Daily Devotion, March 18, 2020

Devotion:

Read Genesis 45:3-7.

This story could have ended so differently. If anybody had a right to act out of revenge for what his brothers did to him, it was Joseph. If Joseph had acted out of revenge, what would it have really accomplished? He chose not to do so.

Dr. Terence E. Fretheim writes, “Joseph doesn’t require sorrow or regret from his brothers. Rather, he confesses that God has been at work in all these events to preserve life, and this is the decisive reality in this moment. The word for the brothers, thus serves as a straightforward gospel word spoken by the one who has experienced it deep within his own life: God has acted so that life, rather than death, now abounds.”

Revenge begets revenge and creates lives lived out in fear. Life’s energy is given to planning revenge. The opposite of revenge is forgiveness. Then we experience God giving new life and new beginnings of reconciled and restored relationships.

I pondered the words “vengeance” and “revenge” for a few moments. Joseph could have said, “I am your brother whom you discounted, but look at me now!” He could have said, “Let me show you what it feels like to be thrown in a ditch, to be left for dead, and then sold to be a slave!”

Would it have really healed Joseph’s wounds from his earlier years to have said those words and done those actions?

Instead, the story ends with life-giving power and the reconciliation and restoration of relationships. Jesus knew this story well. When he was in the garden with the disciples before his crucifixion, one of the disciples with a sword cut off the ear of one of the soldiers. Jesus said in Matthew 26:52, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

Personal Worship Option:

Are there areas in your life in which you ponder seeking revenge for past hurts and insults? Pray for God to help you re-write your new life story to offer forgiveness instead of revenge. God has re-written our life story and offers forgiveness to us. “Dear God, please help us not to live by the sword, but by your ways of forgiveness. Amen.”