hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘thus says your son joseph, God has made me lord of all egypt. come down to me; do not tarry. you shall dwell in the land of goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. there i will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ and now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. you must tell my father of all my honor in egypt, and of all that you have seen. hurry and bring my father down here.” [genesis 45:9-13]
truth is often hard, but in the end, it is always beautiful.
joseph sends his brothers home to tell their dad to move everyone to egypt. “i am lord of egypt and all will be well. bring him on down and don’t tarry” – joseph says.
there is only one problem – their dad thinks joseph is dead.
and, their dad thinks joseph is dead – because they have told their dad joseph is dead for some 20+ years.
and, their dad thinks joseph is dead – because they first devised this lie – after selling him into slavery which took him to egypt.
can you imagine how this conversation went when the returned home?
have you ever had to come clean after a long season of deceit?
when you finally tell the truth, the weight that is removed is astounding. in the end, truth is always beautiful because truth is the way of the LORD and the character of the LORD. however, truth can often be hard because it is often not our way or our character. when we live a life of deceit, truth is hard. we can lie for so long, we often think the lie is a truth. i can imagine this was the case for these brothers. i am sure at some point they convinced themselves joseph had been torn a part by fierce animals. (this was the first story of deceit they told their father.)
but when the truth finally comes, as hard as it is, freedom follows.
imagine that conversation.
imagine the guilt, the shame, the heart-ache, the gut-wrenching story of truth, the tears, the anger, the sadness, more tears – and finally the joy as jacob, their father, realized joseph was alive! truth is often hard, but in the end, it is always beautiful.
today, …
where does truth need to reign in your life?
who needs to hear the truth from you?
begin with the LORD.
let him hear the truth from your lips – about a lie you have been nurturing, about deceit you have been harboring. he knows. he knows the truth. he knows you. and, he still loves you.
he is waiting. tell him the truth. and, ask his forgiveness. he will give it and he will then empower you with his grace to tell the truth to those who need to hear it.
truth is often hard, but in the end it is always beautiful!
~ john ryan