Genesis 45 + Psalm 37

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

Genesis 45:5

This verse reveals a lot about Joseph. It reveals his grace and forgiveness toward the people who betrayed him, the respect and love that he has for his family, and his faithfulness to God. It shows his trust in the path God sent him on and that even though he experiences afflictions, there is a bigger purpose for God's kingdom that he is pursuing.

The verse also reflects what Jesus does for us on the cross. Just as God sent Joseph ahead to preserve life, God sends Jesus to the cross for us to preserve our life. With Jesus, we have a new life preserved for eternity, and we are filled with the characteristics that give our life meaning, such as gratitude, joy, hope, generosity, and just this general sense of abundance that God gives us.

This verse also reflects the posture we should have toward our own sin. I think oftentimes when we are in sin, we take it on ourselves and we tend to beat ourselves up. There is a place for us to feel repentant of our sin, but we should not allow our distress or our anger to override the grace of what God is doing and what Jesus Christ has done. It is already finished. If we sit in distress and anger, we are taking away from all of the glory and power of the cross, because we are putting it on ourselves rather than giving it to God. In a perfect world of believers, we would give God the credit, seek Him to preserve our life, and everybody would understand that it is God who is in control and that He is the one sending us on the path that we are going on.

Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:3-4

When we trust in the Lord, we do good. When we are in His land, we become more faithful, and when we are in this place, we are delighting ourselves in the Lord. We are close with Him, our relationship with Him is strong, and the desires of our hearts are aligned with Him. When that happens, He will give us what we want, not our selfish desires, but our selfless and godly desires.

You can see this in Joseph. His life has been turned over to God, his faithfulness is evident, and he gives glory to God by saying that the path he is on is from God and there is a purpose in it. Joseph is delighting in the Lord, and the desires of his heart are actually to be with God and to do His will.

And so I pray to move forward with trusting in the Lord and doing good, so that the cascade turns into faithfulness, delighting in the Lord, and having the desires of my heart become the desires of God.