Daily Devotion January 14

January 14: Genesis 50:15-21

KJV Key Verse: Genesis 50:17
  So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive , I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

Devotion:
There are some pretty mixed up people in the bible – so why should we be any different nowadays? This brings comfort to me; to know that people have always been mixed up and that I am not alone in being mixed up at times! When we begin to recognise we have done something against another person we should begin to have some sort of remorse toward them. If we do not then are we not exercising evil in our lives instead of following Christ’s commandment that we love one another?

I like the way Josephs brothers think they have to beg him for forgiveness and even try to trick him into forgiving them. They have seen the ways of the world and the ways they used to be and now are actually scared for their lives! The first thing that comes to mind is the assumption that Joseph has every right to want them dead or at the very least punished for what they have done. Instead they find a man who has trusted God!

When we place our faith and trust in God we find we are more willing to forgive other people than before. We find others cannot understand how we can have this forgiveness because they do not understand how God can forgive. It goes right down to the core way in which we think because of the life we live in this world. The more things go wrong the more we think we have to try and fix in some way. What God is saying is we should leave these problems at His feet and move forward in our lives knowing He is looking out for us!

Joseph’s forgiveness goes very deep because He has seen this forgiveness and more from His God. Now he wants to extend this to his brothers. When we get to the stage where we see how much God has done in our lives we move forward with Him and extend His love out to the people around us. With that sort of attitude in our lives we should be able to love others with a sincerity that goes far beyond our fickle earthly lives! That God He first showed us forgiveness!

Points to Ponder:
Are you ready to forgive?

Do you accept God’s forgiveness?