Awakening a Sleeping Conscious

Our study in the life of Joseph this week led us to one of the most dramatic accounts in biblical history. Jacob’s older sons, who had sold their brother as a slave twenty-two years earlier, are now unwittingly standing before him in his position as Prime Minister of Egypt.  Their icy cold consciouses are starting to melt as they come under the conviction of a holy God for their sins.

Guilt is an important God-given emotion. Someone once compared guilt to the check engine warning light on a car. When the light comes on you can either stop and deal with the trouble or cover up the light and keep going.  Guilt is there to warn us that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. The goal is not to learn to live with guilt but to allow us to find the remedy to remove it, which is repentance and forgiveness.

For two decades Joseph’s brothers had lived their lives without giving much thought to Joseph. They perpetuated the lie of his death so many times that it just sort of rolled off their lips… until now.

God used a world-wide famine to get their attention. It’s easy to avoid God when everything’s running smoothly. It’s easy to push those guilty emotions back to the recesses of your mind and go on with life thinking God isn’t really that concerned, however, God loves us too much to let us go without a fight. At times He exercises tough love in order to force us to address the hard questions of life. It may be an unexpected diagnosis, a financial emergency, an overwhelming situation, or even a family crisis. In these situations, God is often waking us out of our spiritual sleepiness to bring us back.

Are you going through a difficult time? Is God trying to get your attention? God will not let the consciences of the faithful rest until unresolved sin is addressed.  Remember, God is for us! He loves you so much He will stop at nothing until we turn our hearts toward Him.

Press On!

Pastor Brian Richard