The Last Word

When Joseph finally saw his brothers again, years after they had thrown him into a pit and sold him into slavery, he very well might have been tempted to take a measure of revenge on them. But he didn’t. He did not immediately reveal himself and did not seek to pay his brothers back for wronging him. He was in a position from which he certainly could have, severely. Instead, he chose to test them, to see if they were still the cruel men he had known them to be as a child.

As I read this account in Genesis 42:6-25, I recognized a parallel between Joseph’s actions and God’s mercy. God knows we are depraved individuals, so He tests us to see if we will respond to Him in faith or if we will turn away from Him. The brothers of Joseph humbled themselves before him without giving any clear indication that they were changed men. Joseph was willing to be patient and test them instead of assuming they hadn’t changed and making them suffer for past wrong-doings.

We often fail to be merciful in our dealings with one another. We often seek to exact payment for debts we have convinced ourselves other owe us for their wrongs. Even in our own families, in our most intimate relationships, we often lack mercy for those who have hurt us. God is not lacking in mercy; He loved us enough to send His only Son to die for us, to save us from suffering the wrath we deserved. He loved us enough to preserve us.

When Joseph finally revealed himself to his brothers, he told them, “And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” Joseph saw the larger good that God orchestrated through the evil of his brothers. We must trust in God’s purposes and not seek to have the last word in our interpersonal conflicts. We must let God have the last word.