The Story of Joseph pt 6
Reconciliation
Genesis 41:50 – 52
Introduction
How do you recover from the hurts that break relationships? Most of us have experienced the pain of relationships that have been broken for all sorts of reasons. Usually there is some hurt that lies behind broken relationship. How do we mend broken relationships? The Bible contains valuable teaching on the subject, and the story of Joseph is a picture of how it has worked in the life of one family who had some very serious barriers to relationship. What can we learn from their journey of reconciliation?
Story - Genesis 41:50 – 52
Before we learn about the reconciliation between Joseph and his family, we need to know a little more about the state of Joseph’s heart toward them. We know that Joseph is a young man of great integrity of character, but he was also terribly hurt by his brothers. What is his attitude toward them now?
The names of his sons give us a pretty good idea…
The firstborn son was Manasseh – a name that sounds like the Hebrew word for “forget” – and Joseph explains “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.”
Did God grant Joseph a poor memory, or did God grant Joseph the ability to choose to not hold on to remembrance of past hurts? Joseph had a lot of pain to get over – his near murder, being sold into slavery, the pain of forced separation from loving parents, the pain of false accusation and imprisonment, and probably a whole lot of others besides. However God had freed Joseph from being controlled by these painful memories.
If we are going to be whole as people – before we even get to the stage of reconciliation with those who have hurt us – we need to move beyond the control of our hurts.
Joseph’s second son was Ephraim – which sounds like the Hebrew term for “twice fruitful”. Joseph again gives its meaning, saying “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”
Joseph goes even further than not being controlled by hurt – seeing himself as a victim of people and of circumstances – to recognising the blessing that God has poured out on him despite the suffering his journey has entailed. I know of many people who have experienced triumph over adversity – people who have overcome very difficult obstacles in their lives to achieve what our society terms “success”. Sadly, many of these people are still warped by their experiences. Joseph might have determined in his heart to never trust anyone, because of the way people had let him down time after time. He might have become arrogant and self-reliant.
Instead, he realises that God has had His hand on Joseph’s life. Instead of being proud and defiant, he is grateful, and is able to acknowledge the sovereignty and goodness of God through times of suffering and times of blessing.
These sorts of attitudes are the norm for God’s people - I am not a victim, I am a child of God!
Romans 8:28-39
If you are a Christian, God has held your life in his hand from before the moment you were born. From a human point of view, we often talk about a moment of salvation or a process of salvation. God does not see things from that point of view, there is just saved and unsaved, regardless of the moment in time when we came to faith. God knew you were a Christian long before you ever did!
When we learn to see things from God’s point of view we stop seeing ourselves as victims with just cause to hold on to hurts and resentments. If God has always held your life in His hand, then nothing anyone has ever done has been able to separate you from God’s love for you. Nothing has ever been able to thwart God’s good purpose for your life. You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus! All that has ever happened to you has happened because God has allowed it to.
That’s a seriously difficult concept to get our heads around! God allows these things to happen for the purpose of His glory, for the sake of His love for you and His plan for your life.
How does that work?
Every attack that Satan carries out against you God turns into His victory. You might say “I’d rather just be spared from the attack thankyou”! What if Jesus had said that? Are you a follower of Christ, then follow His example.
Some of us live as though Christ was still in the grave. We suffer the attack of Satan through family, friends and even fellow Christians who have followed the pattern of this world instead of the pattern of Christ. Then we stay in our woundedness. We hold on to the pain and the grudges. We need to rise again to new life! Christ’s resurrection body was made possible because his physical body was crucified. The road to glorification is paved with suffering! Sometimes that is the suffering that we choose as part of our discipleship, sometimes that is the suffering that is inflicted on us from outside. God uses those attacks to refine us and build us, even though Satan intended them to hurt and hinder us. You must decide whose work you will participate in.
Romans
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
God’s plan for Joseph was a glorious one, but one that involved suffering. The same is true for you.
You can choose to hold on to resentment toward those who have inflicted that suffering on you. You can choose to use your suffering to excuse all sorts of things. You can expect to be indulged because of your suffering. Others don’t know how hard it’s been for you.
Doing these things will just cause you to live trapped in your suffering. You will never be free. You will never be victorious.
Choose to see yourself as God sees you – you are not a victim, you are victorious in Jesus.
Choose to see God as He is – He is not absent or weak or cruel, He is glorious and He has a glorious plan for you.
Choose to see your suffering for what it is – It hurts, but it is not powerful enough to control you or destroy you. It is just powerful enough to help you grow and to help you discover God’s plan for your life.
Reflection Time and Prayer
What I’m going to do might seem a little foreign to some of you, but for some of you will be very important.
We’re going to bow in a time of guided reflection and prayer – I’ll ask each of you to close your eyes and bow your heads.
In a few moments I am going to pray on all of our behalf, but before I do I want you to bring to mind the people who have significantly hurt you. Ask God to reveal to you the ones that He wants to talk to you about today. Picture their faces in your mind, I want you to be very aware of them as we pray.
Lord, we confess that we have at times been controlled by the things we have experienced in life – especially the painful things.
We confess that we have at times borne grudges against those who we have felt hurt by.
We confess that we have at times treated them and others badly because of how we have responded to these hurts.
We confess that we have given Satan a foothold in our lives as we have held on to our hurts and our anger.
We confess that at times we have not acknowledged Your sovereign power and Your care for us.
Help us Lord to know in the depths of our being the truth of Your Word that teaches us that we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.
Help us to forgive those who sin against us, just as You have forgiven us.
Help us to see these people with fresh eyes, looking through the lens of grace instead of the broken glasses of judgement. Help us to remember that love keeps no record of wrongs.
Give us the faith to know that you bring victory from the jaws of defeat. Give us the wisdom to listen to Your voice leading us on the path of abundant life.
These things we pray so that Christ might be glorified in us by our obedience and by the fruits of a transformed life. We pray that in us people might see the power of Jesus to change lives, and they may come to Him for eternal life.
Amen.
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