When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

—Genesis 50:15-21 (TNIV)

Two things jump out at us immediately in today’s text. First is the issue of God’s sovereignty. Despite Joseph’s brothers’ evil intentions, God turned their evil into good. This is especially good news for us today as modern communication technologies bombard us from every side with seemingly endless streams of bad news and the evil people commit. Human nature hasn’t changed over the years but our ability to hear about the evil we commit has increased dramatically and make us think that things really are worse than ever before. Today’s story reminds us that despite the evil we experience or read about, God is still in charge.

Likewise, this is good news for those of us who get discouraged in our faith journey. It seems like we can never entirely rid ourselves of the darkness in us or be free from our fallen nature. The story here of God’s sovereignty reminds us that we are only able to see a minuscule portion of the canvas of life, our little portion. But God sees the entire canvas and has an eternal perspective. So when things turn bleak for you in your life, remember the story of Joseph and remind yourself that despite appearances to the contrary, God is indeed in charge, God is indeed sovereign. You just don’t have the ability to see reality as God sees it. This, of course, requires faith and trust on your part.

A second thing that is readily apparent in today’s lesson is the graciousness of Joseph. He had every reason to hate his brothers. Indeed, they carried on their father’s legacy of deception even after his death by telling Joseph this final lie (at least we have no textual evidence that Jacob ever told his sons this) because they knew the evil they had done to him and were afraid. But Joseph chose to forgive and because he did, reconciliation and restoration was possible. Joseph knew that only God can judge and so he refrained from passing judgment on his brothers. Instead, he reminded them of God’s sovereignty and chose to love his brothers because of this.

Think on these things during this season of Lent. Ask God for grace to remind you that he is sovereign and to open your eyes to that reality so that the circumstances of your life or the world will not overcome you. If your faith is faltering, ask God to strengthen it by showing you his history of trustworthiness toward his people in the biblical story. This, of course, means that you will have to start reading that narrative so that God can use your efforts to answer your prayers.

Ask God for grace to become like Joseph and all the great saints of the Bible and throughout history so that you can live life as you were created to live it. In asking these things, remind yourself that you are not living life alone, that you can indeed count on God’s great help and mercy in any and every circumstance. He may not always manifest his gifts to you in the way or manner you would like. But because God is Sovereign and Good, you can always be sure that the story will turn out well in the end. You know this because you have the very cross and blood of Christ to remind you that this is true.

God’s will is to save us, and nothing pleases him more than our coming back to him with true repentance. The heralds of truth and the ministers of divine grace have told us this from the beginning, repeating it in every age. Indeed, God’s desire for our salvation is the primary and preeminent sign of his infinite goodness. It was precisely in order to show that there is nothing closer to God’s heart that the divine Word of God the Father, with untold condescension, lived among us in the flesh, and did, suffered, and said all that was necessary to reconcile us to God the Father, when we were at enmity with him, and to restore us to the life of blessedness from which we had been exiled. He healed our physical infirmities by miracles; he freed us from our sins, many and grievous as they were, by suffering and dying, taking them upon himself as if he were answerable for them, sinless as he was. He also taught us in many different ways that we should wish to imitate him by our own kindness and genuine love for one another.

He instructs us in divine justice and goodness, telling us to be like our heavenly Father, holy, perfect and merciful. “Forgive,” he says: “and you will be forgiven. Behave toward other people as you would wish them to behave toward you.”

—Maximus the Confessor, Letter 11

O God, I ask for the grace to pray. You are too good to allow anyone to be lost who is really trying to find you. Indeed, you are so good that I know that you will give me the grace to try and find you. Wash me free of all my silly earthly desires so that I may be clear-eyed enough to see you.

—Soliloquies, 1.6