Sermon preached by the Revd Phill Ball at St Martin's Church in Walsall, on Sunday 2nd February 2014.
Over time God can break
our independent and rebellious spirit to draw us close to Him.
God uses broken things:
broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give
bread, and broken bread to give strength.
In Genesis 42, God is
going to break Joseph’s brothers by awakening their sleeping consciences, this
is a broken family.
They were a hard bunch.
Years before, under the leadership of Simeon and Levi, they had deceived a
village, slaughtered all the men, and taken the women and children captive in
retaliation. Reuben, the oldest, had slept with his father’s concubine. Judah
had two sons so wicked that the Lord took their lives. He himself had a fling with
his daughter-in-law, Tamar. All of the brothers, except Benjamin, had sold
Joseph into slavery and then crushed their father’s heart by deceiving him into
thinking that his son was dead.
Now it’s 22 years
later. In the process of this story, their sleeping consciences awake. Their
story shows us how God uses severity and grace to awaken our consciences and
bring us to repentance.
The seven years of
famine that Joseph predicted are now in full force (see 41:54-57). The famine
has spread throughout the entire known world (41:57), including Joseph’s family
in Canaan. Therefore, (in 42:1-2) Moses writes, “Now Jacob saw that there was
grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, ‘Why are you staring at one
another?’ He said, ‘Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down
there and buy some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die.’”
For a while Jacob’s
family was probably able to live on what they had in reserve. But the weather
is not changing and the supplies are almost depleted. The situation is becoming
serious. Jacob hears that there is grain in Egypt, so he starts talking it up
with his sons. But every time he brings up the subject, none of his sons will
look him in the eye. They just stare at one another. Reuben looks at Simeon,
Simeon glances at Judah, and Judah’s eyes dart over to Levi. Jacob is getting
frustrated. In a crisis situation his sons don’t seem to be doing anything.
Why don’t Jacob’s sons
want to go to Egypt? For one thing, the trip to Egypt was long (250-300 miles)
and dangerous, and a round trip could consume six weeks’ of time. Even after
arriving in Egypt, the brothers couldn’t be certain of a friendly reception. As
“foreigners” from Canaan, they would be very vulnerable and could even be
arrested and enslaved. If that happened there would be no one to take care of
their families and their aged father. Furthermore, the word “Egypt” went off
like a bomb in their guilty consciences. The brothers could hear again the
clink of the silver coins they received from the traders as they sold their
brother into slavery.
They could see him
begging for his life as he was being dragged off. They remembered the terrible
expression of horror on his face. When a trip to Egypt was mentioned, they
dreaded the possibility of passing by a gang of slaves and perhaps seeing the
hollow eyes of their brother. For 22 years these brothers had tried to silence
their nagging consciences. But when God applied the pressure of famine, coupled
with the word “Egypt,” the sleeping giants stirred. For these ten brothers,
time didn’t erase their guilty consciences.
You can brush your sin,
or mistakes if you prefer, under the rug and hope that enough years will take
care of it, but one day, perhaps years later, God will apply some sort of
pressure in your life and your conscience will stir. Maybe it will be a single
word, spoken inadvertently by someone. Like in our story one
word “Egypt!” .
Its Far better to keep
short accounts and deal with your mistakes now than later. Sin and mistakes
compounds with some serious interest! Better to pay up as quickly as possible.
After their father’s
prodding, Joseph’s ten brothers “went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob
did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, ‘I am
afraid that harm may befall him’” (42:3-4). It’s evident that Jacob is a man controlled
not only by blatant favouritism but also by fear.
He had already lost his favourite wife. Then
he lost his favourite son. Here he is determined to prevent the loss of
Benjamin who is his final link to Rebekah. Interestingly, it appears that over
the years, since the death of his eleventh son, Joseph, Jacob apparently has
grown suspicious of his ten older sons regarding either the manner in which
Joseph “died” or the relationship that the older sons have with Benjamin,
Jacob’s youngest son. This suspicion manifests itself in 42:4, which records
that Jacob does not send Benjamin with his brothers into Egypt to buy food for
the family because he (Jacob) is “afraid that harm might befall him.” Of what
is Jacob afraid? His own sons?
For years, Jacob and the boys lived life without having to think about
God. Life went on as normal.
They got up, did their work, came home, and
the next day started all over again. They were content in their routine. Their
needs were met; life went on as it always had. But with this famine God gets
their attention. It is easy to avoid God when we feel self-sufficient. It is
easy to feel that you have no need of God’s touch when everything is running
smoothly. These men were comfortable in their denial and their deceptions. As
long as the status quo remained they would never change. So God provokes a
crisis. This crisis would either harden them further or wake them up.
Are you going through a
tough time? Is life a struggle right now? Could it be that God is trying to get
your attention? Could it be that He is trying to awaken you out of your
spiritual slumber? Is it possible that God loves you so much and that He wants
you to be His with such intensity that He will stop at nothing to turn your
heart to Him? and put your own hearts in order?
We now move from the
home front to the brothers appearing before Joseph in Egypt. Moses writes, “Now
Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people
of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces
to the ground” (42:6). Back in 37:5-7, Joseph had two dreams and predicted that
one day his entire family would bow before him. And here the prediction begins
to come to pass. What God says will ultimately come to pass and whatever God
says in His Word, you can trust it. He is faithful to His promises (2 Cor
1:20). Today, if you are growing wearing and impatient, know that God will fulfil
His Word to you. (But in his and your time this has taken 22 years remember.)
In 42:7ff, we come to
the moment of truth: How would Joseph respond? He had had at least 20 years to
consider what he would do if and when this moment presented itself. And now,
here it was! You see the greatest test of Joseph’s life occurred not when he
was laid low by injustice, but when he was given unlimited power over his
wicked brothers. Would he use his God-given power to seek revenge against them?
Or would he use it for the purpose of saving the nation Israel from famine? Ng As
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want
to test a man’s character, give him power.” How are you using the authority
God has given you? We all have some position of authority that God has
entrusted to us (e.g., parent, disciple, supervisor, minister, Christian). Are
you using your authority for selfish ends or for the glory of God?
All we have to do is
admit our wrong doings, say we are sorry to God, and accept his forgiveness, we
don’t have to wait 22 years for an opportunity. But, and here’s the biggie, its
not enough to be repentant like the brothers, you have to forgive those who
have sinned against you as well, as Joseph does.
I repeat forgive not
forget just like Joseph, doesn’t forget, the consequences still remain, but
it’s the here and now and the future that God puts right in our lives, its for
all of us to put our past in order, like Joseph and his brothers, with and
through God. Pray regularly, ask for forgiveness often, and even if it takes 22
years like in the story, forgive. Forgiveness and forgiving is in the Lords
prayer every time we pray it. Amen.
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