Open The Door To Healing...Learn To Forgive

Genesis 42:21 -24 -   They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.” They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter.  He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.

Joseph had been hurt badly…and paid a high price for his pain.  He had been thrown into a pit…bound and sold into slavery…accused wrongly of rape…and spent years in prison that he did not deserve. He recognized the brothers who hurt him as soon as they appeared in his line to buy grain…and spoke roughly to them through an interpreter.

Perhaps Joseph had more than binding his brother Simon in jail for a time in mind when he overheard them talking and confessing the horrible thing they had done to him…he was even overcome with emotion and wept. We are not told what Joseph is thinking…but he surely had forgiven them because he sent them on their way….returning the money they paid for the grain inside each of the sacks that had been loaded for their journey…without revealing himself to them.

Joseph’s reaction to his brothers reminds me that healing comes in stages.  We open the door to healing when we offer forgiveness in our heart…but the hurt does not go away just because we forgave.  Even though the confession was not face to face with Joseph….it touched him that the brothers realized how wrong they had been.

I know I am healing when my emotions well up in tears. Tears are God’s way of emptying our hurts so he can begin to fill us up with the things we will need to move forward from the pain they may have caused.  Hearing someone tell us they are sorry for hurting us should prompt us to return the confession and apology with the mercy God showed us when he forgave us of our sins.

Father…thank you for the reminder that forgiveness is the beginning of a healing process.  Thank you for forgiving me and showing mercy to this sinner.  Forgive me even as I thank you… for any sin I have failed to confess before you.  Continue to let tears of healing purge from me any hurts that hold me back from moving forward to where you need me to be.  Amen.