"The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" - Ex 34:6
It was extremely eye opening to me, a few years back, when someone showed me this passage and described this as God’s self-disclosed nature. Before this, if I were to describe the nature of God, I would start listing off certain characteristics: holy, all-powerful, just, loving, etc. These characteristics are absolutely fair to describe God; but when God describes Himself he starts off with mercy and grace. God is first and foremost gracious. He’s been gracious to me, gracious to you, gracious to all. Even gracious to those who deny His being. Seeing God this way forces me to read Scripture in a new light. I now see the grace of God throughout every book of the Bible. I also see the gracious acts of God’s people. Grace has the beautiful ability to warm our hearts and change our disposition. The more I see the grace of God toward me, the more I’m naturally encouraged to extend the grace of God to others.
Recently I was struck with this grace, in the life of Joseph, while re-reading Genesis. If you’re familiar with the story of Joseph, you’ll know Joseph’s jealous brothers sold him to slave traders who were making their way from modern day Israel to Egypt. Through some divinely inspired events, Joseph was elevated from a slave to the second most important person in all of Egypt. Also, through God’s revelation, Joseph was able to help Egypt survive a massive famine. Per his advice they stocked away excess food during the fruitful harvest years knowing lean years were coming. The famine hit hard throughout the entire Middle East and Joseph’s brothers were forced seek food in Egypt. Here’s how Joseph greeted his brothers:
"Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt." - Gen. 45:1-8
What crazy grace shown by Joseph to his brothers! I’ve held grudges for much less, how about you? His brothers, his blood, betrayed him beyond any betrayal I could imagine. Joseph went from living happily with his father and brothers to being a servant and prisoner in Egypt. The next time Joseph sees his brothers, years later, he’s repeatedly moved to tears at their sight. He shows genuine love and compassion for those who treated him horribly. And one of the first things he says to them is, “Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves.” Is this how you’d react? My natural tendency would be for them to feel distress, or worse yet, miserable and horrible. The only word to describe Joseph’s actions here is GRACE. I believe Joseph was able to extend such grace because he knew he was shown tremendous grace from God. God took this man, a prisoned slave, and gave him divine revelation, knowledge, and blessing that would allow him to climb to the heights of power. Joseph knew the grace of God was not given to exalt himself but rather to preserve life, the life of all those living under this famine. God gave Joseph grace so that he might give grace to others, including his brothers.
How has God shown us grace? How might God want us to show grace to others? How can we establish a culture of Grace in our lives and the life of The Vine Church? Lets also pray this with Jesus, "…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."- Matt. 6:12
- Pastor Brandon