Forgives
“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”
Genesis 45:5
Today we skip ahead in the story of Joseph to really talk about forgiveness.
Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food the first time left their youngest brother, Benjamin at home. Joseph recognize his Brothers and had his servants return all the money that paid for the grain.
Joseph, it already forgave them for what happened. He knew that God needed him to be there and did not blame his brothers for what they had done to him and how they had made him suffer. Instead, he chose forgiveness.
When his brothers came back, a second time to buy food he made sure that his father was in good health and required them to bring Benjamin with them. I’m sure these seem like strange questions and requests to his brothers because they did not recognize him. God had blinded them to who he truly was.
What’s up Cinema way with their grain again he put the silverback in their bags this time he had his servant put a cup in Benjamin’s bag. After that, left he sent his servants out to bring all the brothers back to Egypt. What happened next he didn’t expect. We told them that you were going to keep Benjamin as his slave several of his brothers stood up and said please don’t take me instead.
Even though Joseph had forgiven them for what they have done, they haven’t forgiven themselves yet. They remembered how much grief it causes their father who is the son.
Surely, after that, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and that’s where scripture for today comes from. he consoled them by telling them that God had a plan and that he’s already forgiven them for what they have done and if they hadn’t have done that and he wouldn’t be able to save as many people as he did. You see he knew what they didn’t he understood that God was working through him in so many ways.
Much like the way God works in all of our lives.
Today we would encourage you to think about what and who you haven’t forgiven for things that have gone not as planned. Take a second search deep in your heart and pray for God to soften it so you can forgive. If Joseph can forgive his brothers for selling him into slavery if he can forgive Potiphar’s wife for falsely accusing him if he can forgive the cupbearer we’re taking two years to remember him. Then there’s nothing that we can’t forgive.
You see God can do anything if we let him.
Prayer
God Almighty maker of heaven and Earth creator things that are good. We come to you today to ask if you would soften her heart allow us to forgive those who have sinned against us. Lord, we also pray that you would soften their hearts to allow them to forgive us for what we have done to them. We know we’re not perfect we know that we make mistakes every day. That’s why we ask for forgiveness constantly. We’re so thankful that you’re a forgiving God because if you weren’t we would never stand a chance to enter into your kingdom. Lord, we are thankful for what you give us such great Inspirations throughout the Bible to learn from. We’re grateful that you gave us the power to forgive others. Help us to remember that we need to use that same power to forgive ourselves for what we’ve done wrong. God, we’re thankful for your son, we’re thankful for the power of forgiveness.
Amen
Prayer
Lord, today we come to you with HAPPY hearts. We are so grateful that you give us the opportunity to change the lives of those around us. We are grateful that you give us the wisdom to change our lives and the lives of those around us. And you make it so simple. We can do it with a single smile. God today I would ask that you help us to smile more. The next time we see someone down, help us to smile for them. The next time we are down, help us to remember that you gave us the best gift ever. The ability to know you, your son, and the holy spirit. God, we are so grateful for everything you give us.
We ask all these things in your Precious Son's Name
Amen
A Little More
The other day I got a call from one of our clients.
I love talking to our clients so I always smile when I answer the phone.
“Hey Dan, one of my drivers is pulled over and they are saying that our permit doesn’t cover what we weigh. Isn’t that why we hire your team to make sure that these things don’t happen!”
My smile immediately vanished.
I was shocked because my team is amazing. and it’s not like them to miss something like 20,000 lbs on a permit.
So, I asked him, “Who have you been working with, and who was the one who called our team to get the permit?”
To get to the bottom of the problem I needed the details.
They gave me the details.
My next call was to my team. Then after I got the details I got them started on getting new permits to get the problem fixed. I’m a solutions guy, not an excuses guy.
But I NEED to know the real reason why it happened so that we can fix the issue.
My next call was to the driver so that I could see exactly what happened.
I knew he was going to be upset. He was pulled over and they were going to give him a HUGE ticket. I wouldn’t be happy either.
so……
I made sure not to smile when I made the call. I had a serious look on my face. As we chatted I learned that he was the person who gave his weight to our team. I asked where he got the weights from and how in the world they were off by over 20K lbs!
That’s when he told me that he might have gotten the wrong scale ticket from the weigh station where he originally weighed.
Immediately my heart leapt with joy, this is NOT our fault!
Now to get the problem resolved and get this driver back on the road was my only goal. I was not going to assign blame or make anyone feel bad.
Hey, we all make mistakes. I do it multiple times every single day.
The owner of the company shot me a text. I'm getting permits from the big guys. They won’t make these mistakes that cost me time and $$$$$.
No problem. Let me know if you need anything. We are here to help.
Well……..
After they called the “BIG Guys” they called me about 30 minutes later.
Hey, we can’t get an Idaho permit until Monday. It’s Friday night. And we need to drop this load off tomorrow afternoon.
I told him that I would NOT make any promises.
But my team went to work!
Guess what????
We got the permits that the “BIG Guys” couldn’t get.
My team had the Idaho permit in less than 20 minutes. For the right weight this time.
Here’s the point of all this.
When things don’t go right, smile. I have taught my whole team this.
That right there is how we got the permits. They smiled as they worked and it didn’t take any time at all.
Ok, there might be a little knowledge that went into this too. Lol
Next time you need anything DOT, don’t call the “Big Guys” , call the team who can get it done!
Dan Greer
