Confrontation: What Is God Doing?
Scripture Reading — Genesis 42:25-28, 35
Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”
—Genesis 42:28
Trembling! What a gift for a seared conscience! For 20 years these men had been slinking along through life, hoping their dirty secret would never be exposed.
But now, as they stopped to rest for the night, one of them opened his grain sack to feed a donkey and got the shock of his life. There lay his silver, staring him in the face. Later, back in Canaan, the jolt reverberated as each brother opened his sack with their father, Jacob, watching. Each one saw their own silver—“evidence” that could be used against them to show that they were not “honest men”!
When a truly guilty person wonders if some serious adversity may be a sign of God’s prodding them to repent, they may very well be on the right track.
When we are truly guilty but our hearts are still hardened against coming clean, then God, who sees all we have done, may roar at us through some adversity so unnerving that we cannot help trembling. If something like that happens to us, it is a sign of God’s grace, a gift leading us back to God.
Each one of us will do well to ask ourselves honestly today, “Is there something I need to confess to God?”
Holy God, sometimes you lead us to repentance with severe mercy. If today your hand is on me, help me to come to my senses and turn back to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
About the author — Kenneth D. Koeman
Rev. Ken Koeman is a pastor at Bellevue, Washington, Christian Reformed Church. He has written Today devotions in past years and has also authored numerous articles for The Banner, the magazine of the Christian Reformed Church. Ken and his wife, Kay, live in Bellevue and have two children and five grandchildren.
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