# 400 Reopening Old Wounds

The Book of Genesis

Day 400

Ge 42:1 When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?"  2 And he said, "Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die."

I just love Jacob’s comment to his 10 sons. “Why do you look at one another?” It sounds like something my dad would’ve said to me….”Don’t just stand there, do something!” Just looking at each other is not going to put bread on the table!

I read this and I wonder, “Are these 10 guys that slow, that dull, that they can’t figure out that they must go to the only place in the world that has grain” They must go to Egypt in order to live! Or is there maybe a deeper reason for their reluctance? Personally, I think the hand of God is beginning to put the real squeeze on the boys. Here’s the thing if they go to Egypt, they are going to have to deal with an issue in their past, one that they would just as soon forget about. Every single step along the way will be a step that their brother Joseph was forced to take when they sold him into slavery.

No wonder they were hesitant and slow to move! A 20 year old memory of an old sin has been stirred up, and unless their father says something, they’d sooner take their chances on some other sort of deliverance from their situation…..anything but facing their sin!

What we have here is 10 grown men immobilized. Frozen by their sin! Isn’t that just like us? Even when we are backed into a corner by guilt as these boys are, we’d rather wait! We hope the crisis will pass some other way. If the pain gets to be too much we will medicate with alcohol, drugs, or anything else that will provide temporary relief! Anything to avoid the reality of our sin.

I want you to think about your own life right now. What sin or sins are you carrying around with you? What have you swept under the rug? What roads are you afraid to travel down, lest some unpleasant memories of your waywardness be brought to your attention? Listen to the words of Jacob and be set free! “Go to Egypt and buy the Bread of Life. This is where your relief will come from, take your burden to Jesus, confess it and be set free!