Thursday, June 16, 2005

swallowing poison, hoping someone else will die

I was reading about Joseph last night & this morning, and thinking about just how he'd been wronged. His brothers sold him into slavery; Mrs. Potiphar tried to seduce him, and when she couldn't, she had him imprisoned; the butler forgot him (for TWO YEARS) after being restored to his position with the Pharoah. Really, Joseph was treated just horribly.

He had every reason to be bitter, and to stew in it. Can you imagine sitting in jail for two years, mulling over the wrongs done to you?

But he didn't. When he's finally brought before Pharoah, and later with his brothers, there's no bitterness. It's a good reminder ... refusing to forgive does no harm to the offender, but a terrible harm to the offended!

It also ties in nicely with Not by Chance, a book I've been reading on God's providence. God allows things into our lives for a reason. He's good, and I can trust Him to use what happens ... even if it seems awful.

Had a nice long walk with L. last night ... we were going to a Chinese restaraunt for dinner, but when we got there, it was shut down. So a bit more walking happened while we looked for a place to eat. She was a good sport about it, considering she hadn't slept yet! She's been looking at Joseph's life too, in the context of dealing with authority, so it was a good visit.

Trinka

1 comment:

Carol L said...

Amen to forgiveness! Although, Joseph did have a bit of a process what with having a few of his bros put in jail for a bit. Eventually, however, God was able to deal with his heart and help him to come around.

And, as a result of coming around to God's way of doing and being right, he also got his family restored back to him. I'm sure that he and his brothers were close after that, whereas, there was a lot of distance and bad feelings between them before.