SOVEREIGN GRACE PURSUES SINNERS

Genesis 42: 1-28

INTRODUCTION

Over the years I’ve been involved in trying to help scores of conflicted married couples resolve disputes.  Most of the time while the individuals have been hurt by each other and are often full of anger and resentment towards their partners, yet both partners eventually come to a place where they are willing to work at restoring the relationship.  That’s just the nature of marriage, indeed of all relationships in this fallen world.  Good relationships don’t happen because there is never any conflict but because the parties in the relationship seek to be reconciled when there are fractures in the relationship.  The way back from estrangement is when both parties acknowledge their faults, ask for forgiveness and extend forgiveness.  Over the thirty years I’ve spent helping quarrelling couples, this usually is what takes place.

However, on occasion, I’ve encountered relationships where one of the parties is so deeply offended or so hardened and indifferent towards the other person that they have no interest in being reconciled.  In such cases it doesn’t matter how much one of the parties wants to be made friends again, if the other person is unwilling to acknowledge wrong and/or to extend forgiveness, the relationship is over.  This is obvious to us.  The only way for those who have become enemies to be made friends again is for both parties to turn away from their hostility and to do whatever it takes to make things right.

One of the many different pictures that the Bible gives of the relationship between God and human beings is the picture of estranged spouses.  We are repeatedly shown to be faithless, adulterous spouses, dissatisfied with God and his love for us, chasing after other lovers.  We reject God and pursue other lovers not because God has ever done anything to offend us, but because we love adultery.  God is justly offended at our adultery and angry with us.  However, God also is pursuing us to restore the relationship that has been broken.  Especially throughout the OT prophets, God is shown in both his just anger against us and in his compassionate and passionate pursuit of us.

For the past three chapters of Genesis we have been watching God rescue Joseph out of the misery of his captivity and work to fulfill his promises to him.  However, always in the background has been the estranged relationship between Joseph and his brothers who sold him into slavery.  While we are delighted to see that Joseph has been released from his prison, we are left wondering how God is going to bring the wicked brothers of Joseph back into a relationship with Joseph and with himself.  Genesis 42 is the beginning of the story of the reconciliation not only of Joseph and his brothers but also of the ten sons of Jacob with God.  In watching this story unfold, we discover how it is that God pursues sinners like us in order to create an intimate and loving relationship with himself.  This is the story of how God causes men and women to see and turn from their adultery so that God can justly love them and they in turn love God.  We are going to see how it is that Sovereign Grace pursues stubborn sinners to make them willing to return.  I’m going to do this by retelling the story, so I invite you to listen to the ways Sovereign Grace pursues all the humans in this story to restore our broken relationship.

NARRATIVE BLOCK ONE (vv. 1-17)

Simeon and Levi stared at the emaciated carcass of the 2 month old lamb.  This was the tenth carcass they had discovered this morning; all of them dead because the milk from their mothers had dried up due to the lack of adequate nutrition.  The blistering sun hung in a cloudless sky over the withered landscape.  There had been no rain for the last six months and the pastures were wasted away, barely able to keep the adult animals alive.  They plodded back to their camp to make their report to the other brothers who were out surveying other portions of their territory.  As they entered the camp, it was clear from the looks of anxiety and discouragement that all had found the same conditions.  The pastures were dried up and the wells were shrinking.  Soon only the few deep wells would produce water and the grass would not even support the adult animals.

The brothers ate their ratioined supplies of bread and meat in silence as they contemplated their difficult situation.  Not only were the food and water for their animals disappearing but also their stocks of grain were rapidly decreasing.  The farmers they normally traded meat for grain had no grain as the drought had decimated their last crop.  As they ate, they noted another caravan of donkeys with empty packs headed south to Egypt.  There was a regular stream of their Canaanite neighbors heading to Egypt to buy grain.  They had heard the extravagant story that while the drought ravaged the entire Mediterranean region, including Egypt, yet, by some stroke of good fortune, Egypt had enormous stores of grain in all their cities.  They had enough food not only to care for their own population but surplus to sell to the surrounding nations.

