Evil Doesn't Have to Win: The Power of Forgiveness

 Evil Doesn’t Have to Win

The Power of Forgiveness

 

Larry R Evans

Introduction

 

What I did could have been brushed off as an impulsive childish act. My mother, however, didn’t see it that way. I don’t remember what I took from the Piggly Wiggly grocery store.  Most likely it was a candy bar.  I have not forgotten, however, what Mom did that day. She took me back to the grocery store, introduced me to the store manager, and I then explained what I had done. Expense-wise it was no big deal.  Mom paid for what I had taken, but I did the hard part. I confessed.  The lesson learned, however, was enormous. Honesty and integrity are deep-seated but learned values.  The bigger lesson for us today is the power of forgiveness in the lives of those who forgive and in the lives of those who are forgiven. The store manager and my mother forgave me. Today I highly value honesty and personal integrity.  There is much to learn about forgiveness and the power it has to change lives. The story of Joseph is a powerful illustration showing that evil does not have to win. Personal forgiveness can turn the tables on decades of hurt.

 

I’d like to begin our study about forgiveness with Romans 5:8,

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This theme runs throughout the entire Bible.  It does so in many ways. The central “gospel message” of both the Old and New Testaments is about love, acceptance, forgiveness, and restoration. 

 

The Beginning Is Filled with Broken Relationships

 

The introduction to the first book of the Bible is about God creating a perfect world. Soon, however, we discover that broken relationships dominate the entire book.  There are broken relationships with God and His creation, with husband and wife, with siblings, and there are also groups in conflict with other groups. 

 

Near the beginning of Genesis is the story of an older brother at odds with his younger brother.  This conflict leads to the first murder. I don’t believe it is a coincidence that Genesis ends with another brotherly conflict. This time it is between Joseph and his brothers. The big difference between the two stories is how the power of forgiveness supersedes attitudes of disagreements and revenge.

 

Joseph, the Little Brother

 

Six times Cain was reminded that Able was his “brother.” God told him that his attitude needed to change. If it, didn’t it would get him into trouble. It didn’t and both Able and Cain suffered (Genesis 4: 8-12). In Genesis 37-50, we find the destructive attitude of Joseph’s older brothers at work.  How Joseph was prepared to forgive is an amazing story.  It can be broken down into five progressive periods in his life.

 

1.     Joseph was privileged as a boy. He was favored above his brothers by his father, Jacob. 

Now Israel [Jacob] loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.” (Gen. 37:3)

2.    Joseph grew through adversity. 

“Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.” (Gen. 37:5)

His character began to develop the moment he was thrown into the pit by his brothers. Joseph began to grow step by step. He became more diligent, generous, loving, purposeful, and humble

 

3.    Joseph was a person of integrity.  Having integrity means that you live in accordance with your deepest values, you're honest with everyone, and you always keep your word. An illustration of this was when Joseph said “No!” to the seductive attempt of Potiphar’s wife. 

“How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). 

Adversity came despite Joseph’s loyalty to Potiphar. His integrity was rewarded with a prison sentence. Joseph could have asked, “Does doing the right thing pay?” That question does not appear in the story! Joseph’s life principle remained steadfast: “I will not be disloyal to my God come what may!” 

 

4.    Joseph’s humility made it possible for God to use him to bless others. This was seen when Pharaoh asked Joseph to interpret his dream. 

"I had a dream last night,” Pharoah explained, ‘and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.’ ‘It is beyond my power to do this,’ Joseph replied. ‘But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease’"(Gen. 41:15-16).

5.    Joseph was now ready to face one of the biggest challenges of his life. Could he show grace to those who had willfully done him harm? Could he forgive them? 

 

If there is one guiding truth that stands out in today’s study, it is this:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

We will review five effects of forgiveness as seen in the life of Joseph.

 

Five Life-Changing Effects of Forgiveness

 

1.     Forgiveness Brings Release

2.    Forgiveness Allows for Admission of Hurt

3.    Forgiveness Yields to Trust

4.    Forgiveness Precedes Repentance

5.    Forgiveness Is a Pathfinder

 

#1.      Forgiveness Brings Release.  

 

Forgiveness has been described by psychologists as a conscious and deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting, nor does it mean condoning or excusing offenses. However, it places the situation in the hands of God, and with it comes peace (Psalm 29:11). 

Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them... Education, culture, the exercise of the will, human effort, all have their proper sphere, but here they are powerless. They may produce an outward correctness of behaviour, but they cannot change the heart; they cannot purify the springs of life. There must be a power working from within, a new life from above, before men can be changed from sin to holiness. That power is Christ. His grace alone can quicken the lifeless faculties of the soul, and attract it to God, to holiness. (Steps to Christ, p.18)

 

 

#2.     Forgiveness Allows for Admission of Hurt

 

What we are talking about here is not the admission of guilt.  That might be appropriate in some circumstances.  We are referring to the admission that we have been hurt. This isn’t to justify self-pity. Rather, it is the acknowledgment of the hurt caused by the actions of someone. Healing can then take place.

 

When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt asking for food Joseph remembered how he had been treated. No doubt the past hurt or rejection came to mind. Joseph had processed his hurt. He tested his brothers. Had they changed? The testing was not for revenge.  Those feelings had been resolved through his own testing experience.

