Take Your Seatናሙና

Day 4: Sitting Together:

Today, we’re looking at how Joseph received his brothers after they had betrayed him so many years ago.

In Genesis 42, we see the unbearable conditions throughout the land caused by the famine, which causes Jacob to send ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain. Joseph, who was now a powerful official in Egypt, recognized his brothers when they arrived, but they did not recognize him. It must have been a surreal moment for Joseph.

How easy it would have been to confront them—to make them grovel further and beg for his forgiveness. Instead, Joseph took a different route–one of forgiveness.

Joseph felt no need for retaliation. Our character, power and position are tested when the people who disregarded our dreams, passed us along the way, or failed to create opportunities for us end up seated on the other side of our table. By not retaliating, you literally allow the moment to bring about restoration and healing in your relationships. Don’t burn any bridges. From your seat, be trustworthy because God will always test you in positions of power to see how you manage or how you handle power when you’re on the other side.

How we in power—regardless of the location of our seat—treat people in their moments of weakness after they have intentionally exploited our weakness reveals our comfort level in the seat God has placed us in.

How will you respond when you are faced with a situation like this? Will you retaliate, or reconcile?

Another important point comes from Joseph’s original dream being fulfilled in these chapters. Too often, leaders are so focused on their own dream that everyone else’s becomes subservient to theirs, but Joseph’s dream could only be fulfilled after he interpreted Pharaoh’s. That was the sweet spot.

How are you actively joining your dreams with others and sharing the sweet spot with them at the table?