Genesis 50:15-21

“Assurance of Forgiveness”

A couple of months ago, Beth and I hit a deer on the Garden State Parkway.  This deer jumped right over the guardrail into my lane and there was nothing I could do, so the inevitable happened.  Right after I hit the deer I pulled over to the side of the road and immediately started thinking about the insurance.  In times like these, insurance is a great thing.  I pay a monthly premium so that if and when something bad happens, I can have my car fixed.  I have made previous arrangements and paid my bills faithfully so that in an event such as this, I am covered.  In an uncertain world, insurance is a great way for us to make sure that we take active steps to make sure we’re covered.  So there’s no replacement for a good insurance policy.

So that’s insurance, but there is also assurance.  Assurance is a promise or a guarantee that something will or won’t happen.  While insurance is based on consequences, assurance won’t change based on circumstances; it always stays the same.  That’s why we assure people, to let them know that a promise will be kept.  So what would you rather have, insurance or assurance?

This morning we’ll be looking at a part of the story of Joseph from Genesis chapter 50.  But before we can do that, I have to set the stage a bit as to what is going on…so here is the CliffsNotes version.  When Joseph was 17, he had a dream that he would be the ruler over his 11 older brothers.  Now Joseph’s brothers already didn’t care for him because he was their father’s favorite child, so when he told the brothers this dream he had, they decided to get rid of him.  So they took his clothes and made it look like he was attacked and killed by a wild animal and sold him into slavery.  Eventually, Joseph ended up in Egypt where he found favor from one of pharaoh’s top officials, fell out of favor and was imprisoned, and eventually rose to power again and became second in command over all of Egypt.  Ultimately, and in spite of some pretty bad things that happened to him, things turned out awesome for Joseph because as Genesis 39:2 says, “The Lord was with Joseph.”