Genesis 50:16-21 "And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, (17) So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. (18) And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. (19) And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? (20) But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. (21) Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."
I used several verses this morning because it shows grace to the brothers and
honor to God. Jacob had died and they had taken him back to bury him. Now they
are back in Egypt and the brothers think Joseph has only been nice to them for
their father's sake. They are afraid now that Joseph will take revenge on
them for the evil deed they had performed in selling him into slavery. I
want to take a side note now, we hear the word, karma, used much too often in
our days. I see Christians using the word to talk about revenge being taken on
someone. May I say, and I do believe Joseph would agree with me, we should
never use that word, karma. It is a word from the eastern religions of Hinduism
and Buddhism. As Christians, we do not believe in karma and we should never use
that word. It is an ungodly term.
Now we go back to Joseph and his brothers. The brothers had sent messengers to
Joseph asking forgiveness. The brothers went with the messengers and they fell
down before Joseph and said, "we are your servants." Joseph's
answer intrigues me, "Fear not: for am I in the place of God?"
In that question, Joseph is telling his brothers to get up and not even
show the appearance of giving worship and adoration to him. He said, "Am I
in the place of God?" In other words, do not bow down to me. That is only
reserved for God. They asked forgiveness of Joseph. He had already shown love
and acceptance to them in spite of their bad deed. But in his answer, he also
spoke, "God meant it unto good." Am I in the place of God? He was
acknowledging that God had been in control over the entire situation and had
not allowed any harm to come to Joseph. God had a greater purpose in all that
had taken place. Again, we see a beautiful word picture of our Lord Jesus
Christ when Joseph said, "Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you,
and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them."
Be certain this morning, you and I have One who nourishes us and our little
ones with spiritual strength. He comforts us when we are struggling and He
promises never to leave us or turn His back upon us. Give all glory and praise
unto the Lord.