Joseph and His Brothers, Part 3

16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father gave this command before he

died: 17 'Say to Joseph, "Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin,

because they did evil to you."'; And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants

of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also

came and a fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants." 19 But Joseph

said to them, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 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. (Gen. 50:16-20 ESV)

Clarity. It’s something you and I often want and don’t always recognize. When we go through a

gamut of situations in life, one of the things that tends to follow us afterwards is a search for

clarity in what happened when we are sorting it all out in our minds. Let’s look at Joseph’s story

that comes in a conclusive fashion at the end of the book of Genesis for some points on clarity.

Clarity point #1: Joseph, evil was done towards you (v. 17). People who have been abused,

traumatized, betrayed, etc. can sometimes become very murky as to why it all happened and

can blame themselves, feel the shame of other’s actions towards them, and may question what

is wrong with themselves that such wrong could be done towards them. Sometimes we need to

be reminded of what is right and wrong when we feel a variety of emotions and so forth. Joseph,

evil was done to you. Please forgive the evil done towards you. These words never convey,

“Joseph, it was your fault; you deserved this treatment; just move on.” No, it recognized that evil

was done and that evil had to be forgiven, not smoothed over, not minimized, not sanitized.

Don’t make excuses for it; forgive it and identify it for what it is. Perhaps in your own story, a

vital step in healing a broken area is drawing clarity as your emotions calm down.

Clarity point #2: God’s feelings and intentions. Raw and wrong treatment can lead us to draw

false conclusions about God: how He feels about us, what He wants for us, whether He’s on our

side, whether we can trust Him, if we should keep following Him, if He really has a plan, and so

on. Joseph speaks with clarity: all these things happened, evil though they may have been, but

God had a masterful plan leading to good ends that would glorify Him. If you lose clarity on your

circumstances, you may lead yourself astray quite easily. Be clear on what God says towards

you in His word. He doesn’t shift in His promises or proclamations towards His children in the

Bible, though our emotions may tell us otherwise. Be clear on your God.

Clarity point #3: be clear on honoring God. Let me highlight something here from the verses in

v. 17 at the end: “Joseph wept when they spoke to him.” Why did he weep when they spoke to

him and basically asked him not to do them wrong? He had already done good towards them

and yet they didn’t trust him to be that way now that their father was gone. Joseph was an

honorable man in his various circumstances, a man of integrity. His brothers didn’t trust this;

they only reckoned that their father was essentially the protective barrier to their safety with their

brother. You know, Jesus is our Protector, ensuring us to have a right relationship with God, but

isn’t it so easy for us to take our eyes off of Him and to feel vulnerable and endangered with the

God who sent Him to die for us? How it must hurt Christ when we doubt God’s love for us and

our security in Him, for all that’s been done and said in the Bible. So much proof for confidence

and so much neglect of it, which always leads to a renewed sense of doubt about how God

feels about us.

Friend, be clear on honoring God but also be clear on what God declares towards you, if you

are saved by His grace. Be clear on what is right and wrong, too, lest you suffer the shame and

doubt that comes from internalizing the sins of others towards you. I sometimes say in Bible

lessons this statement if for no one else but me: “Bad people can treat good people terribly, and

good people can treat bad people wonderfully.” I know we are all wretched sinners in need of

grace, but I hope you catch the idea: sin against us is not a reflection of us, but the one sinning

against us. So too is righteousness not a reflection of our goodness, but the one showing it

towards us.

Sometimes clarity is a path to a new sense of peace, a closing of a chapter of pain and

confusion and the start of a new one as we forge ahead in bravery. Be blessed, be brave in

Christ. Wait on God and let Him sort out some of your “stuff” you might be carrying in His time.

Sam Stringer