And He Wept

“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father [Jacob] was dead, they said, ‘Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.’

So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, ‘Before your father died he commanded, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: ‘I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.’ Now, please forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.’

And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, 'Behold we are your servants.'” (Genesis 50:15-18)

Seventeen years, and still they didn’t believe him. Surely, they thought, he had shown them kindness only for their father. Surely it was not real.  Could the brother whom they had rejected, whom they had thrown in a pit and sold into slavery actually love them, actually forgive them? Really?

They doubted. 

He wept. 

Did they still not understand him?

What a rebuke this gave to my soul! Just as Joseph's brothers doubted him, what kind of character do I think my God has? Do I treat Him as though He is out to frustrate me? As though He does not love me? 

Do I doubt Him?

Do I make Him weep?

Do I volunteer to serve Him because of fear, regret, or guilt? 

If I doubt His forgiveness, if I live in fear, if I walk under condemnation, it is because I do not understand Him. Ah, for He has loved me with an everlasting love! (Jer. 31:3) He has redeemed me with His own blood! (1 Pet. 1:18-19)  He has made me accepted in the beloved! (Eph. 1:6) He has removed my sins from me as far as the east is from the west! (Ps. 103:12) He has forgiven me! (Col. 2:13)

Do I believe this?

Or am I like Joseph's brothers, unwilling to accept His love, overcome by fear that God is "playing nice" with me or "tricking" me and does not actually love me? Joseph told his brothers, "Do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." Then he comforted them and spoke kindly to them (Gen. 50:21). God Almighty, who loves with an everlasting love, who has exceedingly more than the storehouses of Egypt, has promised to care for me. But do I really know Him? Do I trust Him?

Even though Joseph's brothers had spent seventeen years with him in Goshen, they still did not know his character. Did he not say he had forgiven them? Did he not give them the best land? So then, does it matter how many years we have spent with Jesus in "Goshen" if we continue to doubt His character? He promised to forgive us if we would confess our sins (1 Jn. 1:9). He who cannot lie declared that He loved us, even while we were sinners (Rom. 5:8).

These lies must be uprooted from our souls. 

How disgusting that we should call Him a liar through our doubting words, our thoughts, our anxieties! He is a Rock, and we may rest completely secure in Him... but we must know Him. We must serve Him not to repay Him or buy back His favor--for we can't--but simply because we love Him... His goodness leads us to repentance.

He has never been anything but good to us. 

Oh, the joy and rest that comes from knowing Jesus!

"And we have known and believed the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him." -1 John 4:16