Genesis 50:15-21 - by Don Neuendorf
We just finished Genesis in our Sunday morning Bible class (starting the Gospel of John next, 9:30 a.m. if you want to join us). Chapter 50 was a fitting, but somewhat poignant, ending to the book.
"Am I in the place of God?" Joseph asks his brothers. But that is precisely where we see ourselves so often...
- Adam and Eve took the place of God when they decided to make their own rules about that tree.
- Cain took the place of God when he decided his life was more important than his brother Abel's.
- The people before the flood took the place of God when they rejected the law and made their own deities.
- Sarah and Abraham took the place of God when they decided that the way God's promise would be fulfilled would be through Sarah's servant.
How many do I need to list? Joseph had the legal right and power to punish his brothers for their crime against him. But he knew that God had a place in his life. God had seen to everything else - God would see to this.
When we're tempted to take the place of God and condemn others, or change the rules, or seek our own way, we are forgetting that God has a place in our lives and he does not fail to fulfill his position.