eFax of Life from CBMC Heartland
A Weekly Inspirational Thought from Ken Korkow
Revenge
It’s hard not to be bitter – when you’ve been molested by your grandfather.
It’s hard not to be bitter – when you’ve been falsely accused – and then prematurely judged in the court of public opinion.
It’s hard not to be bitter – when you’ve opened up your heart and body – and found someone was merely using you – to satisfy their own lusts.
Liz and I were at the ranch this past week and while it was a vacation coinciding with the opening of pheasant season – we rarely take a vacation from our life-focus of knowing our Lord more intimately and living Him more intentionally. Consequently – our lives have a rhythm. Like spiritual breathing. Inhale/exhale. Seek/share. Grow/give. Private/public.
In the midst of pheasant season – I did not shoot a pheasant (though I did kill five rattlesnakes and one coyote). But, we were with lots of people and those ‘hard not to be bitter’ stories surfaced in one-on-one conversations.
Amazing how our lives can be different but there are some underlying principles that never change.
Consider the story of Joseph which is found in Genesis, the first of the 66 books that comprise the Bible. Genesis has 50 chapters. Joseph is first mentioned as one of Jacob’s 12 sons in chapter 35, verse 24 (35:24). But the last 14 chapters of Genesis feature the life of Joseph.
The high points are: his dad loved Joseph more than the other 11 sons (37:3); so his brothers hated him (37:4); Joseph had a couple dreams that he would rule over his brothers (37:5-10); his brothers were jealous (37:11); so they sold him to some slave traders (37:12-28) and deceived their dad into believing Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal (37:29-35).
As a slave, Joseph is successful and rises to management level (39:1-6); but the boss’ wife has the ‘hots’ for him and when he won’t respond to her overtures – because to do so would be a sin against God (39:10) – she lies and gets Jo thrown into prison (37:11-20). Here again, Jo is a faithful, wise servant and again rises to management (37:21-23).
And again, after helping a couple guys (40:1-22), he is forgotten (40:23).
Two years elapse and when a big problem arises – one of the men remembers Joseph is a big-problem solver (41:1-13).
Jo solves a major problem for the King of Egypt (41:14-37) so the King makes Jo the #2 man in all the nation (41:38-44).
Next, Jo saves the whole nation from starvation (41:53-57). And then his starving, dirty-dealing brothers come for food. They don’t recognize baby brother (and now Big Boss in Egypt) Joseph (42:6) so he puts them to the test to see if their hearts have changed (42:7-44:34). They have – so Jo reveals himself to them and then has the whole family brought into Egypt where they can have food and work (45:1-47:12).
Finally, after living 17 years in Egypt, dad dies (47:28) and the remaining brothers get real nervous. With dad dead – they figure now it will be pay-back time and Big Boss/Baby Brother Jo will settle the score with them (50:15).
What about you? Anybody you’d like to pay back for the wrong they did to you?
Think the girl molested by her grandfather hasn’t thought of pay-back? Think the guy falsely accused and prematurely judged hasn’t wanted to get even? Think the girl whose heart and body were used – hasn’t had revenge on her mind?
Because he had learned to trust God (even when the pain is real and the confusion is great), Joseph responds to his brothers:
"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” Gen. 50:20
Can/will you and I – whatever the pain – believe The Lord of the result – is the Lord of the process!
CBMC Heartland, 01/30/04
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