In Genesis chapter 42, There’s a great famine throughout the land. Joseph had wisely stored up food for just such a time, and Pharaoh puts him in charge of food distribution. So, when Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy food, they come face to face with Joseph, the brother they had sold into slavery.
Though they don’t recognize Joseph, he recognizes them and puts them through a series of tests to see if they have changed. Joseph insists one of them remain in Egypt as collateral until the others returned with their younger brother. They nervously agree and return home with food supplies. Unbeknownst to them, Joseph had returned their money to their bags to be discovered when they returned home.
Once home, they find the money and began to panic. They tell their father Jacob what the Egyptian ruler had demanded. Jacob is sure this was some kind of trick to take all of his sons captive and refuses to let them return. Feeling the weight of their guilt, the brothers begin to wonder if God is punishing them for what they did to their brother Joseph so long ago.
Scripture tells us that our sin will catch up with us, (Num. 32:23). It shouldn’t amaze us that God will convict us of our sin, in order to turn us from our sin and restore us to Himself. (2 Cor. 7:10)
God wouldn’t turn a blind eye to the sin of Joseph’s brothers, and He won’t turn a blind eye to our sin. But as we see in the next two chapters, God’s goal is not to turn away from us, but to turn us back to Himself.
Is there a sin in your life God wants you to face and deal with? Turn to Him and face that sin, so that He can restore you to Himself.
Bret Legg is the Teaching and Counseling Pastor at Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, GA.