Please read Genesis 50.
www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/gen/50/1/s_50001
Meditate on this sentence from verse 17.
Please forgive, I beg you,
the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you
wrong.
And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of
your father.
After their
father Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers feared retaliation from Joseph. They sent
a message to him saying their father asked, before he died, for Joseph to
forgive them their sins. The message was delivered; then the brothers
themselves asked Joseph to forgive them. Interestingly, Genesis 50:17 is the
first time God recorded the brothers actually asking Joseph for forgiveness.
The brothers sold Joseph into slavery 39 years before this act of contrition;
they had lived with Joseph in Egypt for the past 17 years. Joseph cried when
his brothers asked him to forgive them.
Joseph
forgave his brothers. He reminded them God had used their evil for good. He
told them not to be afraid; he would provide for them and their little ones.
“He comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (Genesis 50:21).
Today you
celebrate the end of a year and the start of something new. Spend this day
asking God to forgive you of sins from this past year. Perhaps you even have
sins from 39 years ago that you need to confess. Is there somebody you need to
call or go see and ask their forgiveness? Is there somebody who needs you to
forgive them and who needs you to stop withholding comfort and kindness to
them? End this year humbly before your God ready to receive His blessings for the
new year.
Pray Genesis
50:17 and 20-21 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful,
prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).
“God, my
Father, please forgive my transgressions.
Help me to forgive the transgression
and sin
of ___________;
even
though they did me wrong.
God, use
for good what was meant for evil.
Let them not be afraid of me.
Help me
provide for them and their little ones.
Help me comfort them and speak kindly to them.
In Your
name, Jesus~”
The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and
Marsha Harvell
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