Day 7: Miketz/Genesis 41:1-44:17
Each of us carries the burden of yesteryear. While we may pretend that yesterday’s circumstances are in the past and have no bearing on us today, we are affected and molded due to these actions and decisions. They cannot be simply ignored or forgotten or even relinquished as never done at all. When repentance and forgiveness do take occur for the sake of negative actions, then we are capable of learning positive attributes from our missteps. Yet, if our negative actions are not accounted for within Messiah, then we live with the paralyzing guilt and condemnation that follows, here or in eternity.
The negative repercussions are what the sons of Israel had to deal with through the absence of Yosef. One can plainly see that in Genesis 42:21, the ten brothers bore the burden of guilt for what they had done to Yosef. Additionally, they had been living with this guilt for many years. Not only did the guilty brothers not right any of the wrongs they had committed, but they had to continue to conspire about the deceit they had presented to their father. As we know, their sin does eventually find them and they must come clean. We see the jubilation of Yacov as obscuring any repentance by the ten sons, and we do not really know if they actually admit to their wrong.
When we attempt to cover our sins with feigned ignorance or hardness of heart, we plant a seed of corruption, wickedness, bitterness, and stubbornness, all of which grow roots in our hearts. Not only does this seed, eventually, bare bad fruit, but when the day of reckoning does come, those roots are not easily removed. They run deep and are not simply pulled out. Deep roots take time to be excavated; furthermore, the void that the roots create when they are removed through earnest repentance must be realized. For every void where evil once was in our lives, we must turn to the Creator to seek what should be there. While the voids or roots are still within our hearts, we deal with the guilt and condemnation of what that sin wrought.
In all of this, it is important to remember that YHVH is waiting for us with open arms if we submit to Him with a humble and contrite spirit. It does take time to rid ourselves of what oppresses us, but it is noteworthy to mention that YHVH meets us where we are; and, we must have a beginning point to the repentance process. None of us are without these types of issues in our lives. Whether we have unresolved sin(s) or we have roots intruding into our heart or if we have caverns where roots used to be, we all have places that need the touch of Yeshua for healing and restoration. It all begins with humility to the Father and the admittance that we are not capable of doing this on our own.
The sons of Israel lived with the grief of selling their flesh and blood into slavery and lying to their father for years. This type of conspiracy to destroy others or to deny involvement is a lie to the Creator, most of all.
We cannot lose sight that we serve a righteous Judge. He sees all and knows all. We cannot hide anything from Him. When we practice iniquity, we place ourselves as the judge and assume a pseudo role of righteousness, false piety. In reality, we are lawless (Torahless) and are accountable accordingly.
What are you holding back from the YHVH? Admit to Him what you are hiding, what you have done, even for what you are blaming Him. He is waiting for you to come clean and to be made clean for your past. Once repentance is done, and the void is filled with Yeshua and His Word. Then, you will be able to learn from your life events and look forward to what can be accomplished versus looking to the past and being paralyzed by guilt.
Dwell upon 1 Peter 5:6-8, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
