'What can we say to my lord?' Judah replied. 'What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we and the one who was found to have the cup' (Genesis 44:16).
This is the third part in my series of topics about Facing an Economic Crisis. It's subtitle is Guilt Uncovered. I covered the first two parts here:
Judah was right. Through their difficult situation, God uncovered their guilt. But Judah was wrong to ascribe their guilt to the found silver cup in Benjamin's sack.
Judah was also right for claiming innocence as to the stolen silver cup. But again, he was wrong for in the eyes of God, he and his brothers were not innocent. They were guilty of a big offense that dragged their families for so many years. God was using their current difficulty to uncover their guilt.
In this article, we will explore the nature of this guilt, and we will see what lessons the Lord is trying to tell us about economic crisis.
The guilt of Jacob's children had nothing to do with the silver cup. Judah was right; they were innocent. However, they were guilty of far more serious sins before God, the sins they committed against their brother and their father. They hid these sins for so many years. As a result, their families suffered. Perhaps, they did not see the immediate result of their sins, but this does not tell us that sins will go unpunished. God is holy and he hates sin. He will not allow sin to go unpunished. In time, God has set his perfect time to uncover and punish sins that have been covered for so long.
King Solomon said:
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy (Proverbs 28:13).
We see in this verse the relationship between economic situation and sins. The verse tells us that those who conceal (cover, hide) their sins do not prosper. And so the most important thing to do to improve our economic situation is to confess our sins.
This relationship between prosperity and sins applies not only to an individual. This is also applicable to a family, a church, a nation, and a generation. This shows that an individual who has unconfessed sins will naturally suffer an economic setback. Such economic setback includes losing your job, bankrupting your business, and losing your investment.
A family too like that of Jacob's children will suffer economic hardship because of unconfessed sins.
Nations who are now in great economic difficulty are burdened with unconfessed sins. I think the Philippines due to our refusal to turn our back as a people from idolatry is the primary reason why it is difficult for us to break the bondage of poverty.
The existing economic situation is a symptom that something is wrong in our generation. And so if we want to find the genuine solution to our economic difficulties, it must start first and foremost with the confession and renouncement of our sins. I believe that this is the most important action that we can do to receive the blessing of God.
There is a word for this act of hiding sin behind acceptable words, euphemism.
What is euphemism? The standard English dictionary defines euphemism as "the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt." In other words, we change the name or the term of a particular sin for it to become acceptable.
In our story, the sin of Judah and his brothers can be simply described as envy. Or if we see this from the perspective of the victims, Jacob and Joseph, it was an act of betrayal. Some would even say that in most cases, betrayal is worse than death.
However, in the eyes of God, the sin of Judah and his brothers was an act of murder. They hated Joseph for the special favor he had been receiving from their father. They also hated their father for not showing them the same favor. Based on the perfect law of God, such hate is a violation of the sanctity of life. In other words, that is murder. Though they did not take the life of their brother literally, the very action itself is a great offense in the sight of God.
Perhaps, Judah and his brothers would justify their actions. They might think that what they did was fair. Joseph was proud and he deserved to be punished. Their father was unfair and he too deserved to be punished. In short, they didn't see their offense as something serious. Perhaps, they might even claim that it was their right to inflict such punishment both upon their father and their brother.
This kind of making an offense lighter or even more acceptable is inherent in human nature. We do not see sin as the way God sees it. We consider common the things that are serious in the eyes of God.
God has a law. His law is the standard of what is right and wrong regardless of human opinion. Sin in the Bible is defined both as a transgression and a shortcoming from the law of God. We sin when we either go beyond or fall short of the law of God. The catechism defines it as the sin of commission and omission.
Without the law of God, we do not have the standard of morality. Without an absolute standard such as the law of God, moral issues will become relative. What is right to you might be wrong to somebody else. Anyone can choose his standard. No one has the right to impose a standard on someone. This leads to moral anarchy or lawlessness, and such a state of morality is the appropriate description of our time.
But people these days don't see sin as sin simply because the name has been changed. In our time, we don't call same-sex marriage legalized immorality; we call it civil liberty. Likewise, we don't call a fraudulent monetary system legalized theft; we call it monetary policy. I think this is the reason why confessing our sins before God is not easy for we hide them behind acceptable words.
Judah and his brothers hid their sins for so long. They deceived their father for so many years. Their conscience was too hard to tolerate the pain they saw from their father since Joseph was gone.
Perhaps, their fear for the consequences of their action was greater than their concern for their father. And so they conspired with one another to keep their secret from their father, but not for long. God was about to uncover their guilt through a difficult situation. This time there would be no escape. Despite of discomfort, they would be forced to acknowledge their guilt before God, before their father, and before Joseph.
You know there are several layers in this biblical story. There is this underlying narrative that God sent Joseph to Egypt ahead of them through the school of suffering to save lives. Moreover, there is also this idea that the salvation of Israel from famine is crucial to preserve the Seed of the woman who will bring salvation to mankind. In this great plan of God, he was also unfolding a family drama; he was using the seven years of famine to uncover the guilt of Jacob's children.
Why do you think the world is in an economic mess such as we have right now? Why do you think the European migration crisis happened? Why do you think that Christians are now persecuted and even massacred in different parts of the world? Is God losing control? Is he no longer seated on his throne? Is Satan the one reigning these days?
I don't think so. God remains seated on his throne. He reigns forever. His kingdom is eternal and no man has even an inch of chance to overthrow God from his throne. In his imagination, a man might assume that he has overthrown God. But that's the height of self-deception. No creature can be successful in overthrowing the power and control of an Almighty Creator.
Since this is the case, I think all these troubles are happening for the church to confess our sins. And what are these sins? I think we need to confess our sin of neglecting our task to rule over the entire creation of God (Genesis 1:28). And I also think we need to confess our shortcomings in our failure to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).
Confessing our sins before God is the most important action we can take to face an economic crisis. However, confessing them is not easy for we tend to hide our sins behind acceptable words. But ultimately, despite hiding our sins, God will uncover them through a difficult situation.
Are you facing a difficult situation right now? Could it be that it is God's way for you to reflect on your relationship with him whether you have offended him in one way or another? If this is the case, better to confess and renounce them now. It is true that in Christ God has already forgiven all of our sins. But it is also true that those who have been forgiven are also no longer living in sin, but in righteousness instead. And as the apostle Paul said:
And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete (2 Corinthians 10:6).
