Isaiah 26: 3- 4 3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord
God is the eternal Rock.
How could Joseph forgive his brothers who had mistreated him
so badly? We saw it yesterday: plain and simple, he left all vengeance to the
Lord. To use our terms, Joseph rested and relaxed, trusting in His God.
At the climax of this great story, we read the secret of
Joseph's life:
His brothers also came and fell down before him and said,
"Behold, we are your servants." But Joseph said to them, "Do not
be afraid, for am I in God's place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but
God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve
many people alive."(Genesis 50:18–20)
Question: How could Joseph respond like that? Why didn't he
feel angry and seek to have them punished? Answer: He could forgive them
because his mind focused on the sovereignty of God. Rather than nursing hatred
and plans for revenge, he deliberately took the long view and realized that
God, who "causes all things to work together for good" (Romans 8:28),
had a plan for saving Joseph's own family—and that would never have happened
had Joseph not been in Egypt where he was promoted to a role of leadership that
gave him authority of that vast food supply.
To use our terms, he mentally rested and relaxed. Because he
made the Lord his God the center of his focus, good resulted from all that
evil. And in the meantime, Joseph enjoyed an inner peace rather than inner
torment. It's exactly as the prophet Isaiah once wrote:
"The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever,
For in God the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock." (Isaiah 26:3–4)
So much for Joseph—now it's your turn. For you to have that
kind of "perfect peace," for you to enjoy a life of mental rest and
relaxation, you need to lay aside the hatchet, erase your mental hit list, and
forgive all those who have done you wrong. Start that process today.
Like, NOW.
Thought for today:
Do I seek the solutions that bring peace of mind?
No comments:
Post a Comment