The men furtively looked at each other and said nothing as the caravan faded in the haze of the heated landscape.  No one could bring himself to make the obvious suggestion that they should go to Egypt also.  They knew the stories of their ancestor Abraham’s ill-fated journey to Egypt during a time of famine and of God’s command to Isaac to not go there to escape the famine of his day.  However, their unwillingness to discuss the possibility of going was not due primarily to these warnings from the past.  While no one spoke of him, each one knew that somewhere in Egypt was their brother Joseph or his grave.  The thought of following the path, down which the Midianites had traveled some 21 years prior with their youngest brother Joseph as a captive, filled them with dread.  So instead, they talked about which of the meager pastures they would take their dwindling flocks to and how they would ration their remaining grain.

Jacob, their father, rode into their beleaguered camp and dismounted from his horse.  He strode into the middle of them and looked in disgust at each of them in turn.  Each one looked away from his exasperated face and looked towards their other brothers as if seeking some protection from the gaze of their grief-laden father.  Finally, as no one spoke, Jacob fiercely attacked them.  “I’ve just returned from talking with our neighbor Zerah.  He has just returned from Egypt with his donkeys loaded with grain and has confirmed all the rumors we have heard.  There is abundant grain in Egypt.  You boys are grown men and ought to be taking action to take care of us.  I’ve kept my old mouth shut but now it’s time to act.  Why can’t you make a decision to go get grain for us?  How is it that all you can do is move our flocks around while they perish and watch our supplies of grain wither away like the grass of the pastures?  When will you take action and get us grain so we can feed our livestock and ourselves?  What is keeping you from getting what we need so that our children and we can survive this awful famine and not die?  Get up, off your butts and get going.”  Jacob mounted his horse and galloped off.

Like men awakening from some long stupor the brothers agreed that each of them would take donkeys and enough silver to buy grain in Egypt.  Three days later, just after sunrise, the men, leading their unburdened donkeys, gathered at the oaks of Mamre, the appointed rendezvous.  The morning wore away as ten of the brothers waited for the arrival of their youngest brother, Benjamin.  Shortly before noon, the impatient men spotted a dust plume from a horse being ridden hard towards them.  One of their father’s servants reined his sweating steed to a stop in their midst.  He quickly explained to them that early this morning, Jacob had confronted 30-year-old Benjamin as he was preparing to leave for the rendezvous.  He forbid him to join the caravan to Egypt as he feared for his safety.  It was clear that he would not permit Rachel’s only surviving son to accompany them on such a dangerous journey.  The ten brothers rolled their eyes and muttered curses under their breath at the lost time and at their father’s persistent favoritism.  They quickly gathered their donkeys and began the long trek to Egypt.

When they joined the “King’s Highway”, the main travel route to Egypt, they encountered a steady stream of peoples from throughout the lands west of the Mediterranean Sea.  They were all on their way to Egypt to buy grain from Egypt’s abundant stores.  They eventually came to the city of On and made their way along the crowded streets to the central storehouse where grain could be purchased.  The jostling and boisterous crowd was suddenly stilled as royal guards, mounted upon massive steeds shouldered aside the river of people, clearing a path for regal stewards who followed behind yelling out in Egyptian, “Bow down!  Bow down!”  While the brothers did not know what the men were calling out, they followed the example of the crowd and bowed down as a finely ornamented, imperial chariot passed through the crowds with an Egyptian prince, in all his golden finery seated in it.  The prince touched the shoulder of his driver as he passed Jacob’s sons and he stopped and stared at them so that the brothers began to wonder if they were doing something wrong.  Just as impetuous Judah was about to speak the prince motioned to his driver and the chariot, with its stately passenger, went ahead to the central storehouse.

Joseph fought to keep his emotions in check as he continued on his way to the storehouse.  There could be no doubt.  The ten men with their barren donkeys were his ten brothers come to Egypt!  Only long years of practice at hiding his emotions from his masters had enabled him to keep from shouting out his surprise upon seeing their faces in the crowds of people coming to him to get food.  It had been many years since he had thought of his brothers, their hatred and the suffering they had brought to him.  He was sure that he had counted only ten, which would mean that his brother, the son of his mother, Rachel, was not with them, and neither was his father, Jacob.  Why were Benjamin and his father not with them?  Were they dead?  Had these murderous brothers completed their jealous vengeance by killing the other brother of the favored wife Rachel and their doting father?  How could he find out about his beloved brother and father and discover whether these brothers had changed at all during these years?  Then another, darker thought occurred to him.  Perhaps he could simply use his authority to have them arrested and imprisoned so they could get a taste of what they had done to him.  He smiled at the sweetness of that revenge, especially as he remembered their hatred and the violence they had done to him.  In fact, the more he thought about it the more certain he became that they had done something to his brother and father.  Yet, even as he brooded upon their past and their possible violence, he found other desires stirring in him.  He saw in their bewildered and thin faces the look of men desperate for help and confused by the circumstances they had been forced into by their want.  He felt in himself a desire to provide for them and protect them as he knew that God had promised would happen.  As he wrestled with these conflicting emotions, he settled upon a plan for dealing with these wayward brothers.

