22 years. That’s how long ago Joseph’s brothers sold him to Midianite traders passing by (Genesis 37:25). This was after they had grown tired of listening to his dreams, of seeing their father lavish his love on him. They wanted to kill him, but they saw greater benefit in selling him. Then, they covered the whole thing up by smearing Joseph’s lovely coat — the token of Jacob’s love, and the object of their hatred — in blood, bringing it home, and telling their father that Joseph has been torn to pieces by an animal. He was grieved, almost to the point of death. That is a considerable weight to carry in your conscience. It is amazing how resilient the human soul is to its pangs, though. You can get by with a guilty conscience for years and years: even 22 of them. But God has brought up the day to deal with them: there is a famine, and Egypt alone has storehouses filled with grain. They go, at their father’s command. They come to the storehouses. And out comes: Joseph. They do not recognise him, but he does; 22 years has not done enough damage to their complexion. Yet their soul was not as strong as their bodies. When Joseph accuses them of being spies, and throws them into prison, guess what they think of first: what they did to their brother. Reuben speaks for every one of them when he says: “Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”
A few thoughts:
- God will not let His people suppress a guilty conscience forever. He has brought a fam ine on the land (cf. Genesis 41:28) God had a wonderfully deep purpose with this, beyond what was humanly possible to foresee (e.g. Genesis 45:7, 50:20). But before they could enjoy that, they needed to repent of what they had done. Equally, God will not leave anybody in their sin whom He has chosen for eternal life: and He will bring your proverbial cat out of your proverbial bag to humble you, and to save you. Woe to those Whom God leaves untouched, happy in their sin.
- It is not wise to wait for hardships to come. Keep short accounts with God. David writes about this in Psalm 32 — I commend it to your reading. How painful it is to arrive at the end of your powers! At times, we need that — but there is wisdom in listening to God’s Word, before He reaches for His rod of love. Oh if Joseph’s broth ers had humbled themselves before they got as far as they did in their sin! Those dreams were God’s messages, which they resented. What pain they could have saved themselves, Joseph, and their entire family, had they listened to God!
- You cannot liberate yourself from guilt. All these years, they may have laid crusts of earth on the crack in their soul that was opened by their sin. But the strength of their works could not hold the weight of their sin. Like Adam & Eve’s fig leaf clothes, they were inadequate to deal with the problem. God alone can heal a guilty con science. Regardless of what you are guilty of, my Friend, Christ’s blood can take it away.
Therefore, stop suppressing, pretending, masking: “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” (James 4:10) “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Calix
Pastor
June 2025
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