Forgiving Ourselves

Reading of the Day: Genesis 49-50, Exodus 1

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.

We left off at the beautiful point where Joseph has his long-awaited reunions with his brothers & father. Now, his whole family would be nourished & cared for in Goshen near Egypt. Seems like the second chance and fresh start of a lifetime! And it was! But even though there was true repentance, reunion & reconciliation, that doesn't mean the guilt of the past did not come back to haunt them every once in a while. When Joseph's and his brother's father passed away, the brothers feared Joseph would turn on them and be angry again since it would no longer grieve their father. So, they spoke to Joseph the above Scripture, saying that their father asked for Joseph to forgive them of everything...but Joseph already did! As we read previously, Joseph had told them that God ordained his being sold into Egypt; it was not the brothers doing! But even though Joseph told them this when he first revealed himself to them, they still carried uncertainty and fear with them...and that's because they most likely did not yet forgive themselves! We know this because Joseph forgave them initially, and then he wept and repeated his same message a different way: "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." Genesis 50:20. It takes a lot to forgive people sometimes...but sometimes it takes a lot more to forgive ourselves! We live in fear thinking, "Do they really forgive me? Do they really trust me again?" But just as the brothers were restored & assured one more time through Joseph, I assure you today that if we have heart-felt repentance toward God and people, then we are whole-heartedly forgiven...and we have the freedom to forgive ourselves too! We no longer have to live in shame, guilt & regret for past mistakes! Forgiveness is freedom...and it's yours today!