Judah and his brothers approached the bedlam surrounding the storehouse with trepidation.  They were in a sea of men and animals, surrounded by conversations, cries and cursing in the various languages of the Middle East.  In the midst of the confusion, two men dressed in the attire of those accompanying the imperial chariot suddenly appeared in front of the brothers and motioned them to follow.  The crowds opened magically before these noble men as they wound their way to the front of the storehouse where a space had been opened among the throngs for the throne and entourage of the majestic prince from the chariot.  Their regal guides stepped aside and directed the ten brothers to approach the throne.  The brothers instinctively threw themselves upon their knees with their noses to the ground as they came before this august prince of Egypt.  His carefully groomed hair and beard, his magnificent attire, the massive ring, the deference of his attendants and the golden necklace told of position and power that overwhelmed the shepherds from Canaan.  Joseph, as he looked upon his ten brothers bowing before him felt overwhelmed by the memory of his dream of his brother’s sheaves bowing down to his.  In the same moment, he remembered the scorn and derision that these men had heaped upon him because of that dream.  It was only with the strongest self-restraint that he was able to carry forward his plan.

The prince, fixing fierce and threatening eyes upon the prostrate men, spoke with intimidating harshness in the Egyptian tongue.  One of his attendants, an interpreter, then spoke with the same severity to the brothers in their own language.  “Where do you come from?”  Judah, lifting his face from the dust, spoke in a quavering voice to the attendant, not wanting to look at the stern prince.  “We, we are from the land of Canaan and have come here to buy food.”  Several of his brothers raised their faces from the dust and solemnly agreed with Judah that this was indeed the case.  After the interpreter repeated their answer to the prince, he spoke, if it were possible, with even more ferocity and the interpreter repeated, “You’re lying!  You are spies who have come to see where our land is unprotected!”  At the terrifying aspect of the prince and the shock of his accusation, all of the brothers lifted their faces and protested together, “No, my lord.  Your servants have come to buy food.  We are all the sons of one man.  Your servants are honest men, not spies!”  The prince shook his head and emphatically stated, “No!  You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”  The brothers looked at each other in bewilderment and panic as the peril of their situation dawned upon them.  Judah raised himself upon his knees and slowly, carefully and respectfully said to the interpreter, while looking at the prince, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan.  The youngest is now with our father, and one, well one, he is no more.”

The brothers waited, spellbound as the interpreter translated Judah’s protest.  The prince rose from his seat and pronounced his judgment upon them, “It is just as I told you, you are spies!  However, this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.  Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth.  If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”  With a motion of his hand, a troop of brawny soldiers appeared, roughly hauled the stricken men to their feet, and dragged them off to prison.

Application

For twenty years, Joseph’s ten brothers have lived as if they were innocent men.  They have daily watched the grief of Joseph’s loss eat away at their father and yet they have said nothing.  They have comforted themselves with how just it is that their prejudiced father suffer for his blatant favoritism.  They have buried their crime in the pleasures of life.  For twenty years, they have acted as if they had no reason to fear judgment.  They have lived in freedom, unfettered by the pangs of conscience as they have married, had children, managed their herds and enjoyed all the provisions and pleasures of life that God gives.  They live as if they have nothing to fear.  Then God, unexpectedly, sends them some trouble; he sends them a devastating famine.  He gives them something to fear, he takes away the pleasures they were using to hide their guilt.  However, they are paralyzed by the trouble and due to the knowledge of their sin, they cannot bring themselves to take advantage of the obvious solution to their distress.  They are frozen, unable to go to Egypt and so come face to face with their misdeed.  However, God is determined to make them face what they have done and so he sends them from the trouble of the famine into the trouble of prison in a foreign land.  Just as they had done to Joseph, God did to these hardhearted men.  He sent them to Egypt and he threw them into prison.

