“I Am Joseph!”

“As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good.” — Genesis 50:20

When Joseph heard Judah offer to become a slave in place of Benjamin, he couldn’t hold back his tears any longer.

“Everyone leave the room!” he called to his Egyptian servants. When only the brothers were left, Joseph burst into tears. He cried so loudly that the Egyptians outside could hear him.

“I am Joseph!” he said. “Is my father still alive?”

His brothers were too shocked to answer. They were terrified! This powerful man was the brother they had sold as a slave.

“Please, come close to me,” said Joseph. And they came closer. “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me here. It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. There have been two years of famine, and there are still five more to come. God sent me here to keep you alive. So it wasn’t really you who sent me here. It was God.”

Then Joseph hugged his little brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept too. And he kissed all his brothers and cried over them. After that, at last, his brothers could talk to him.

“Hurry home to my father,” said Joseph. “Tell him, ‘God has made your son Joseph ruler of all Egypt. Come down to me. Come and live near me, you and your children and grandchildren and all your animals. I will take care of you.’”

When the brothers got home and told Jacob, he couldn’t believe it at first. But when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him, he said, “My son Joseph is still alive! I will go and see him before I die.”

So Jacob and his whole family moved to Egypt. When Joseph saw his father, he threw his arms around him and wept for a long time. Joseph gave them good land to live in, and food all through the famine.

Many years later, Jacob died. And Joseph’s brothers became afraid again. “What if Joseph still hates us?” they said. “What if he pays us back now for what we did?”

They sent Joseph a message, asking him to forgive them. When Joseph heard it, he cried.

“Don’t be afraid,” Joseph told them. “Am I in the place of God? You meant to do me harm, but God meant it for good, to save the lives of many people. So don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” And he spoke kindly to them.

Joseph’s brothers did a terrible thing. But God took that terrible thing and turned it into something good. He used it to save Joseph’s whole family, and many other people too. God was in charge all along, keeping His promise to Abraham.

Looking ahead to Jesus: One day Jesus’ enemies would do the most terrible thing of all. They would put Him to death on a cross. But that was part of God’s plan too, and God raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:23–24). God turned the worst thing that ever happened into the best thing that ever happened: the way for us to be forgiven.

Read it in your Bible: Genesis 45; 50:15–21

Dear God, thank you that you can bring good out of bad things. Help me to forgive people who hurt me, the way Joseph forgave his brothers, and the way you forgive me. Amen.