Forgiveness: The Lesson Of Joseph

Jesus mandated that His disciples and followers learn and practice forgiveness.  Not only are Christians to forgive repeatedly (e.g. Matthew 18:21-22; Luke 17:3-4), but also to practice forgiveness in order to be forgiven by God (Matthew 6:14-15; Mark 11:25-26; Luke 6:37).  But for many people, true forgiveness is a difficult task.  Webster defines 'forgive' as "1,  grant pardon for (something) or to (someone).  2,  remit (a debt)  3,  cease to resent."  I suggest that the third definition may be the most difficult to accomplish.  How many times do we hear someone unhappily say, "I'll forgive you, but I won't forget."  Is that the forgiveness our Lord taught?  So how does one go about truly forgiving someone?  I believe there is a wonderful lesson on forgiveness in the words of Joseph, who was one of the Old Testament figures who foretold of Jesus' life and nature.  (There is a wonderful book, Joseph:  Loved, Despised And Exalted, by F. B. Meyer, in which Christ-like aspects of Joseph and his life are repeatedly pointed out.)  After Joseph was wrongfully sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, then wronged again by his Egyptian master's wife, but through his God-given ability to be blessed in all situations, and to interpret dreams, he rose to the second-in-command position over all of Egypt.  In that position, Joseph then had a chance to have power over his food-seeking brothers in a severe famine.  Would Joseph get his revenge?  But Joseph's own words told about his heart for God, and give us a lesson today on forgiveness.  It was in the names of his two sons, beginning with that of his first son:
     Genesis 41:51  [NKJV]  Joseph called the name of his firstborn Manasseh, "For God has
          caused me to forget all my toil and all my father's house."
That statement alone gives us a formula for forgiving in our own lives, as broken down this way:

1.  "For God . . .   Joseph recognized that true forgiveness comes from God, not natural man's heart.  Forgiving is one of God's basic characteristics, as the Bible tells us repeatedly (e.g., Exodus 34:7; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Jeremiah 31:34).  Jesus, as God, forgave as well (e.g., Matthew 9:6; John 8:3-11).  It is God who empowers forgiveness, and not man's own efforts.
2.  Has caused me . . .  God's action in forgiveness is very specific; it comes through me.  It is not for someone else; I must respond to God, even ask Him, to cause me.
3.  To forget . . .  What happens when we forget something?  Webster's says, "be unable or fail to remember" or "to be unable to think of or recall."  Things we forget are simply gone from our minds.  That's a tall order for an offense against us.  But it's God who can cause me to forget!  What is too hard for Him?
4.  All my toil . . .  What did God cause Joseph to forget?  Obviously not his brothers, as he instantly recognized them when they came before him for food.  He forgot the difficulties and the consequences - the pain and humiliation - of the wrongs done against him.  Once those are forgotten, once again a God-thing, the offense can vanish or be minimized.
5.  And all my father's house."   What was Joseph speaking of here?  He did not forget his father or his brothers, so what was his "father's house"?  I believe he was talking about the setup in his home which led to the wrong against him - his brothers' jealousy and his favoritism from his father and his own innocently prideful behavior which led to his brothers' hatred of him.  All of those things were simply taken from his mind.

So the formula for forgiveness seems to be:  God, as He wills in time and/or I request, accomplishes in me the removal from my mind of the painful consequences of what offended me, along with the situation which set up the episode which must be forgiven.  Forgiveness then flows through God.
But there is one more step by Joseph's lesson, isn't there?  Joseph named his second son:
     Genesis 41:52    And the name of the second he called Ephraim,  "For God has caused me to
          be fruitful in the land of my affliction."
So step 6 in the forgiveness formula becomes:
6.  "For God has caused me to be fruitful . . ."  The final step in forgiveness is to allow God to make through me the offending, afflicting episode fruitful.  The words 'forgiveness' and 'fruitful' are rarely mentioned in the same breath, but the idea brings to mind the fruit of the Spirit, as described by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23.  If the episode then grows in me and/or the forgiving relationship the "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" of which Paul wrote, then that is the true heart of forgiveness.  And amazingly, Joseph finished his act of forgiveness of his now-fearful brothers by saying this:
     Genesis 50:20-21    "But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in
          order to bring about as it is this day, to save many people alive.  Now therefore, do not be
          afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones."
Once again, Joseph's focus was on God, and what He can do in evil and unhappy circumstances.  If I allow Him to do His full work in circumstances requiring my forgiveness of someone, then the salvation of, and provision for, the forgiven person may be completed.  What an exciting and powerful concept of forgiveness!  May the Lord teach us and help us to forgive like Joseph!
Harv