# 402 Repentance Must Go Deep

The Book of Genesis

Day 402

Ge 42:9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!"  10 And they said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.  11 "We are all one man's sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies."  12 But he said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land."  13 And they said, "Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more."  14 But Joseph said to them, "It is as I spoke to you, saying, 'You are spies!'

What is Joseph doing here? Why the rough treatment of his brothers? Well for one thing, he has a concern for the welfare of his younger brother Benjamin. But I think there is more going on here. If we were to read ahead to the end of the story, we would hear him say to his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” This was not an opinion that he arrived at suddenly! This is something he has thought through over his years of captivity and subsequent rise to power. Many lives were saved because of the way things worked out. The good has been done, his brothers have literally fulfilled Joseph’s dream as they bow their knees to him. Why then, doesn’t he fall upon his brothers necks and kiss them and assure them of his forgiveness. Why does he put this off until later. Why are they treated so roughly?

Think about it, the one thing you do not want to be charged with while in a foreign land is spying. Yet this is the serious charge that Joseph brings against his brothers. If true, the penalty for spying is usually death! 

It would be easy to understand his harsh treatment if he were harboring unforgiveness, but he’s not, and we read in verse 9 what triggered his harsh response. It was his remembrance of the dream of his brothers bowing down to him. The brothers had already bowed to him as portrayed in the dream, but this bow was more a formality than a heartfelt bow. This was lip service, and Joseph’s dream demanded something deeper.  It demanded true humility, true repentance. It demanded fruit worthy of repentance!

The ultimate goal of rough treatment is restoration. Friend, God doesn’t want lip service bowing. Isaiah wrote, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and in vain they worship Me.”

Where would you rather be in this picture?  A tried and true worshiper or one giving lip service? Jesus said in Mt 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

And what is the will of the Father? “That none should perish, but that all should come to REPENTANCE! (2 peter 3:9)

Joseph’s brothers needed to get there, and so do we. If it takes a little rough treatment to get there, so be it. Better rough treatment with true repentance than lip service bowing that results in the Lord saying to us on the Last Day, “Depart from Me, I never knew you. (Mt 7:23)