Perhaps Joseph was unwise to relate his dreams to his brothers-dreams in which they are seen bowing down before him. However, their jealousy and their selling him into slavery generated a sequence of events that manifested God’s sovereign oversight and control over all their lives.

God’s purposes may be deferred by human errors and by wicked actions of men, but His purposes will not be defeated. Joseph in retrospect gratefully acknowledged God’s working and control in what he had experienced and over what his brothers had done. And his faith in God and perception of God’s working made him forgiving and charitable toward his erstwhile hateful brothers.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done,” Joseph said to his brothers. Earlier he had said as much, but they were fearful after their father’s death that he would take vengeance.

He reassured them, “Don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.”

To know God, His sovereignty and love, is to learn grace and charity toward our fellow men. So it was with Joseph. May it be so with us.