Genesis 45:4-8
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
During this week the readings for Morning Prayer have centred around the story of Joseph the dreamer. Being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers he excels after a period of hardship to become second only to the Pharoah in the land of Egypt. He had every right to be angry and resentful toward his brothers but rather he chose to be kind to them for he realized that all that happened to him was all a part of the divine plan of Almighty God.
Are you an angry person? Do you have feelings of resentment toward another person who might have wronged you in some way in the past? Did their actions cause you to suffer for a short or extended period of time? Were you able to exact some form of vengeance against them? Have you been able to let go of your anger and move on with your life? There is an old saying ‘I might forgive but I will never forget.’ Letting go is very difficult to do indeed.
In an excellent article entitled ‘The Body Never Lies’ taken from tcmworld.org the Traditional Chinese Medicine Foundation the writer shares some insights on the dangers of getting stuck emotionally, holding on to anger and not being willing to let things go. ‘Allow things to flow! Not just at the body level, but at the mind, body and spirit level. When something becomes stuck or cannot move, blood and Qi cannot flow freely through the body. That is when symptoms like acid reflux, GERD and others start to appear. The flow of emotions is controlled by the Liver/GallBladder, which is at its highest peak in Spring. If you constantly hold in or suppress emotions or you allow your emotions to become excessive or chronic, your body will let you know by producing symptoms. Practice letting go!
Anger is a poisonous emotion. It harms the body at a deep level. Getting rid of anger and forgiving someone who has wronged you is perhaps the most difficult thing in the world to do whether you are a Christian or not. Forgiveness comes with a catch. In the Lord’s prayer we ask God to forgive us for the wrongs that we do as often as we forgive others that wrong us. If we don’t forgive others then we make it slightly more difficult for God to forgive us when we do things that upset Him. May God help us to let go, to be free, to be flexible and to put away our anger and live.