Gen 45:5 And now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves that you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life. (MKJV)

Have you ever had a chance to deal again with people who hurt you in the past, been in a position of power over them? Joseph found himself in this position. He came face to face with his brothers who had sold him into slavery when he was just a young boy. Now he was governor in Egypt in a time of famine, in a position of power over his brothers (as he had told them he would be), a position he could use to destroy them if he so wished. At the very least, he could send them away with bitter words (and some choice gloating words about where he had ended up); at the most, he could pin some false charge on them, and have them decapitated, or strung up by their toenails (you get the picture). Joseph found himself in a position of power over his former enemies. So what was he going to demand: justice, or revenge?

That’s often a choice we have to make in our own lives. Life has a strange way of not always going one way. The Buddhists call it karma: what goes around comes around. The Bible says, whatever a man sows, that he will reap (Gal 6:7). Sometimes the people who scorn you, and kick you when you are down, find themselves in a position of requiring your mercy, or of needing your help. In that situation, what do YOU choose to do? Do you demand reparation for all they did?

See, Joseph choose a third way, the way of peace. He didn’t even choose between justice and vengeance. He had somehow (supernaturally, maybe?) set aside any desire for revenge, and had decided that the Lord had had a plan all along.

Gen 50:20 But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save a great many people alive. (MKJV)

Joesph chose MERCY. He chose to let go of everything that had been done to him, and move forward. I certainly don’t think I have the strength of character to be able to do that; if I do, I choose not to acknowledge it :) Seriously though, this should be a sobering thought: much is given to you. You are encompassed with eternity, and all of God’s infinite resources are made available to you. If you think about that, how can you not forgive those who have nothing to pay you with? And if that doesn’t quite put the fear of God into you (and I suppose it wouldn’t), know one more thing: Remember the parable of the man who owed his master, and yet could not forgive his debtor? (Matt 18).