Forgiveness: Living In Faith, Joseph, And His Family.
June 15, 2023
According to Genesis 44-45, Joseph immediately recognized his brothers when they came to buy grain to carry back to their extended family. However, his brothers did not recognize him. Believing Joseph to be either long dead or somehow languishing in slavery, encountering Joseph in Egypt was not even on their radar.
Without revealing who is, Joseph uses the moment to ask bout his dad and younger brother. And, to play a trick on his other brothers. Once the brothers get back home they find that they still have the money they brought to pay for the grain, and to their horror, they also have a silver cup from Pharaoh’s household! Now it appears that they left Egypt without paying and are in possession of a stolen item from one of Pharaoh’s homes.
This prompts quite a bit of family drama and nervous conversation about what to do. In the end, they return to Egypt and Joseph resolves to forgive them. Joseph attributes both his misfortunes and his rise to prominence to God. He gives testimony to what God has done to save his people.
Today was a good day for testimony. One of our team members, Pastor Jennifer, shared her testimony with the camp during the opening gathering. It was powerful and just want the camp needed to hear on a day when the topic of forgiveness is on the table.