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August 15, 2023

God’s Mercy and Forgiveness

R. Sidwell Mokgothu   |   Read Genesis 45:5-9

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Lectionary Week
August 14–20, 2023
Scripture Overview

Joseph has risen to a high position in Egypt, and now his brothers come searching for food in a time of famine. He reveals his true identity and reinterprets their evil intentions as being part of God’s plan. Sometimes we too are granted perspective to see God’s working in difficult times. The psalmist rejoices when God’s people are living in unity, as Joseph and his brothers were after their reunion. In Romans, Paul declares that his people are not rejected by the merciful God, for God’s promises are unchanging. In Matthew, Jesus teaches that God looks on the inside, not the outside. Thus, what you take into your body is less important than what comes from your heart, and God does not favor one ethnic group over another.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

Read Genesis 45:1-15. When have you experienced God’s grace in forgiving or being forgiven? How were those needing forgiveness still held responsible for their actions?Read Psalm 133. How has God called you to live in unity with those different from you? How do you receive God’s abundant blessing through such unity?Read Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32. How does the eternal mercy of God’s gifts and callings sustain you when it seems like God has rejected God’s people?Read Matthew 15:10-28. When have you, like the Canaanite woman, felt like you had to insist that Jesus come closer? How did your faith change or grow from this experience?

Respond by posting a prayer .

Genesis 45:5-9

5 Now, don’t be upset and don’t be angry with yourselves that you sold me here. Actually, God sent me before you to save lives. 6 We’ve already had two years of famine in the land, and there are five years left without planting or harvesting. 7 God sent me before you to make sure you’d survive and to rescue your lives in this amazing way. 8 You didn’t send me here; it was God who made me a father to Pharaoh, master of his entire household, and ruler of the whole land of Egypt. 9 “Hurry! Go back to your father. Tell him this is what your son Joseph says: ‘God has made me master of all of Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t delay.

Unless otherwise indicated, scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible. Used by permission.

Many artists collect leftover or discarded materials like glass, cowhide, bones, and scrap metals to make their art. They take materials ordinarily treated as waste to create something new and beautiful. They restore beauty to what is thought to be unworthy.

A remnant is a small group of people who,...

O God, we pray for a remnant church saved and preserved for the salvation of your creation. Amen.


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