* This verse makes most men cringe.

* But Joseph shows us something powerful.

* Expressing emotion is a healing agent.

* It heals your body and relationships.

* I’m sure all Joseph’s pent-up emotions being released in that moment was extremely freeing to him.

* It bonded him to his brothers.

* We see in Joseph’s brothers the destruction of unexpressed emotion.

* They had bottled-up guilt all these years.

* It creates distance in relationships - notice how they were with their dad, Jacob.

* Bottled-up emotions eat away at you and breaks down your body - science proves this.

* How? Because of stress.

* Your body sees stress like it sees sickness, so it goes to work on trying to get rid of the stress (through the hormone cortisol).

* Elevated stress levels for long periods of time opens you up to other sicknesses because your white blood cells are too busy working on getting rid of your stress.

* AMP version - “they were ‘distressingly’ disturbed and dismayed at his presence.”

* How do you get over stress?

* vs 5 - focus on God! AMP says, “Don’t be distressed…”