When speaking of injustice, we tend to feel uncomfortable, we feel powerless, with our hands tied to such situations. One afternoon we watched a movie with Emma called “Joseph, the king of dreams”, this is a film based on the biblical story of Joseph, the son of Jacob. He was being sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt to a life of slavery just because they were jealous of him. Now that’s an injustice!
The thing is that we can surpass many difficulties and sacrifices, but when we feel that we have been victims of unfairness, we come to feel betrayed, and even more if this comes from those we love. The psalmist captures this suffering very well when he says:
12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: 13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. 14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. Psalm 55: 12-14
But we must learn one way or another to handle the unfairness of life so it does not become an obstacle in our spiritual journey, an obstacle that steals our peace and joy. Joseph, despite everything that happened; being in jail for many years, serving like many others as a slave, from injustice to injustice, could have channeled all that resentment and frustration into hatred and revenge when in that year of famine he saw his brothers trying to buy food to take to Canaan and give to his family. We do not know exactly how and when Joseph overcame the serious consequences of being sold by his brothers, but what we can highlight from this story is that Joseph knew that his position was not God’s, and that he did not have to take matters into his own hands regarding his brothers’ injustice. But if we want to learn to handle these situations we must understand that our ability to judge will always be limited merely by our blurred human vision. And that only God can judge with all the truth. Even the Son of God himself abstained on one occasion from passing judgment when he told the Jews “You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one “John 8:15.
Then we see that Joseph strongly believed that God was in control of everything that had happened in his life. This is a very important thing to consider as children of God because very often we see and hear and perhaps even have been tempted to doubt God’s goodness when these situations of injustices come into our lives, wondering “why has our Father allowed this or that”. Many years passed before Joseph began to see the “good” that God had planned from the beginning when he allowed this tragedy to touch his life so closely. But the belief that God can transform the saddest things into a blessings never departed from his heart, and this resulted in there not being any room for resentment and bitterness within him.
When unfair situations come to our life, let’s think about Joseph’s words:
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” 21 And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. Genesis 50:19-21
