The day I forgave those in the medical community for our sudden loss of our daughter was the beginning that God lavish many blessings on our family. If God can do that for me then He cerrtainly can do that for you!

Thus you shall say to Joseph, “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.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Genesis 50:17

I dusted off the Pontiac Grand Prix biblical time machine which shone brightly in its blue and red color. I put the helmet on, gloves on my hands, and climbed into the driver’s seat to program the dash mounted control panel to Chapters 49-50 of Genesis. As soon as I turned on the ignition the light of time began to move quickly until it got increasingly closer to the period I programmed it for.

I had happened to come upon the time when Jacob (now called Israel) had gathered his son’s to give each a blessing and to tell them what will happen to them in the days to come. When it was Joseph’s turn I heard his father say:


“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
a fruitful bough by a spring;
his branches run over the wall.[e]
23 The archers bitterly attacked him,
shot at him, and harassed him severely,
24 yet his bow remained unmoved;
his arms[f] were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(from there is the Shepherd,[g] the Stone of Israel),
25 by the God of your father who will help you,
by the Almighty[h] who will bless you
with blessings of heaven above,

After Jacob offered these blessings he took his last breath and died. Just as was promised he was buried in the place he wanted to be buried in. Not long after the period of mourning had finished Joseph’s brothers began to worry that Joseph will take vengeance against them for selling him to the Ishmaelites and being brought to Egypt, away from his father.

 In verse 17 Joseph wept as his brothers spoke to him: 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people[k] should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.


What this illustrated to me is the fact that God has a different view on how we are to see vengeance when we feel unjust harm had been done to us. He taught us, through the life of Joseph, that there is tremendous power in forgiveness. I know in our modern society this is definitely not the most popular position with the numbers of attorneys trying to try as many cases as they can, but in the life of Joseph it became a sweet perfume in the lives of those that deserve vengeance.


There is a connection between Joseph and our Savior Jesus Christ. None of us deserve God’s free gift of salvation, but we have it because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross.

Like Joseph’s brothers all of us deserved the wrath of God, but God welcomed us into the Kingdom because of the penalty that Christ paid for all of us.

If there is someone you need to forgive today I encourage you to do what Joseph did and forgive that person. You will be glad you did.