Have you ever just had a bad day, bad week or even a bad year? The kind of bad where you feel you are trapped in a web, all wrapped up and struggling to come out for air. That kind of bad can leave you suffocated, empty and stuck replaying all the words inside your head. Words really are that powerful. Personally, I think we don’t guard our words enough and we hurt ourselves and others more than we realize. Sometimes we don’t intend to hurt with what we say, but if we were honest with ourselves, I bet we would discover that many times we use our words as a weapon in the wrong way.
Over the past year, there were many times when I felt trapped in words or events that left me empty and wondering how to escape the hurt left behind. I came across a scripture in the book of Deuteronomy that helped me to change my focus.
Genesis 50:20 (The Story of Joseph)
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
Writer, Ann Voskamp does a good job making the point “we are never undone no matter what is done to us”.
Reading the story of Joseph I think we can all put ourselves at some place along his journey — betrayed, rejected, left behind, traded off, taken advantage of, manipulated by someone or even forgotten. Though Joseph encountered each of those things during so many seasons of his life — he still chose forgiveness. He still chose to see the good in others and chose to love them. Think about that for a minute. He was sold into slavery, falsely accused and put into prison, years of ups and downs and it all started from being betrayed by his brothers YET he forgave them. Ultimately, the betrayal turned into God positioning Joseph (Devine set up) to provide for the very ones that rejected him. Wow - Talk about the Providence of God! Joseph could have killed his brothers or even used his words as a weapon to hurt his brothers, but Joseph’s weapon of choice was forgiveness. No matter how bad the day, the week or even the past year may have been for each of us — let us choose our weapon wisely.