Genesis 50:15-17

New International Version (NIV)

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”

 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’

Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.”

When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

For meditation

Little Thomas: A fib is the same as a story, and a story is the same as a lie.

Little Nan: No, it isn’t.

Thomas: Yes, it is. My father said so, and my father is an editor.

Nan: I don’t care if he is. My father is a real-estate man, and he knows more about lying than your father does.

Interesting conversation between two little children who had observed the lives of their fathers and made some logical conclusions! Hoping every parent in the house is listening. But my focus this morning is not on fathers. It is on Joseph’s brothers. I don’t know what to call them – editors or real-estate men. Joseph’s brothers were such liars that only God can grade them. They lied to their father about Joseph (Gen. 37:31-32). They never apologized to Joseph when he revealed himself to them (45:3-15). Now that their father was dead and they worried about Joseph’s revenge, why couldn’t they just apologize? Why revert to the same old trade of lies and deception (50:15-17)?

A lie is a very convenient tool in times of trouble, but very offensive to God. Jesus revealed its source and the identity of those who engage it (Jn. 8:43-44). It is a killer and a destroyer of every good thing.

1. Why then do we struggle to come clean and make things right by speaking the truth?
2. Why do we find it difficult to confess that we blew it and ask for forgiveness?
3. After laying claim to Calvary, why do we still speak the native language of the devil (44)?
4. Can’t we channel the time and energy it requires to scheme and plot to lie and deceive into Kingdom-building engagements?
5. Don’t we have Jesus, who is the Truth, to glorify?

I pray our children will have better testimonies from our lives to make their case with their friends when it comes to that.

So: May you stop scheming to lie about that project you’ll be presenting tomorrow or to lie to your spouse on any issue; and may the Lord call you, “My child, in whom I am well pleased,” because you spoke the language of His Son, Jesus Christ – the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

A lie is a lie, no matter how you cut it.

Shalom