It Was Not You That Sent Me Hither, But God

"Now therefore, be not grieved or angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God." (Genesis 45:5,8). So spoke Joseph to his brothers that had sold him into slavery. It is a stunning example of a man who had truly forgiven those who had betrayed him to the very depths of his soul. But more than this, it is a perfect illustration of how we can forgive ourselves. I imagine that for most of the sons of Israel, selling their brother into slavery was one of the worst things they'd ever done (and some of them did some pretty bad things) and one of their deepest regrets and one of the things for which they still had not managed to forgive themselves. But Joseph showed them how to forgive themselves. In the end, it was not really their jealousy and hatred and anger but God Himself who sent Joseph into Egypt. God works in mysterious ways. He is able to make something wonderful out of our worst mistakes. That is not to say that Joseph's brothers ought to pat themselves on the back and feel comfortable selling other family members into slavery since they are just doing the Lord's work anyway. Finding forgiveness is humbling ourselves enough to acknowledge that we have turned our mistakes over to the Lord and if He makes something beautiful from our ugliness then we are humble enough neither to try to take credit to ourselves or boast that "see, if I hadn't treated you horribly, then you wouldn't be the amazing person you are today" - nor, on the other hand, are we to be so self-centered as to try to deny or actively prevent the Lord from making something wonderful from our mistakes. Turning tragedies into triumphs is the miracle of forgiveness, is is the whole point of the Plan of Salvation, it is the very heart and power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We have little choice but to stand all amazed when we see the wonders that God creates from our worst, most shameful mistakes. We may think when we are slumped amidst the ashes of our destructive decisions that it would have been better if we had never been born, but we cannot yet see what beauty God will make from those ashes. When we are praying for forgiveness, let us pray that we may live to see that in the end, even when we made our worst mistakes, we did not do even this alone, but God was with us to make something amazing out of our mistakes.