Genesis 45:4-8 "And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. (5) Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. (6) For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. (7) And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. (8 ) So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God..."
The mindset of Joseph as he named his two sons wsa this, "God has made me
forget all my toil and has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my
affliction." In today's passages, he has the opportunity to put that
mindset into action. Joseph could have just as easily held his brothers at bay
and made them suffer for their action in selling him to the slave traders; but
instead, he showed mercy and favor upon them. As he revealed himself to
them, he was showing his forgetfulness of their actions and the fruitfulness of
his life. In his words to his brothers, he was revealing God's hand upon
him in all matters. They had put him in a pit, but God had raised him up to
this position of power. He knew in his heart that God had placed him there for
the very purpose of delivering his family. "So now it was not you that
sent me hither, but God..."
I see two wonderful lessons in these passages. First, I see a word picture of
the work of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He was sold for thirty pieces
of silver by one of his own disciples and delivered into the hands of cruel
Roman soldiers. But the Father was always with Him. Peter stated it in this
manner, "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth,...
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised
up." (Acts 2:22-24) Joseph would have said, " Though your
wicked hands crucified Him.... It was not you that sent Him there, but
God." And the reason the Father sent Him there was because of His absolute
unconditional love for His children. The second lesson that I see in this
speaks of God's promise to be with us in all situations and circumstances to
work good in our lives. He gave His Son to die for us; therefore, we can trust
Him to see us through each day.