C.S. Lewis says in his book, “The Problem of Pain”, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, he speaks to us in our conscience but he shouts to us in our pain.  Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”  John Calvin, in his commentary on this passage says it like this, “We see then, how in adversity, God searches and tries men…  And this kind of examination is very necessary for us.  Amazing is the hypocrisy of men in covering their evils…  Wherefore no remedy remains, except that they who give themselves up to slumber when the Lord deals gently with them, should be awakened by afflictions and punishments.”  We see that God, who has chosen the sons of Jacob and has plans for their welfare must chase them down by sending them such enormous trouble so that they are forced to face their crime.  All that they can see is that they are in a helpless and hopeless situation just like their brother.  They have no idea that there is a perfect plan for their salvation being worked out in these circumstances, but we know that there is.  God knows what he is doing but he often doesn’t want you to know what he is up to so that you will have to face your sin.  Sovereign grace pursues stubborn sinners to make them willing to return by sending hardship into their lives.

What of Joseph?  He is in a position very similar to the position the U.S. government is in with regard to Saddam Hussein.  Saddam says he has no weapons of mass destruction.  We have a right to be skeptical of such a claim.  Therefore, we have constructed a test to determine whether Saddam is telling the truth.  That is what Joseph is doing with his ten brothers.  While the dialogue revolves around Joseph’s claim that they are spies, it really is about whether they have repented of their murderous jealousy.  How they have treated Benjamin will be an indication of whether they are truly honest men. 

However, was he right to treat his brothers in such a harsh manner?  Was it right for him to deceive them in such a way?  What shall we make of his swearing by Pharaoh, rather than the Lord, on two occasions?  Is Joseph innocent in this matter?  We are observing the amazing sovereign grace of God at work.  While God is using Joseph to send trouble to these brothers, Joseph is not being used by God because he is perfect and without fault.  God graciously rules over Joseph’s vengeful spirit and his deception and his adoption of pagan ways to use him in accomplishing his saving work.  We see that while Joseph is an instrument of grace he is not an instrument because he is perfect but because God is choosing to use him, warts and all.  We shouldn’t take from this that it doesn’t matter to God how we live and how we seek to serve him.  Rather we should see in this how kind God is to use us even when we are such unworthy vessels.  God wants to use us, even though we still sin.  Now lets see what effect this sudden trouble has upon these eleven brothers.

NARRATIVE BLOCK TWO (vv. 18-22)

For three days, the ten brothers sit in a dungeon with other criminals and experience Joseph’s life.  They sit in the dank darkness of the dungeon anticipating an unknown fate, like Joseph sat in a dank cistern waiting an unknown fate.  For three days, Joseph withdraws from his public duties and thinks about these ten murderous brothers, his younger brother Benjamin, his father Jacob and the amazing promises of God that he is witnessing in their fulfillment.  He ponders the ways of God and the eternal purposes of God as expressed in his promises to his great-grandfather Abraham, his grandfather Isaac and his father Jacob.  It is clear to him that God intends to use him to save his family.  However, he has no way of knowing if his brothers are interested in being saved by him.  He does not know how they would respond if he were to reveal himself to them.  They might very well feign obedience and then commit some greater crime in order to escape retribution.  He does not know if their hatred still smolders and would blaze forth if they discover who he is.  He is concerned for his brother and father and for all the wives and children back in Canaan suffering in the midst of this severe famine.  Mostly he is aware of his own dependence upon this great and merciful God.  He sees how God has faithfully been working in his life and that it is not his place to bring judgment upon his brothers.  Rather he must work for their benefit.  As Joseph considers their condition, his heart fills with affection and a desire to help them without endangering his brother and father.

