Garry spoke this morning from Genesis 42:14-24, which narrates the response of Joseph’s brothers when they finally meet Joseph again after so many years and realise who he is. They obviously had regrets about what they had done and had had to learn to live with their wrongdoing, but clearly, they had not forgotten or totally got over what they had done.
Regret – a feeling of sadness or disappointment over something that we did or failed to do – can develop into remorse (a deep regret or guilt).Remorse is generally more intense than regret. We have to learn that there are different ways to deal with regret. If there is nothing we can do about the situation, we must allow God and time to heal us as we let go of the past. Regrets can be teaching lessons for us, so that we do not continually make the same msitakes. But sometimes we can do something to make amends and need to do that so as to heal fully. Whilst God forgives completely and gives us a fresh start, other people may not.
Regret and remorse have to be dealt with by repentance. Joseph’s brothers were frozen in regret, it seems.They had not yet progressed from remorse to repentance. Reuben clearly remembered how he had tried to rescue Joseph from the brothers’ scheme; this was eating away at him. Joseph, it seems, had moved on in many ways, but even so, when he met his brothers face to face, great emotions were stirred up in him. There is a big difference between forgiving and forgetting. He had not forgotten what had been done to him, but he wrestled with God to the place of forgiveness. Forgiveness is always costly and never easy, but Jesus demonstrates for us both the pain and anguish of forgiveness and the benefits which come from it. Joseph did not have this great example before him, but he learned to forgive.We too need to be people who let go of all that has gone before and move forward with forgiveness into freedom. We are commanded to forgive as we have been forgiven; there is no greater way.
