Conscience

The human conscience is a very strange thing. Considering how evil men and women are, it is surprising that we have a conscience at all. Yet we do. At times it plagues us.

There is only one way in which conscience can be a sure guide to right conduct, and that is when the light of God’s Word is shining on it. When the light of God shines on the sundial of your conscience you get the right time. But apart from that the conscience is like a trained circus dog. You whistle once, and it will stand up. You whistle twice, and it will roll over. The third time it will play dead.

When God is telling one of His children something the person does not want to hear, he or she often wishes that God would stop talking. But what if God actually does stop talking? Ah, that is much, much worse. Without physical bread a man or woman may die, but live forever. We can live eternally without bread. But what if we are deprived of God’s Word? We cannot live without that.

The pinch of want is never pleasant, but it is a gift when it brings us to our senses. David said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your Word” (Ps. 119:67). May God awaken our consciences to that same obedience.

The second of these devices, after the pinch of physical want, was the pain of harsh treatment at the hands of Joseph. Before long this was to become harsh treatment of a physical sort; all of them were cast into prison, and one of them, Simeon, was kept in prison. But at the beginning this harsh treatment was merely in the form of words. The story tells us that when the brothers came down to Egypt to buy grain Joseph “recognized them, . . . pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them” (Gen. 42:6-7).

It is not only insults that hurt us either. Even truth hurts, sometimes even when it is spoken kindly.

Joseph is God’s man in all parts of this story. He had been honored more than once as a prophet of God. God had spoken to him, guided him, protected him, and kept him from sin. Surely he was not left to his own devices now, but was rather acting as God’s agent in awakening the consciences of these brothers. His words were God’s voice to them.

If Joseph were re-enacting the scene at the pit, perhaps even repeating to the brothers the words they had hurled at him, which had been indelibly etched in his memory, then it is understandable that the brothers began to come around at this point. Joseph’s words were not an unbridled outpouring of invective or mere cruelty. They were carefully calculated words which proved effective in bringing the brothers to a necessary confession of their sin and so to salvation.

We must never resent or resist the harsh treatment God sometimes gives out as we study His Word or hear it proclaimed from the pulpit. God hates sin. Therefore the Word of God, which reflects His holy character, customarily exposes our sin and calls for our repentance. Comfort? Yes, the Bible contains great comfort, and promises too. But the comfort and promises are only for those who confess their sin, obey God and pursue righteousness.