I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 45-47.

I usually try to look for something other than the “Sunday School” lesson in a passage to write about, but I have written on some of those other things in this passage in previous years.  And I feel like the feel-good, “Sunday School” lesson in this passage is one too many people today have dismissed.   When Joseph revealed to his brothers he did not blame them for the wrong which they had done him.  Instead, he pointed out that if they had not done that to him, if he had not experienced the suffering which he experienced, he would not have been in a position to save them and their father in this time of famine.  But not only does he absolve them of their sin against them by attributing it to God’s providence, he also give God credit for his rise to prominence.  Just as when he was first called before Pharaoh, Joseph takes no credit for what he has accomplished.  He was merely in the place which God had placed him, doing the things which God had given him the gifts to accomplish.  Joseph’s attitude reminds me of a book I read about the village of Le Chambon, France during World War II.  The book is titled “Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed.”  The people of the village did much to rescue many Jews (particularly children, but not just children) from the Nazis.  After the war, when questioned about what they had done, many of them answered, “I just did what anyone would have done.”  We all know that is not true, but Joseph shared that attitude: that nothing he had done was particularly exceptional.  Let us strive to have that attitude.  We will just do the tasks which God puts in front of us to the best of our abilities and give honor to God for however they turn out.