7/365 Let "It "Go in 2020

I read the end of Genesis today. It includes the story of Joseph (coat of many colors Joseph) and I was challenged to look at my response to situations I find myself in, especially when I have no choice in being placed in the situation.

When I am singled out and given preferential treatment.

When I am treated unfairly.

When I am forced to go places I hadn't planned on going.

When I am in a position of influence.

When I am tempted. Over and over and over again.

When I am accused of wrongdoing when I actually did the right thing.

When I am judged unfairly.

When I suffer the consequences of someone else's wrong doing.

When I am "demoted" and privileges are taken away.

When my kindness and good deeds go unrewarded.

When I am forgotten by those who promised to remember me.

When I am entrusted with much power.

When I am in a position to "get even" or forgive.

When it is in my power to be generous.

We are not told what Joseph did in order to become the man he was, but based on his reactions to the circumstances he found himself in, I can surmise a few things given the pattern of events that filled his life.

He forgave.

He trusted God.

He let the hurt heal.

He did what was right, not what was easy.

He faithfully worked.

And he did it again.

He forgave.

He let the hurt heal.

He trusted God.

He did good, not evil.

He faithfully did whatever task was before him.

and again...

In the end, Joseph was kind to his brothers who had been anything but kind to him. 

He grieved when they thought he would seek revenge.

He didn't hold a grudge and carry extra baggage into their present or future.

He let the ugly, unpleasantness go.

He loved them, lavishly.

He didn't blame them for the troubles he'd faced.

He recognized and acknowledged God's sovereignty.

I think that Joseph's trust in God's plan/purpose for his life enabled him to take the dark parts of his life and embrace them. To recognize that without them he wouldn't be where he was today. His story encourages me to do the same.

Joseph's story also reminds me that God is working. Always and all ways. In the light, in the dark. In the mundane, the profane, the profound. In the the every day and the extraordinary. In times of prosperity and times of want. God is working and in the end His plan will be revealed. It will be a wondrously beautiful thing to be able to look back and see how He wove "all the things" together to make something exquisite.

Genesis 50:15-19
"When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.

But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them."