When Joseph saw his ten brothers, he was delighted in his heart because he still loved them despite the terrible wrong things that they had done to him. However, before he would reveal himself to them, he needed to find out if they had changed since they sold him in slavery. So he tried to be mean to them by interrogating them. Joseph started to accuse them of spying against Egypt. At this time, Egypt was a mighty nation, but it had many enemies. Being accused of being spies was punishable by death. His brothers tried to convince Joseph that they were all brothers with the same father and that they were twelve brothers, but one was no more. By proving that they were all brothers and not individuals could be convincing that they were not spies.
However, Joseph put them in jail for three days to test them and told them that they had to bring their youngest brother to prove that they were eleven brothers. After three days in jail, he sent nine of his brothers home and left one of them to make sure they would return with their youngest brother. When his brothers heard about Joseph's demands, they started accusing each other about what they did to Joseph. They believed that what was happening to them resulted from God's punishment to them by mistreating Joseph. Even at this time, they still felt guilty about what they had done to Joseph. When Joseph heard about what his brothers were discussing, he wept secretly. He then sent his nine brothers with food, returned their money in their food sack, and kept Simeon in jail. (Genesis 42:9-28).
Joseph had many reasons to get even with his brothers, but after surrendering and trusting God in all these years and seeing God's plan in His life, he loved his brothers and father and missed them. Joseph orchestrated all these things to eventually bring all of his family to Egypt and be with him. When we surrender our lives to God in the midst of all our circumstances, God's love and forgiveness will flow in and through us. Our hate will turn to love, resentment will turn to forgiveness, and division will turn to unity. As Christians, we need to surrender our lives to God and live according to the life that God wants us to live, and that is to love and forgive.
Ask yourself these questions: Am I willing to surrender my life in my current circumstances? Am I willing to love and forgive as God loves me and forgives my sins?
Write down all the worries that you are facing today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, please help me to surrender my life to you. You have a better plan in my life. May you help me to love and forgive. Please help me to throw away resentments from my heart and let your love and forgiveness flow in and through me. In your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.
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