At the end of three days, the prison doors clang open and the same powerful guards who threw them into prison now retrieve the ten brothers from prison.  They march trembling from the prison not knowing what fate awaits them.  They are again brought before Joseph seated upon his throne with his royal retinue surrounding him.  Again, they fall on their knees with their faces to the ground as they anxiously await the verdict of their unknown brother, the prince.  The severity is gone and in its place are the words of a compassionate, imploring prince.  As one speaking for God, Joseph declares to them what they must do to prove that they are honest men.  As he speaks in the Egyptian tongue, the interpreter translates what he says.  “If you will do as I say, you will live.  I am telling you what it will take to find life because I fear God.  I know that both you and I will one day stand before him and give an answer for how we have lived.  I want you to live on that day and not die, so do what I say and you will live.  Here’s what you will do if you also fear God and want to return to him.  You will leave one of your brothers here, in prison, while the rest of you return with grain for your starving families.  Then you must bring back your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified.  If you will return to me with your youngest brother and so show compassion for the brother you leave here in prison and show that you have told the truth, then you will not die on that final day, but will live.”

 The shock of the last three days has profoundly affected these ten hard and violent men.  While sitting in prison, in Egypt, completely innocent of the charges brought against them, they have thought about another son of Jacob who was imprisoned for no reason, other than their own hatred.  The fact that they are experiencing what they did to Joseph has not been lost upon them.  When they hear the judgment of the Egyptian prince they do not hear the offer of life, they only hear the voice of condemnation against them as they are overcome with their guilt.  On their knees before Joseph they turn to one another and say, in Hebrew, what all have been thinking but none has voiced until now.  “Surely we are being punished because of what we did to our brother.  When he was in the pit and then as he was being dragged away by the Midianites, innocent of any wrong, pleading with us for his life, we closed our ears to his cries of distress and mocked him.  So God has brought upon us this very same distress.  We are innocent.  We have cried out for mercy to this fierce prince.  He has ignored us.”  Then the firstborn son of Jacob, Reuben, reminds them of his warning, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy?  But you wouldn’t listen.  Now, God is making us pay for what we have done.  He is not blind to our sin.  He has declared that ‘as you have done, so shall it be done to you.’  God is not mocked and he is bringing upon our heads the just punishment of our sin.  We are only getting what we deserve.”

Application

The first line of the beloved hymn, “Amazing Grace” says, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”  God knows that his grace will never be amazing to us until we can sing that line and mean it.  Until we know that we are guilty of great sins against the most perfect and loving of all beings and that we deserve death and hell, we will never believe that having Christ is better than life itself.  Listen, whether you like it or not, God is determined that you will not forget that if you are still alive, you have never been treated as you deserve.  No hardship has ever come upon you that compares with the pain that you deserve due to your hardhearted rebellion against infinite love.

Joseph’s brothers are in the beginning stages of returning to God, of repentance.  Repentance always begins at this place.  Note how Joseph explains to them, just like the prophets, just like Jesus what they will do if they fear God and desire to prove their repentance.  Repentance always issues forth in fruit, in action that gives evidence of repentance.  Several years ago a friend told me the story that a couple in his church told when they were baptized.

Betty and Joe were having a very difficult time in their marriage.  Things went from bad to worse when Joe announced to Betty that he was having an affair.  Betty had recently become a Christian and begged Joe to go see her pastor, whom Joe had met a number of times.  Joe refused and left the house that night without telling Betty where he was going or what he was going to do.  The next morning was Sunday and Joe showed up at church and after the service asked to talk with the pastor.  They went into the pastor’s office and Joe confessed all that he had done and began to weep uncontrollably.  The pastor shared with him the gospel and Joe cried out to Christ in profound sorrow for his sin and with faith in Christ.  After they finished praying the pastor pointed to the phone and told him that he knew what he had to do next.  While in the pastor’s office he called the other woman and told her he never wanted to see her again.  Then he went to Betty and asked her to forgive him but told her he would understand if she did not want to forgive him.  He told her he would do whatever she told him to do in order to make the relationship work.  He then went to their parents and other important family members and friends and confessed what he had done and told them to support Betty, whatever she decided.  Joe knew that he had sinned greatly against the Lord and deserved only destruction.  He gave evidence of his true sorrow and his repentance by being willing to do whatever it took, no matter what the cost to himself.  That is what Joseph is doing in the lives of his brothers.  He is showing them what they must do if they are truly repentant.  Sovereign Grace pursues stubborn sinners to make them willing to return by exposing their sin and convincing them of the justice of his judgment against sin.  Sovereign grace tells us what we will do if we are truly sorry for our sins.  Let’s see how Joseph responds to these men.

