You’ll Protect Them

You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me — you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’ Genesis 45:10-11

Not only did Joseph forgive his brothers, he protected them from their worst nightmare – having to go back and tell their ageing father what they’d done twenty-two years earlier. Joseph is a step ahead of them; he tells them what to say and what not to say:‘Go up to my father, and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph: ‘God has made me lord of all Egypt; come…You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children…I will provide for you’”’ (vv. 9-11). You say, ‘I think they should have been forced to confess what they’d done.’ No, that would have given their father, Jacob, an even greater burden to bear – struggling with regret over his lost years with Joseph, not to mention having to fight bitterness towards his other sons. Joseph was wise. And it made his brothers respect him all the more. There’s a big difference between confessing and ‘dumping’. Irreparable damage can be done when you try to get relief by dumping the details of your guilt on somebody who can’t handle them. Sometimes confessing is the proper route, but only after talking with an experienced counsellor. After David sinned with Bathsheba he wrote,‘Against You [God], You only, have I sinned’ (Psalm 51:4). When you consider that God knows all about your sin yet promises to keep it a closely guarded secret, it should: 1) increase your sense of humility and gratitude; 2) cause you to keep your mouth shut; 3) make you refuse to hold anybody else’s sins and shortcomings over their head.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for forgiving me of my sin and not dumping guilt on me and others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen