January 18 by Nancy

Genesis 44:24
Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, "Don't quarrel on the way!"

After all the wrongs done to Joseph, all the unfair mistreatment, all the ill-deserved punishment and now finally the reconciliation, Joseph's statement to his brothers seems trivial. I wonder, did Joseph plan what he would say if he ever saw his brothers again? Did he practice a stinging comment? Plan a cutting response? Or did he rehearse acceptance and forgiveness? No matter which, "Don't quarrel on the way," can hardly be what he planned for all those years of separation. So why is this what he has to say? Because Joseph knows his brothers. It's not a parental reprimand that Joseph gives them but a well-timed reminder. He knows their tendency to get caught up in petty disagreements and fail to notice how their attention has shifted from the big picture.

I wonder if I do that. I wonder if I get distracted from God's big picture--from learning more about who He is, from building others up, from serving others--by petty disagreements and small hurts. How often do I let the unimportant direct how I invest my time and my energy? I think about how Joseph's heart would have broken if his brothers had been unable to hang on to peace for long enough for God's solution to happen and I think that God must feel that way about me. He must look down at my misplaced hurt and petty disagreements and feel such disappointment and heart break.

And just like Joseph with his brothers, God has such a great plan: one that includes redemption and grace, forgiveness and compassion and mercy. And I am so busy keeping track of who did what to whom that I pass that up!

God, I want to follow your plan. I need your redemption and forgiveness and compassion in my life. Forgive me for so often allowing unimportant things to distract me from Your call in my life. Help me to live a life characterized by love. I want to be so caught up in grace and service and worship that I don't have time or energy to keep track of imagined slights or wrongs done. Become my focus--all that I can see.
Amen.