Day Fourteen – Written by Pastor Charlie Hernandez
Biblical Example: Joseph Gen 45
Prayer Focus: Racial Injustice
Being offended or wronged is, without exception, part of our human experience.
What is our first reaction when we have been wronged? If you are a human being, you will start to find ways to correct that wrong. The problem is how we choose to go about it. Some respond by becoming bitter, resentful, or vindictive … especially when our perpetrators seem to be completely off the hook.
Joseph experienced the rejection and abuse from his brothers who sold him into slavery as a young man, only to face them years later in a position of authority over them.
And that’s exactly when true leaders are tested. When given the opportunity to get revenge from those who mistreated him, Joseph chose to see God’s hand and he said, “I’m in” to extend mercy in the same way that God had been merciful to him.
“And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” – Genesis 45:4-5
He acknowledged that God used the wrongdoing of his brothers to bring a greater good to his whole family and ultimately; his nation.
Some of us are so consumed by what happened to us that we are missing what God wants to do through us.
As the church of Christ, when we face racial injustice, we’re called to be agents of reconciliation, whether we’ve experienced it first hand for being a person of color, or because we’ve been ignorant to the profound wounds of our neighbors, … or whether we’ve been the ones who have inflicted the pain…
I challenge you today to pray that God may use you as a vessel of His forgiveness and reconciliation.
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