FBC Daily Devotional – Feb. 10, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, a good Wednesday to you. How's your week going? Here we are in the middle of this week and just a couple days left in it.

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Maybe if you're watching this first thing in the morning, you've got your full day ahead of you and I'm sure that it'll be a good one as you endeavor to serve effectively in your area of responsibility.

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Well, have you ever been, I mean, really plagued by a guilty conscience?

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I mean, something that you did some time back and you never, you never dealt with it.

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You never got the issue settled. You never got the matter made right. And it comes back to haunt you and haunt you.

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And hopefully, eventually you did get the matter right. You did make the matter right and get the thing settled.

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But notice how that conscience works. Well, we see it in today's reading in the brothers of Joseph.

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They've come to Egypt. They've gotten accused in their coming to Egypt of being spies.

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They come before Joseph. Joseph recognizes them. They don't recognize Joseph. And he accuses them of being spies.

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Now, keep in mind that this has been probably almost 20 years since Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery.

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Almost two decades, probably. And remember what they did.

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Remember the abuse that they meted out to David, to Joseph, and the hardship he endured, the agony that he endured, and they put him into it.

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They initially wanted to kill him, but to ease their conscience a little bit rather than kill him, they sold him off into slavery.

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But here we are two decades later, and they have been accused of being spies, and they are in trouble now in Egypt.

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So how do they deal with this? What is their response to this? Did you notice it in Genesis 42 verses 21 and 22?

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Listen to what it says. It says, then they said to one another, In truth, we are guilty concerning our brother.

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And they're talking about Joseph. They don't know that he's right there in front of him. But we're guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, and we did not listen.

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That's why this distress has come upon us. And Reuben responded to them and said,

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Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen, so now there comes a reckoning for his blood.

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Twenty years later, and this moment of adversity and conflict is being interpreted as retribution for that 20 -year -old's sin.

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In fact, their conscience is so plagued by that transgression that they can't even see a good thing for what it really is.

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They see it as some form of calamity. And what I'm talking about is, Joseph eventually lets them all go, keeps one of the brothers there, sends the other ones home, and he fills their sacks with grain, and then he puts their money back in the top of their sacks.

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Remember that? And then when they stop for the night and go to feed the animals, one of the brothers opens up a feed sack to feed the animals, and there, lo and behold, on the top of the grain sack is his money.

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And you would think, Wow, this is like pennies from heaven. This is a wonderful gift.

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That's not how it's interpreted. Instead, listen to how they interpret it. Remember? This one brother that finds it, says to his brothers,

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My money has been put back. Here it is in the mouth of my sack. But he's not saying that with enthusiastic excitement.

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He's saying that with fear. He goes on to say, At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying,

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What is this that God has done to us? And a little later, in verse 35, they all arrive back home in Canaan, and back to their dad,

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Jacob, and all of them take their grain sacks off their animals, and in verse 35, it says,

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They emptied their sacks, and behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack.

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And again, how might the person with a clear conscience view this?

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Wow. I mean, how did this happen? What a godsend. No, that's not how they interpret it.

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It says, When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. They were afraid.

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Now, remember how earlier they interpreted the adversity? This is retribution for what

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God has done to us. And how are they interpreting this good thing, this returned money, this act of grace?

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How are they interpreting it? They're seeing it as a calamity. Well, interestingly, later on, in our second reading for the day, in Psalm 18, one of the verses, the last part of verse 26, speaking of the

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Lord and his goodness, says that, With the crooked, you make yourself seem torturous.

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Even if the Lord isn't torturing the crooked, with the crooked, he makes himself seem torturous.

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So here are these brothers who have dealt crookedly with Joseph, and they see this grace, this expression of grace and kindness on the part of Joseph.

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They see it as something crooked, as something torturous, because they themselves are crooked in their heart.

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Now, by the way, why did Joseph put his brothers through all of this, accusing them of being spies and all of the rest?

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Why did he do that? Was he just seeking revenge? Shouldn't he have just seen his brothers and just expressed forgiveness toward them and said, oh, my brothers, you know, you treated me terribly, but don't worry about it,

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I forgive you, it's all good. Shouldn't he have done that rather than put them through all this grief?

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Now, while being gracious and generous with them, a grace that obviously they could not perceive, he was also testing them, and there's more testing to come.

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Here's the thing, forgiveness does not demand immediate restoration of the relationship.

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Joseph has a forgiving spirit, he has a forgiving heart, but that doesn't demand unconditional reconciliation.

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Stay tuned with that thought. In the meantime, have a good rest of your

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Wednesday. Let's pray and ask God to bless us in it. Our Father and our God, I pray that today, if there's one dealing with the plague of a guilty conscience, that whatever it is that's plaguing them, that today would be the day that that gets remedied, that transgression gets forsaken and repented of and confessed, and even if there needs to be some kind of restoration, that that would come, that the conscience can be cleared.

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So, Lord, I pray that we would learn from this today. We don't want to carry around the plague of a guilty conscience.

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You will carry it around with us until we finally find remedy for it.

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And so, Lord, may we deal with it today. I pray this in Jesus' name and for his sake.

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Amen. All right, again, have a good rest of your Wednesday, and trust that God will bless you in it.