What If…?

When we improvise our part in God’s story unfaithfully, in actions that are untrue to his character and ways of working, there are always consequences. Perhaps one of the most common consequences is that we struggle to trust God’s grace toward us. We find his promised forgiveness for the unfaithful acts and words that we have recognized and confessed too good to be true (1 John 1:9). This was the experience of Joseph’s brothers after the death of their father. “What if…?” they said, imagining a scenario in which Joseph’s forgiveness of them, his extraordinary grace and generosity, turned to furious revenge (15). They couldn’t imagine a value system in which grace operated, other than temporarily and conditionally. It would be nice to think that they told Joseph the truth about Jacob’s last instructions (16,17), but it’s unlikely. As the TNIV correctly translates, the brothers were so afraid of Joseph that they first sent a message (16) and only later, when they heard of his emotional response, did they approach him in person (18). 

As his brothers “threw themselves down before him” (18), I wonder if Joseph recalled the teenage dream (37:5-11) that launched this story. His response to them was a summary of his entire life (20) and points to another crucial Old Testament theme: sinful human actions, unfaithful improvisations, will not ultimately derail God’s good and sovereign purposes. The Joseph narrative is unflinchingly realistic and clear about the outcome. The closing details of Joseph’s life express a strong sense of a story that continues through the next generations, and of his prophetic awareness of that time when God would come in a special way to his people and they would leave Egypt, taking his body with them (25; Exod.13:17-19).

God reassures us and speaks kindly to us (21). Let your prayers today respond to him in trust and thanks.