 

#3.     Forgiveness Yields to Trust

 

Psalm 46 was lived by Joseph,

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble. . .. 

Be still and know that I am God (Ps 46:1,10)

I’m sure you remember the moment—the moment when Joseph told his brothers who he was (Gen. 45:4,5). 

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

Forgiveness allows us to place the situation in God’s hands. 

“For the LORD is our Judge, The LORD is our Lawgiver, The LORD is our King; He will save us” (Isa. 43:22)

 

#4.     Forgiveness Precedes Repentance

 

We’ve admitted that we’ve been hurt. As difficult as it may be, we’ve given our hurt and any feelings of revenge over to God. But we must ask the big question.  When do we forgive? Do we wait until the ones who hurt us say, “I’m sorry?”  Had Joseph waited for the confession of his brothers, his life would have been filled with bitterness! Instead, the Bible says he wept. He still loved his brothers. The hurt was not denied but he did not let it paralyze him.

 

Forgiveness, like love, begins with a choice rather than a feeling. It’s the kind of choice Jesus made leading up to and while on the cross, 

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. (Lk 23:34)

Jesus didn’t wait for his executioners to say, “I’m sorry” before He forgave. Neither should we wait for those who have hurt us.  We can forgive others without having them accept our forgiveness. The cross is the best example that shows how costly forgiveness can be yet it is a door to a fulfilled life.

 

#5.     Forgiveness Is a Pathfinder

 

Circumstances that come our way shape our thinking, our attitudes, and our actions. The experience of Joseph reveals how bad circumstances helped shape him so he could save a foreign nation. He had every right to be angry with life, with his brothers, and anyone who got in his way.  He was overlooked while in prison by a cupbearer. Joseph had encouraged him during his darkest hour only to be forgotten when the cupbearer was freed. Over and over Joseph revealed that despite setbacks hurts that he suffered would not compromise his personal integrity, his loyalty to God, nor his willingness to forgive others.  A classic statement by Ellen White put it this way,

As Joseph was sold to the heathen by his own brothers, so Christ was sold to His bitterest enemies by one of His disciples. Joseph was falsely accused and thrust into prison because of his virtue; so Christ was despised and rejected because His righteous, self-denying life was a rebuke to sin; and though guilty of no wrong, He was condemned upon the testimony of false witnesses. And Joseph's patience and meekness under injustice and oppression, his ready forgiveness and noble benevolence toward his unnatural brothers, represent the Saviour's uncomplaining endurance of the malice and abuse of wicked men, and His forgiveness, not only of His murderers, but of all who have come to Him confessing their sins and seeking pardon. PP 239

Forgiveness is the path to finding personal peace and the freedom to become the person you were created to become.

 

Closing Reflections: 

Evil Doesn’t Win, God’s Intervention Does

 

“Life turns every person upside down. No one escapes unscathed. Not the woman who discovers her husband is having an affair. Not the businessman whose investments are embezzled by a crooked colleague. Not the teenager who discovers that a night of romance has resulted in a surprise pregnancy. Not the pastor who feels his faith shaken by questions of suffering and fear. We’d be foolish to think we are invulnerable. But we’d be just as foolish to think that evil wins the day. The Bible vibrates with the steady drumbeat of faith: God recycles evil into righteousness. 

 

 

When God gets in the middle of life, evil becomes good. Haven’t we discovered this in the story of Joseph? Saddled with setbacks: family rejection, deportation, slavery, and imprisonment. Yet he emerged triumphant, a hero of his generation. Among his final recorded words are these comments to his brothers: “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50: 20). This is the repeated pattern in Scripture: Evil. God. Good. 

 

Evil came to Job. Tempted him, tested him. Job struggled. But God countered. 

 

 Evil came to Moses. Convinced him to murder an Egyptian guard, liberate a people with anger. God countered. He placed Moses on a forty-year cooldown. Moses in the end chose God. 

 

Evil came to David: he committed adultery; 

 

to Daniel: he was dragged to a foreign land; 

 

to Nehemiah: the walls of Jerusalem were destroyed. But God countered. And because he did, David wrote songs of grace, Daniel ruled in a foreign land, and Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls with Babylonian lumber. Good happened. 

 

And Jesus. How many times in his earthly life did bad become good? 

 

See the cross on the hill? Can you hear the soldiers pound the nails? Jesus’ enemies smirk. Satan’s demons lurk. All that is evil rubs its hands in glee. “This time,” Satan whispers. “This time I will win.” For a sad Friday and a silent Saturday, it appeared he had. The final breath. The battered body. Mary wept. Blood seeped down the timber into the dirt. Followers lowered God’s Son before the sunset. Soldiers sealed the tomb, and night fell over the earth. Yet what Satan intended as the ultimate evil, God used for the ultimate good. God rolled the rock away. Jesus walked out on Sunday morning, a smile on his face and a bounce to his steps. And if you look closely, you can see Satan scampering from the cemetery with his forked tail between his legs. “Will I ever win?” he grumbles. No. He won’t. The stories of Jesus, Joseph, and a thousand others assure us that what Satan intends for evil, God uses for good.”

 

— You'll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Your Turbulent Times by Max Lucado

 

Remember: Evil doesn’t have to win. You and I are here for a purpose. We are called to be witnesses to prove that evil can be defeated, and forgiveness is a powerful statement to a world darkened by revengeful words and deeds.