God created this world, and "it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). But sin entered this good world, bringing brokenness into all our relationships. At the close of Genesis, however, Joseph notes the saving work of God that reverses this breakdown.
How powerful is God? God can take harmful intentions and use them to accomplish his will. God can take what was meant to harm and use it to save. God can take an instrument of death--the cross--and make it an instrument of life.
How do we deal with the brokenness of life? Joseph invites us to have 50:20 vision. I wear glasses because without them I cannot see things that are more than a foot or two away. My nearsightedness makes me especially glad for corrective lenses. Genesis 50:20 teaches us to correct our perception, because if we don't, we'll get discouraged and we might conclude that the "darkness" of sin and death has won.
Riddled with guilt, Joseph's brothers wondered whether they were really forgiven. So Joseph directed them to see, understand, and believe in God's ongoing work for good.
In the end, God wins. In the end, our conversations, our work, and our lives are to be shaped by the goodness and grace of God. Nothing else is needed.
God of grace, thank you for your ongoing work of grace. Thank you for healing what is broken and for working even through brokenness to bring grace. In Jesus, Amen.
About the author — Jul Medenblik
Rev. Jul Medenblik is a former attorney who was called to pastoral ministry and became the church-planting pastor of a congregation in New Lenox, Illinois. Since 2011 he has served as the seventh president of Calvin Theological Seminary, which, together with Calvin University, is celebrating 150 years of God’s faithfulness in their history as the educational institutions of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (see calvinseminary.edu/150th). Jul and his wife, Jackie, have been married for over 40 years and are blessed with two adult children and a son-in-law.
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