatred and abandonment of my family, and under slavery, false charges, and imprisonment. And then he’d enable me to forgive it all. 

I guess that’s the main difference between Joseph and me: God called him to a different road, so he equipped him at a different level. God equips me too, for everything I need to do to follow him. My part is to follow closely and without question. So maybe I do get it.