THURSDAY 3rd
Genesis 50:15-21
NIV (20) – ‘You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.’
ESV (v20) – ‘As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.’
We have come to the end of our quick look at Genesis, I end with these few verses that really sum up what I have already put in yesterdays devotion. What we see as evil God uses for our good.
Humanly speaking, Joseph could have retaliated against his brothers. ‘You put me down the pit, you sold me as a slave, you meant me harm, therefore you will get what you deserve, no corn, no help, no reunion, nothing except hunger and poverty.’ But because he was in a right relationship with God, he was able to forgive, to forget and to provide more than they could ever have wished for. He was a man who rightfully could have been miserable toward them and held a grudge toward them and punished them brutally, but instead he acted with mercy and showed them grace and pardoned them willingly.
This is such a beautiful picture of how God has acted toward sinful humanity, remember we commenced Genesis by reminding ourselves that it is a book that records ‘beginnings’ and one of them was the beginning of sin in the world, man’s open rebellion against God, his wilful disobedience to the command of God. Man deserves for God to be miserable toward him, God rightfully could hold a grudge toward mankind, and we certainly deserve to be punished. But Genesis also shows that God is gracious and merciful, God is willing to forgive and forget and God is willing to pardon. Genesis ends with the family of Joseph being forgiven and reunited, being blessed and being provided for, which is a beautiful picture of Calvary, the place where sinful humanity is forgiven and our being reunited or reconciled with God, and being blessed and provided for. ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places . . .’ Ephesians 1:3