A Story of Forgiveness

I mentioned in my last post that I am reading through the entire Bible this year. This stemmed from an invitation by my church for the entire congregation, as a whole, to take this step in our faith to make it our own. There is an awesome website, youversion.com , that has completely revolutionized this process for me. It is a free site (and, yes, there's a free app for it as well) and has many different versions of the Bible to choose from and tracks your progress for you too. There are also several different reading plans to choose from so you can pace yourself accordingly. My church, Christ's Church of the Valley, has designed a program that gives you five weekly readings that, when followed, will take you throughout the entire Bible in one year. (If you want that specific plan, click here.) I'm really not trying to sound like an infomercial, but this is changing the way that I am personally experiencing God in my life and I want other people to have that same awakening of passion and excitement!

As I was reading today I looked back through some of my notes so far and I found this one I wrote a few weeks ago about forgiveness and I thought I'd just pass it along for those of you who don't journey over to youversion. :) Enjoy!

Forgiveness

I have been completely captivated by the story of Joseph. Sure, I've heard it several times and even read it myself before, but this time the message of forgiveness jumped out at me. In Genesis 45, when Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers, there is not hint of malice or a thought of revenge. He immediately forgives them and credits all of his past trials (the wrong that they caused him) as God's working to save them all "... in an amazing act of deliverance." (Gen 45:7, MSG)
I can honestly say that I don't think I would be so gracious. Imagine the struggles he must have gone through. The mental anguish of being betrayed by his own brothers; the "why me's" and "what ifs". One would think that, at the mere sight of the people who were seemingly the cause of all of your life's troubles, the anger and frustration would boil over. But Joseph can see the bigger picture. His faith is bigger than his past suffering to the extent that he can immediately embrace his brothers and deliver them from theirs. What a perspective!

Right now I'm playing through my own scenarios in my head that maybe would have turned out much differently had I just had this perspective instead of trying to be "right". I'm realizing that the more I remove myself as the cause of my circumstances, the more clearly I can see God in my life. It all really goes back to humility. Who do I think I am to take credit for what God was already working to accomplish?! Who am I, to question Him in the middle of a challenging time in my life that may ultimately lead to "an amazing act of deliverance"?!

This passage has so encouraged me and given depth to my shallow point of view! I am amazed at how much closer God has brought me to Him in these few short weeks. I am so excited for the rest of this year!