Scripture:
“Joseph could stand it no longer. There were many people in the room, and he said to his attendants, ‘Out, all of you!’ So he was alone with his brothers when he told them who he was. Then he broke down and wept. He wept so loudly the Egyptians could hear him, and word of it quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace.
‘I am Joseph!’ he said to his brothers. ‘Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph was standing there in front of them. ‘Please, come closer,’ he said to them. So they came closer. And he said again, ‘I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors. So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser to Pharaoh—the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt’.” Genesis 45:1-8 (NLT)
Perspective:
Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused, imprisoned, and promoted during his life. The promotion at the end could seem like the only thing worth remembering, but Joseph understood something profound about life. Joseph wasn’t trying to defend, erase, or change the past. He had accepted it knowing that God had used every single step to bring him to that point to provide for his family. The famine in the land would have demolished his family if Joseph had been in his position of influence in Egypt. When his brothers came to get grain and Joseph finally revealed his identity, he wasn’t angry or upset. He knew that God was doing something more than he could have ever imagined when his brothers sold him into slavery as a young man. Joseph didn’t blame any of his brothers for the past because he could see clearly how God had been working all along. He didn’t need the past to be changed because he realized that God had used all of it. Nothing was wasted.
Have you ever wanted to go back in time and change something about your life? You may have made a decision or two that you wish you could erase from the record. You may have had something happen to you that you would never wish upon anyone else. Joseph looked at his life and he decided that he wouldn’t change anything. He understood that it all was required to stand in that palace and save his family. The slavery, false accusations, imprisonment, and hardships were all part of the story. Sometimes we can spend some much of our life trying to fix, change, or erase the past. God doesn’t need you to erase your past. Every single moment has led you to today. It’s possible that God has sent you ahead to a place to help someone who would intersect your path in the future. Without your individual journey, you might miss the moments ahead. So, rest instead of trying to erase, knowing that God doesn’t waste anything.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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About Hona Amer
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