“Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” – Buddha
WOW. WHAT A THOUGHT!
It started me thinking about what we need to let go of.
Many things I came up with were “negative.”
It hit me for the first time today that it was truly amazing what Joseph DID NOT DO once he was catapulted to absolute power by Pharoah!
Any normal person would’ve drawn up a ” hit list”..or a “pay back list”.. NOT JOSEPH.
We never read of him wreaking vengeance upon Potiphar or his wife for the wrong done to him..the lost years in prison.
We never read of him telling ANYONE about what his brothers had done to him..the closest he came was telling his fellow prisoners that he was “stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews.”
We never read that the accusation which landed him in prison was ever stricken from the record.
What we do read is like a little “window” into his years of pain, loss and anguish.
When his children were born and he named them..he tells us what GOD helped him to do. GOD HELPED HIM TO LET GO.
Genesis 41: 51, 52 God helped him to forget all his toil ( hard labour) and all his father’s house (his family).
God caused him to be fruitful in ” the land of my affliction.” .. the land of his suffering.
Incredible as it may seem..God helped Joseph to forgive from the heart.
He had the wisdom and discernment to WAIT.
He could’ve sent an army to fetch his family to Egypt but he waited for God to bring them.
I have no patience.
I can only shake my head in wonder at his willingness to leave the whole mess to work itself out in God’s time.
Once Jacob died the brothers were terrified that Joseph would finally take his revenge.
Joseph had forgiven from the heart and when he saw their terror…he wept.
He knew much pain, much loneliness and many tears in his life..but God kept him free of malice, hate, implacable resentment..no wonder he’s spoken of as ” the Christ in the Old Testament.”
How did this make me feel?
Even MORE determined to face my last day of life free from any bitterness, hard thoughts about anyone, unforgiveness.
In the light of Eternity, WHAT. DOES. ANY. OF. IT. MATTER?
Truth Archive 