Forgive!

“In fact, all the world came to Joseph to obtain rations of grain, for famine had gripped the whole world.” Genesis 41:57

The story of Joseph the dreamer, and the builder, is a marvelous story of what can happen to a person who does not get consumed by bitterness and unforgiveness. His envious brothers sold him to some traders, and told Jacob their father that he was attacked by a wild animal. 

The traders sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of the Pharaoh of Egypt. He lands in jail because of Potiphar’s foolish wife. In jail, Joseph interprets two dreams correctly which gets him into Pharaoh’s court. After interpreting Pharaoh’s dream about years of plenty and years of famine, Pharaoh is impressed with Joseph’s wisdom. “You are the wisest man in the land!” Pharaoh then assigns Joseph to direct what to do and to be in charge of the whole land of Egypt. “Only I will have a rank higher than yours.” 

Can you imagine what would have happened if Joseph was just focused on getting revenge on his brothers? Would he have been concerned about his fellow inmates? “Why do you look so worried today?” he asked them (Gen. 40:7) Joseph was so helpful and efficient, the chief jailer put him in charge of the prison. The Lord was with him, making everything run smoothly and successfully! 

Wherever we are, whatever we do, we can be God’s presence in our little part of the world. Perhaps people hurt us, reject us, give us trouble, if we focus on our work and what we have to do for God, we can be fruitful like Joseph. If we are filled with resentment and unforgiveness we can be stunted in our growth because all we see are closed doors. Let us choose to be free, choose to forgive, so we can open doors and allow God to use us to build His Kingdom on earth.