In the books of Genesis, buried along with all the other gems of wisdom for us to uncover, we find that “Joseph weeps”.  I find myself unsettled and broken for him and I realize that the pain of human rejection and suffering is deeply scarring and is not something that can remain unattended to.  God knew that about His son Joseph, He knew he needed healing from the pain, from the hate that was unleashed upon him by his own family – his very own brothers.  I wonder do you know that kind of pain?  Do you know the  rejection from a family member you loved and cherished?  Have you cried the tears of suffering?  Have you felt the prongs of betrayal stabbed in your back by someone you loved?  Can I tell you how truly sorry I am for what has been done to you, for the hurt that you feel, for the suffering you have endured?  I truly understand.  I may not know the particulars of your situation, but I understand that the wound is deep, and it cuts to your heart.

Joseph’s heart was indeed cut deeply, and we see that as we return to scripture and see Joseph’s tears.  What I find to be extremely interesting, as we look back on Joseph’s life, amidst all the suffering and great oppression he endured, not one single tear was shed.  He was rejected by his family, sold as a slave, under intense temptation, falsely accused, imprisoned and forgotten.  And yet there was absolutely no record in scripture of Joseph shedding one tear throughout this suffering.  Why? We do see throughout this section verses 39:2 and 40:23  “The Lord was with Joseph”.  In the trenches of Joseph’s situation God was with him.  What that looked like, or felt like, only Joseph knows, but we can speculate that there was God’s peace, presence, strength and unfailing faith that surrounded, uplifted and carried him.  We are told in Psalm 23:4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and staff, they comfort me.” God is indeed with us holding our hand as we walk through the valley.

What about you?  Are you walking through a valley?  Do you feel God’s presence, do you know His voice, do you feel His calling, do you sense the warmth of His love, the comfort of His peace, His mercy and compassion for your broken heart.  God knows our hurts and He comes alongside us in the suffering.  I believe, by the grace of God, we end up back on our feet after the blows and we carry on in our new situation, just like Joseph did.  I believe God gives us, the strength, the courage, and the will to carry on.   But not without creating a work in us (but that is yet a different topic for another day).  Sooner or later God deals with the buried, messy scars of our life so that the balm of his love might completely heal and restore us.  It is in our restoration that we find the true gift of freedom and unconditional love that God has bestowed upon us.  This gift allows us to journey in life with Him, as a new and improved versions of ourselves.  We are then able stand boldly as a testimony to the power of God’s love, mercy and transformation in our lives and we are blessed with the privilege of sharing our story to glorify God and all His mysterious ways.

Joseph’s heart needed that kind of healing.  While Joseph was the poster child of faith, suffering and obedience, he was human, he had emotions and he felt the extremes of those emotions  But God knew what Joseph needed, and in His perfectness, He articulated a plan for Joseph’s buried pain to bubble back to the surface.  Joseph was about to see the face of his brothers before him, and perhaps relive the rejection that was inflicted upon him all those years ago.  Can we pause here for just a moment?  Let us recall that Joseph was essentially the Prime Minister of Egypt, does that cause you to wonder what he was doing in the receiving line, so to speak, of those desperately looking for food?  This strikes me as odd, as one would have thought that he would have had a servant to execute this duty.  Yet here he was.  Is it plausible that God put Joseph there, on that particular day to face his brothers, to face his hurt and to begin the healing?

Have you ever been in a situation before where you unexpectantly were before someone who betrayed you?  How did you feel?  Did you run away?  Did you hope to not be noticed?  Did you stand before this person with forgiveness on your heart or revenge and anger burning within you?  Did you think about reconciliation or revenge?  Did you think of love or hate? What do you think Joseph thought? What feelings do you think were running through him?

For Joseph, I believe all those thoughts went through his mind and this is where we see Joseph begin to release the tears of his pain, and the beginning of God’s healing hand on Joseph’s war-torn heart. Joseph’s hurt overtakes his obedience and we begin to see his behavior change, something that up until this point we have not seen in Joseph.  We see the hate, anger and bitterness give rise to a plan of revenge.  Yet in the midst of his planning, we see moments where he bears his heart with sobbing.  Spiritual warfare was alive and well in his heart.

Have you ever schemed from your pains?  Have you desired retaliation?  Have you given thought to what you would say to the person who hurt you, if you ever saw them again?  Maybe you thought about how you might hurt them back?  Hurt that remains unresolved is an open wound of our hearts, can fester and breed the infection of unforgiveness.  I believe God gives us opportunity for healing, but we have to choose to walk in faith and not by our emotions to guide us to the well spring of healing.

When Joseph is finally ready to give up his plans for revenge and completely gives himself over to the situation, we see in 45:2 “And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it”.  The years of Joseph’s pains were released before those who caused the hurt.  I wonder if Joseph’s brothers had felt the full weight of what they had done to their own brother that day?  This was a pivotal moment where Joseph broke free from his hurt and finally opened himself up to accept God’s healing salve upon his heart.  He was finally ready to place his heart in the trusting and loving hands of God his Father.

We don’t heal our own hearts, God does.  He knows how and when, but what He asks of us is to open ourselves up in faith and trust, even when our emotions are pointing us in the opposite direction.  Despite how we feel, we need to fully surrender to what God has for us in our situations.  Forming plans of retaliation and harboring unforgiveness in our hearts only serves to open our broken hearts even more.  We know beyond a shadow of doubt what is required of us.  We know that all the hurt and anger must be placed at the feet of Jesus.  We know that in our thoughts we must let the beauty of the Holy Spirit come over us.  We know that our hard hearts, must be softened.  And we know that left to our own devices, none of this is possible.  By the beauty and power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus granted us, we can.  We can surrender.  We can forgive.  We can love.  We can reunite.  We can be healed.  Will you walk in the light of the Spirit, or will you walk in the darkness of Satan?  God has plans for you; will you walk with Him, trust Him and lay down your hurt?

Father, in the face of so much brokenness, heartache and pain, there lies a breeding ground of bitterness, rage and revenge.  At the depth of our being, might we have the full trust and faith in you to endure the resurfacing of our heartache without retaliation.   And in that place of great vulnerability we place our wounded hearts at your feet as a sacrificial offering to allow your hand to heal us.  Might we hold your hand as you gently lead us down the path of restoration, breathing a new life into us.  Let the outpouring of your love heal our broken hearts.  Amen