Daily devotion – holiness
There is a great deal of difference between the way Joseph dealt with his brothers’ sins and the way King David dealt with the sins of his sons – 2 Samuel chapters 13 -19.
Joseph was loving and firm; he knew that his brothers must be brought to the place of repentance and confession before they could be forgiven and trusted with responsibility!
Sadly, King David followed the path of many modern-day parents, he forgave his sons without asking for evidence of real repentance, and his ‘abnormal’ affection for his son Absalom almost cost David the devotion of the people of Israel.
Like Amnon and Absalom, David had been guilty of sexual sin, and I believe this affected his ability to deal with their crimes. However, Joseph was a man of purity and integrity, and his approach to dealing with his brothers was far more mature and Godlike.
It is not necessary for you and I to wallow in the sludge in order to sympathize with the needs of sinners or help them clean up their lives. Throughout the four Gospels we see Jesus was a friend of sinners, yet was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.”
Heb 7:26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;
Let us be the thermostat and not the thermometer with those who fall into sin and seek God’s wisdom and guidance as to how to be loving and firm so that God may be glorified.