"Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones." Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them." - Genesis 50:20-21

I can't believe we have reached the end of our series in Genesis so fast! It seems each week we have been seeing just how much of the Gospel is actually in the first book of the Bible! It would be generations upon generations before the birth of Jesus Christ, but in the patriarchal family we have seen glimpse after glimpse of God's salvation plan. In Joseph we see a man living his life as if he's already been transformed by the Gospel, and he didn’t even have what we have! God's mercy was reaching him, even as through Jesus, God's mercy reaches us! What gospel glimpses can we see in Joseph in this final chapter of Genesis?

First, Joseph left judgment with God. Vengeance, or judgment, was God's prerogative, not his. Though he was horrifically sinned against by his brothers, Joseph left judgment with God. He could do that because, secondly, he understood the purposes of God and that shaped his actions. His theology of God was formed in those prison years, and it was enabling him to live out of a conviction that God indeed works all things for good.For Joseph that meant he didn’t merely want to forget his brothers; and so, finally, he wanted to be fully reconciled to them. He forgave them and restored relationship with them. Instead of charging God and writing off his brothers, he saw the good purposes of God through it all. Joseph knew that God's love never fails!

Read Psalm 73 this week, and ask the Lord to search your heart. We all go through very unpleasant circumstances and trials in this life. What do we believe in those moments? Do we want vengeance? Who is God to us in those moments? And where our trial is brought on by someone, how do we feel about them? Read Psalm 73 slowly. Joseph didn’t have Psalm 73, but he could have sympathized with Asaph. Surely Joseph was tempted in much the same ways, but God's work in him, and in Asaph too, enabled these men to grow closer to God not through the absence of hard times, but in those hard times! We, by grace, can too!

Aron