“AND JOSEPH SAID unto them, ‘Fear not: for am I in the place of God'” (Gen. 50:19 KJV)?
“The reason Joseph was able to tell his brothers to fear not was because he understood the theme of Genesis.
Joseph understood that the theme of the book was not Joseph – but God.1
What Joseph asked was, “Am I in the place of God?”
- I’m not in the place of God.
- I’m not your Maker.
- I’m not your Creator.
- I’m not responsible for your getting here, and I won’t be responsible when you’re gone.
- I’m not your Judge and I’m not your jury.
- I’m not going to hold the record book when you stand at the bar of Judgment.
- I’m not the one who will divide the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the tares.
- I’m not the One who sits high and looks low.
- I’m not in the place of God.
He has more justice than any judge.
He has more records than any courtroom.
He doesn’t need any help from me.
He’s God all by Himself, and He doesn’t need anybody else.
I’m not in the place of God.
“There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name in might” (Jer. 10:6; cf. 1 Sam. 2:2; 1 Chron. 17:20; Deut. 33:26, Exo. 8:10, 9:14).
1 The reader will understand, of course, my use of imaginative license. Obviously the book of Genesis was not available to Joseph. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr., “The Identity of Evil,” Preaching Through A Storm, 95-96.
INCARNATE 