Do you keep a “little list”? When someone does you wrong do you allow the spirit of god to erase the offense, or do you grudgingly, secretly add their name and wait until the perfect opportunity preset itself to strike back and get even?
These are the questions that Joseph had to face, and today we will study together how he answered them.
As we pick up the story remember the situation. A worldwide famine has struck, just as Joseph had interpreted in the dream that King Pharaoh had experienced.
The situation is bleak, there is no food and people are starving, the only country that has any food is Egypt…because of Gods hand on Joseph…Now the starving people are swarming to Egypt to buy food…no one outside of Egypt is exempt!
Let’s look at Genesis 42 and see what is happening in Hebron…
1When Jacob heard that there was grain available in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why are you standing around looking at one another? 2I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down and buy some for us before we all starve to death."
We have been so wrapped up with Joseph that we may have almost forgotten the rest of the family, but all the while they are all still alive but they are not doing all that well. Old Jacob catches wind that Egypt has food and so he sends his sons to go see what they can get. Basically they are just about in survival mode, so away they go all but Benjamin who no doubt has taken the place by now of Joseph as being the “favorite son” Lets go on verse 3…
3So Joseph’s ten older brothers went down to Egypt to buy grain. 4Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, however, for fear some harm might come to him.
I often wonder how many times Joseph thought about home, was dad still living, were all his brothers ok, had they survived the famine?
And the flipside o f the story is that no doubt his brothers had all but forgotten him and no doubt Jacob had overcome his time of grieving for what he thought was a deceased son.
Certainly they didn’t know that their little brother was now the prime minister of Egypt. All they knew was that they had to obey their aging father and bring some food back home.
The stage is being set…once again God is ready to do some moving! Don’t you just love it when everyone can sense that God is getting ready to do something big?
5So Jacob’s sons arrived in Egypt along with others to buy food, for the famine had reached Canaan as well.
6Since Joseph was governor of all Egypt and in charge of the sale of the grain, it was to him that his brothers came. They bowed low before him, with their faces to the ground. 7Joseph recognized them instantly, but he pretended to be a stranger. "Where are you from?" he demanded roughly. "From the land of Canaan," they replied. "We have come to buy grain."
Can you see it? These ten country boys from Canaan no doubt were awe struck as they stood in front of this government official. They were so overwhelmed that they bowed with their faces to the ground before him, not having any clue this guy robed with authority of front of them is their once despised little brother.
But what about Joseph, no doubt by now he is exhausted, he’s been dealing with hungry people all day and he looks up and recognizes them… if you are a score keeper…a list maker…here comes your moment
8Joseph’s brothers didn’t recognize him, but Joseph recognized them.
9And he remembered the dreams he had had many years before. He said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become."
Joseph has a déjà vu moment! He remembered the dream! Now remember Joseph is human and I can almost hear the enemy whispering in his ear…Here is your moment…go ahead and reveal yourself to them, rub it in…after all you deserve it! Go ahead Joseph…remember how they mocked you, how they hated you…surely Joseph surely you aren’t going to have passion on them now are you? But Joseph has been tempted before and not bowed, and this time will be no different, instead he buys some time to collect his thoughts and accused them of being spies…watch this unfold now,
10"No, my lord!" they exclaimed. "We have come to buy food. 11We are all brothers and honest men, sir! We are not spies!"
12"Yes, you are!" he insisted. "You have come to discover how vulnerable the famine has made us."
13"Sir," they said, "there are twelve of us brothers, and our father is in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is there with our father, and one of our brothers is no longer with us."
14But Joseph insisted, "As I said, you are spies! 15This is how I will test your story. I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you will not leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here.
Go ahead and put yourself in Joseph sandals...what would you have done? But Joseph simply wants to learn more about how dad is and where’s Benjamin? So he keeps prodding them with the accusation of being spies until they begin to spill their guts so to speak and he hears what he wanted to hear…Dad is still alive, and Benjamin is home with him!
Wow…now after all these years he gets homesick…Oh to see dad once again, and Benjamin
16One of you go and get your brother! I’ll keep the rest of you here, bound in prison. Then we’ll find out whether or not your story is true. If it turns out that you don’t have a younger brother, then I’ll know you are spies."
17So he put them all in prison for three days.
No one knows why three days, or why all ten of them, you can let your imagination run wild right there but watch what happens on day four…
18On the third day Joseph said to them, "I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live. 19We’ll see how honorable you really are. Only one of you will remain in the prison. The rest of you may go on home with grain for your families. 20But bring your youngest brother back to me. In this way, I will know whether or not you are telling me the truth. If you are, I will spare you." To this they agreed.
