JBassett Lsn 3, Going Back In Order To God Forward

[jeffrbassett]

7. Joseph chooses to break the “normal” way his family deals with hurt feelings and conflict by forgiving his brothers. How might you have responded if you were in Joseph’s position?

I used to think I could be forgiving in this way, but I have discovered that I seek to obtain my pound of flesh in a different way. I often want assurances from someone that I am in a dominant position over them, even if I am not asking for strict punishment. This discover has surprised me and, to some extent, it is alarming to see in myself. I still have a mindset that seeks to punish, even if I am not doing it outwardly.

I wonder if this is the road that the Lord is having me walk right now. I am not in the place of God. Joseph, I think, learned this in a prison cell after he was fired on trumped up charges from his job as a slave. He has never not been a servant of someone in his life (father, slavetraders, Potiphar, jailer, Pharaoh) until this moment that his brothers come begging for their lives and he is standing there as the patriarch of the family who is able to care for his brothers and all their children. But he somehow is able to respond with grace. I am in awe of this kind of humility despite external elevation.

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