14 Sep Joseph’s Forgiveness and Anointing Part 1
Genesis 50:2 – And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
Joseph is a good man, but he’s not Jesus. At times, Joseph suffered because of his own arrogance. Often, however, Joseph suffered because of evil and injustice committed against him. His own brothers sold him into slavery and lied, telling their father he was dead. Joseph was wrongly convicted of sexual assault, even though it was all a lie, and spent time in jail as a convicted criminal. People he served forgot about him and did not return the favor. He was forced to grow up, marry, and raise his children in a nation that was not his own, speaking a foreign language, and surrounded by the worship of demonic false gods.
Joseph had a lifetime of opportunities to choose bitterness, unforgiveness, and vengeance. His brothers know this, and they fear him, knowing he is literally seated in the Jesus seat at the right hand of the Pharaoh who was worshiped as a god ruling a counterfeit of God’s Kingdom.
Throughout his life, Joseph chose forgiveness over bitterness. He did not seek vengeance on those who did evil do him. He did not use the pain of his life to excuse rebellious and sinful behavior in response to unjust suffering. He did not embrace the lifelong identity of a victim seeking pity and attention. Instead, Joseph chose forgiveness over and over throughout his life and God honored that every time.
By the end of his life, Joseph has literally traveled from a pit to a prison to a palace. His life goes from being a broke and powerless slave, to one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world.
Who do you need to forgive in order to unburden?
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