21Speaking among themselves, they said, "This has all happened because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his terror and anguish and heard his pleadings, but we wouldn’t listen. That’s why this trouble has come upon us."
22"Didn’t I tell you not to do it?" Reuben asked. "But you wouldn’t listen. And now we are going to die because we murdered him."
23Of course, they didn’t know that Joseph understood them as he was standing there, for he had been speaking to them through an interpreter. 24Now he left the room and found a place where he could weep. Returning, he talked some more with them. He then chose Simeon from among them and had him tied up right before their eyes.
Talk about the conscience that has been seared for years coming unlocked… "This has all happened because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his terror and anguish and heard his pleadings, but we wouldn’t listen. That’s why this trouble has come upon us."
Friend the first step toward activating your seared conscience is;
1.Take responsibility of your personal guilt
This wasn’t dad’s problem because he was so non-involved in our childhood! WE are guilty, we are the ones who sold him, we saw the distress, we wouldn’t listen…
Notice they didn’t even mention the fact that Joseph was the favorite! No mention of the hated robe...all they can see now is his pleading eyes as they lowered him into the pit, as they sold him to the Egyptians as a slave…his facer is no haunting them As they stand and spill out years of bitterness, spoiled conscience feelings!
There just may be that one here this morning that has done wrong to someone and you haven’t gone though the necessary process to make things right with them or with God- friend when you haven’t dealt with your transgression -you will become the victim of the very distress that you put the person through sooner or later!
It had been over twenty years since they had done this terrible thing to Joseph but now it only seems like yesterday! Listen friend…Time doesn’t erase distress!
Oh you may have almost forgotten all about the incident…then suddenly out of nowhere it comes back to haunt you...the guilt begins to eat away at you, and the weight of that unforgiven sin can become so heavy that it literally affects you physically!
What do you think Joseph experience listening to all of this conversation? We read that he left the room to weep! No doubt he knew that God was tapping on their shoulders and that they were remorseful! Finally after all these years he was hearing it from their lips...we are guilty!
Lets move on…
25Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the men’s sacks with grain, but he also gave secret instructions to return each brother’s payment at the top of his sack. He also gave them provisions for their journey. 26So they loaded up their donkeys with the grain and started for home.
27But when they stopped for the night and one of them opened his sack to get some grain to feed the donkeys, he found his money in the sack. 28"Look!" he exclaimed to his brothers. "My money is here in my sack!" They were filled with terror and said to each other, "What has God done to us?"
Instead of being happy about their surprise they are scared to death! And they ask what is God doing to us?
They are feeling the full brunt of their guilt now! And they are somehow sensing God in all of this!
Say friend when God begins to activate a seared Locked up conscience;
2. We begin to gain a different perspective!
These boys had no idea that Joseph was still alive, all they knew was that they were going through great distress and guilt was drowning them!
Friend listen the passing of time wont erase the guilt!
Even after everyone in the family grows up!
Even after the crime is dismissed in the courtroom
Even after the divorce is final and you walk away!
Even after that person moves to another state or gets transferred to anther department…
There is still that thumping in your chest, your breath is short…there is distress!
3. God activates the seared Locked up conscience when we are the recipients of underserved expressions of grace!
Hey your right Josephs brothers didn’t deserve any grain! They didn’t deserve any money…what they really deserved was prison, punishment, but instead they receive freedom, a full sack of grain and all of their money returned!
The deserved to be on Joseph’s hit list, but remember Joseph didn’t keep a list!
Why...because Joseph walked with God! HE refused to spend his days sulking about the always getting the short end of the stick or getting mistreated. Instead his daily prayer was God keep my heart right regardless of what happens today!
I’m getting ready to close but I must ask you this morning…are you still keeping a list?
I’ve been around long enough to see that people who keep lists tend to get insensitive towards God and the church…its not long until there is a thickness or a callous that develops around the heart…and the joy of Jesus gets squeezed out…Oh dear heart what a dreadful way to live…and for that matter what a dreadful way to die…
If you are here today and this message describes you, I Want to invite you to come to the cross this morning…your response this morning, your choice to obey and receive his forgiveness…it will change the rest of your life!
Listen Valley Mission Nazarene Church, god is getting ready to do a big thing with us…and he can only do it if we are unified in our spirit towards one another…Not holding grudge over what someone said or didn’t say…
Someone here today, this stuff that I have been describing this morning is simply eating you up, and God has unlocked your conscience this morning...he is ready to free you from all the guilt, from all the condemnation, he is ready to restore your joy…can I challenge you to throw away the list today? Who needs to pray! Who needs to go to someone…who has kingdom work to do?
