Message: As I read through this story and saw Joseph’s
brothers fear and expect the worst as they were being given the best of
everything. Including full access to Joseph in his private banquet room. They
were receiving the highest honor, but they weren’t enjoying any of it because
they were full of guilt over what they had done to Joseph all of those years
ago. Even though they didn’t even recognize that they were with Joseph, they
still carried the guilt so strongly that they saw everything as a potential
punishment and viewed everyone as against them.
Command: We need to come clean of our past
mistakes and allow forgiveness to heal and cleanse us of it.
Promise: God gave us his best even while we were
filled with guilt.
Warning: Guilt from the past is debilitating.
Application: As I read this story I saw how much
we are like the brothers of Joseph. They were given the best, and seated in the
highest places of honor, but they couldn’t stop thinking about the guilt of the
past and waiting for something terrible to happen. We do the very same thing!!
God has given us his best but we are so consumed with guilt that we can’t enjoy
it. We keep wondering when we will be punished or who is setting us up.
