HOW POWERFuL CAN IMERCy bE?
Isat silently observing the scene unfold before me wondering just how we got ourselves into this hot pot of bitter brew. I seemed to have been transported back in time to the era when a severe famine had driven the children of Jacob scrambling to Egypt in search of food and they found themselves trembling in the presence of this one man, not quite the king but yet holding the entire nations resources and revenue in his iron grip. Full of power and second only to the king, he had the power to make or break any who came before his throne. Surely had they known exactly who he was and how he got there, they would never have come that day.
I imagined the turmoil in this man’s heart as he looked upon us as Joseph must have done so many millennia ago, seeing his brothers who had betrayed him so many years before standing repentant before him, needing him and completely at his mercy, helpless to act without his say so. Indeed our story was not so dissimilar for an innocent act of omission coupled with some poor judgment had left him feeling betrayed, abandoned, and cast aside. Days turned to months and then to years, he was all but forgotten with little contact until one day, a surprising change in government swept him into the pinnacle of power. His deep hurt was etched on his face yet his heart ached, just as Joseph’s did, to forgive and love his brothers as he surely must have always done.
The Lord God Almighty is a God of extreme patience and He sets in motion actions that unfold in years to teach eternal lessons. In His class of life we learn the pain of betrayal and the joy of forgiveness, we taste the bitterness of revenge and the exilir of power. We are confronted daily with opportunities to rise above the injustice meted to us as we return evil for good and above all, we come face to face each day with ourselves in the mirror knowing that we must be better today than we were the day before. Revenge can often seem sweet but the greatest joy the heart can know is when mercy is granted where bitterness held long held sway. Do you have what it takes to forgive? May God help us do so today.