Genesis 50:17 (AMP)
“Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”
The way a man reacts to situations, circumstances and happenings reveals much about the content of his heart and how well he has grown. Growth is intentional, a choice and a defying of all odds in order to attain a level of maturity. No man truly grows without allowing his heart to be full of love towards God and fellow humans.
Joseph was a man who experienced the evil done by men in the early stage of life. His own brothers, all because of jealousy and sheer hatred towards him and his dreams, decided to make him suffer. In fact, the initial plan was to kill him but it was by divine intervention that the plan did not work. So, his brothers sold him and even lied to their father that it was a beast that killed him. What an act of wickedness!
But Joseph grew. When it was time for God to elevate him, God did but not without his integrity been tested and proven. He became a man who could be trusted by God to make a difference in his environment. Joseph dared to be different. After the death of their father, his brothers thought he would retaliate and make them suffer, so they went to tell him that their father had instructed that he forgives them of their evil against him. His brother never knew that Joseph had understood his journey and the reason God made him pass through all that happened to him.
It is the man who is ignorant of what God has for him that hates those that might have done evil to him. God most times uses the evil of men to train the man He desires to use for His glory.
Joseph chose to forgive his brothers totally without any bias mind. He didn’t instruct his children not to relate with his brothers and their children like many would have done today. Christ has called every man to a life of peace and harmony. It is a man who has total faith in God that chooses to live God’s nature and lifestyle here on earth.
Beloved, dare to be different. Do not allow hatred in your heart. The reason some are still where they are is because of the hatred they have allowed in their hearts. Forgive any man that has done any evil unto you. Let your faith in God inform your decision to live right. Never repay evil with evil but pay evil with good.
