Through The Bible in a Year - February 20, 2026
“Do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones.” – Genesis 50:21
Joseph’s brothers knew payback time had come. Their father, Jacob, was dead—the only shield protecting them from Joseph’s revenge. They trembled: “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil we did to him.”
If vengeance is a meal best served cold, this would be a refrigerator feast. Joseph, whom the brothers had betrayed, controlled their fate. They were in deep trouble.
But Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Not rage. Not vengeance. Not a death sentence. Instead, mercy: “Do not fear. I will provide for you and your little ones.”
These are the same words God used with their ancestor, Abraham: “I will provide.” Now Joseph, to his abusers, speaks God’s mercy: “You betrayed me. I will provide for you.”
We should feel the pain behind Joseph’s tears. “You threw me in a pit. I was your brother, and you betrayed me. You sent word to my father with blood on my coat that I was dead. I’ve lived the hurt and consequences for decades. The betrayal was a moment for you. I’ve lived a life of hurt because of it.” And still: “I will provide for you.”
How can someone show such mercy after such hurt? Because redemption isn’t about controlling circumstances or fallen people around us. It’s about what’s happening inside us. Joseph’s heart had been made right with God, and that was overflowing with mercy—filled up with God’s grace, now fountaining over to others.
Respond: Who has hurt you deeply? Betrayed you? Abused you? What would it look like to say to them, “I will provide mercy for you”? I know that sounds unreasonable, but it’s what Jesus has done for us, and the reality of his mercy becomes all the more precious and powerful to us when we are merciful. So, ask God to fill your heart with His grace so it fountains over to those who’ve wounded you, and at the same time it will fill you.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I cannot manufacture mercy for those who’ve hurt me on my own. So, please fill me with Your grace until it overflows. Heal my heart. Make me right with You. Then fountain Your mercy through me to those I never thought I could forgive to know the fuller joy of your forgiveness in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.