Acts 7:1-51 / 14-16 – “After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.”
Why did God the Father, who has every day been rejected and rebelled against by man, then send His Son to die for these disrespectful and filthy creatures? Why would beautiful perfection be sent to die for such as us? Because He could. Because that was His the desire of His will and His heart. God offered a way for man to be saved because of who He is. He could have wiped all mankind out and started over again. For Him that would have been as simple as thinking it and willing it to be so. But instead He loved mankind so greatly that He sent His Son, He Himself suffered and died so that we might be reunited with Him, so that we would have eternal life. Amazing!
Joseph, when He was blessed, could have remembered all the horror that He went through because of His brothers and decided to not help them, or even to have them killed. Instead he decided to provide for and protect his family. Joseph did not have a heart for revenge but to bless, just as His Lord, had forgiven, provided for and protected Him.
Sometimes Joseph is portrayed as a spoiled and privileged brat who flaunted the dreams God gave him and the coat that his father had given him, at his brothers. That he had provoked his brothers to become jealous and enraged. That seems more like a projection of those who can’t imagine that Josephs actions were from innocence rather that intentional provocation. It seems more likely that He was excited by all that he had been told and given. More like the joy of a child who received gifts that were so joyous to him that he wanted to show everyone how he had been blessed. It was innocence and not pride that caused Joseph to gleefully share his blessings. A pure heart wants to share good news and expects that all his family and friends will be happy for him. There was a pure heart there. The proof of his pure heart was his willingness to, when he had become second in command to Pharaoh, bless and not punish his brothers. His love for them remained and it was manifested by his forgiveness of them and his earnest desire to bless them. Through hard times his good heart had softened and not hardened.
A heart that belongs to God becomes like the heart of God. A heart that has been given to God is nurtured to become like His own heart. A heart that loves and belongs to God cannot be changed by trials, no matter how difficult. Instead a heart that belongs to God grows more tender, more loving, more like God’s heart in spite of hardships. It sees the love of God shining through the dark moments. Such a heart looks to the light and does not hope to peer in the darkness. We are told that a heart that belongs to God, and increasingly becomes more like God’s heart is patient and kind, it does not envy and does not boast, it is not proud and does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. A heart in pursuit of God does not fail just as God’s heart never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a) Galatians 5:22 states that the one who has a spirit like God, that one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, will from the Holy Spirit bear fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. A heart that only has eyes for God will not become corrupted and hard but will increasingly become like God in whom its gaze belongs.
Joseph lived out the good heart that is in him. He did not make excuses to not live out the heart that God had given him, but instead, he kept his focus on God and so, more and more, became like God. God loves, forgives and forgets. We are blessed, like Joseph, if we do likewise. Praises to our God, our Savior and Lord! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.