2009 - Day 19 - Taking Responsibility

January 19, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: Taking Responsibility

Passage of the Day: Genesis 42: 1 - 24 ... Go to this link to study this passage …

My Journal for Today: Here we have a most interesting scenario. After his years as a slave in Egypt, in prison unjustly for two years, and those years of administration and stewardship as the #2 in command in Egypt, Joseph encounters the brothers who years before had put him into a pit and sold him into slavery; and now we read that these brothers thought Joseph to be dead to their family.

It would be very easy in this confrontation between the brothers and Joseph to make the brothers into the bad guys; and most certainly the brothers had wronged their little brother in their past jealousy. However, as the scene unfolds here, we actually read of the brothers taking ownership of their ill begotten decision to sell Joseph into Egyptian slavery.

As Swindoll’s devotional points out, in verse 21 of Gen. 42, we read a very telling use of pronouns … “Then they said to one another, ‘ We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.’ ” Note how the brothers, to one another, were taking direct ownership of their treatment of Joseph now that they were confronted with this memory and Joseph’s strategic ploy to bring his father and younger brother, Benjamin, back into his life. The lesson is revealed from these brothers; and Swindoll writes, “The first step toward softening a seared conscience is taking responsibility for one’s own personal guilt.”

Joseph’s brothers could not blame their dad’s passivity or Daddy’s favoritism of Joseph in those early years. Those factors may have contributed to their jealousy and anger back then; but their choice to toss their brother into that pit and sell him was their choice, not the fault of their father. Even if Joseph, in his youth, had been an arrogant youngster [which may have been the case], it would not have excused them for the ungodly choice of selling their brother into slavery. But now, they were seeing their true sinfulness and taking the responsibility for these past deeds. And so we read the brothers pointing directly to themselves with the series of “we” pronouns in verse 21 above.

Yes, God had engineered all of Joseph’s past to bring him to this place of family confrontation; and as we’ll read later this month, there will be more to this story as it unfolds. However, here we learn a valuable lesson of conviction when an ungodly set of circumstances is clearly uncovered. When we are wrong, we are wrong; and only by recognizing, acknowledging, and confessing our sinfulness can God bring about the ultimate cleansing of this guilt.

New Covenant believers should know the truth of God’s word in 1st John 1: 9 about God’s grace being available to cleanse ANY believer in ANY situation for the confession of ANY sinfulness. Sometimes, that’s hard for obedient and Godly believers to accept … that God will actually provide His saving grace of forgiveness whenever that one is willing to take responsibility for sin and confess those sins before God and mankind. And this is the lesson we see shining forth from this family confrontation, involving Joseph and his brothers.

Oh, how I pray we all can glean truth and grow from this scene.

My Prayer Today: Lord, when I am wrong, I am wrong; and praise Your mercy and cleansing grace when I am willing to acknowledge my sin and bring my faults to you. Amen