NARRATIVE BLOCK THREE (vv. 23-28)

While Jacob’s sons lament their lost condition and the justice of God upon them for their sins, the prince suddenly stands up and leaves.  Joseph is only using the interpreter so that his brothers will not recognize him.  He has understood everything they have just said and he cannot contain himself any longer.  He goes into private and weeps for his brothers.  His heart yearns for them to repent and for their relationship to be restored but he cannot be sure of the sincerity of their confession.  He is heartened by their expressions of sorrow.  He is delighted to know that at least one of his brothers, Leah and Jacob’s firstborn son, Reuben, did not approve of his abuse and sale into slavery.  He longs to see his brother Benjamin and his father.  He craves the fulfillment of all God’s promises in their lives but he knows that the confession they have made may be repentance or it may be the sorrow of men who are distressed with their conditions but who will forget their promises the moment the conditions change.  He composes himself and resolves to go through with his plan in order that he might see if his brothers have really changed and to make sure that if they’ve changed or not, he will be able to protect Benjamin from their hostility.

When the prince returns he selects Simeon, the second born son of Leah, to hold as hostage until the ten brothers return with Rachel’s second born son, Benjamin.  He binds Simeon in front of his brothers to impress upon them that Simeon really will be in prison, suffering until they return to set him free.  He orders his men to fill their packs with grain, to give them adequate food for the long journey back to Canaan and then to put the money they paid for the grain back in the mouth of each man’s sack of grain.  Joseph replaces the silver because he is unsure if his father and brothers will have adequate money to return and buy more grain when this supply runs out, as Joseph knows it will.  He wants to make sure they have no reason to not return to Egypt.

The dejected men begin their long journey back to the land of Canaan.  How will they explain to their father that they have lost another one of his sons?  How will they convince Jacob to part with his beloved Benjamin in order to prove that they are honest men?  However, weighing even more heavily upon their hearts is the knowledge of their great sin against God and against Joseph.  The knowledge that God has found them out and is bringing his judgment upon them causes their steps toward home to drag.  The first night, as the men huddle in brooding silence around their campfire one of the brothers suddenly breaks into their somber ring and with trembling, awestruck voice declares, “I opened my sack of grain in order to feed my donkey and look what I found in the mouth of the sack.”  While lifting up, in his cupped hands, a mound of silver coins he declares, “All the silver I paid for the grain has been returned to me.”

At his words all ten of the brothers felt a chill run down their spines, they felt all hope drain from their bodies and they began to tremble.  They knew that God had done this.  What was God trying to do to them?  Would they be accused of thievery now?  What would happen to them when the severe prince discovered that the money was missing?  They vainly looked into the darkness surrounding them, straining their ears to hear the troops of the prince chasing them down.  Why would God give back the money?  They see this kindness not as an expression of grace but as another threat to their security.  They are overcome with their guilt and cannot imagine that God would be kind to them.  They can only imagine more judgment to come.  They infer from the appearance of the silver in the grain bag not that God is pleased with them, but that he is displeased with them.  Here is another evidence of the beginning stages of repentance in the ten sons of Jacob.  They see God at work in all the details of their lives.  They understand their true condition and cannot imagine that God would ever be pleased with them.

Application

The first line of the second verse of “Amazing Grace” says, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear…”  These men are in a miserable condition and full of fear because of God’s work.  God is showering them with kindness through Joseph but all they can see is greater danger.  They are truly afraid of God and know that it would only be just of God to punish them.  The returned money would be the perfect excuse for the prince of Egypt to chase them down with his ferocious army and return them to the prison with Simeon.  Thus, when God is working to turn men and women to him they are “affected by the lively fear of God’s judgment” as John Calvin points out.  Thus repentant people see God’s kindnesses in view of their sin and realize how unworthy they are to receive such kindness.

We see in the weeping of Joseph and his thoughtful provision for his brothers and father the attitude of God towards those he is pursuing in order to get them to return.  He is full of love and affection and weeps for their complete repentance and restoration to fellowship.  He provides for their needs and seeks to convince them of his love and mercy by evidences of his love.  Just as he sends hardship to get us to see our sin and the justice of his condemnation, so he sends gifts and kindnesses to convince us that he can be trusted.  He is out to convince us that we do not need to fear because he loves us.  Perfect love does cast out the fear that perfect love creates, as the next line of Amazing Grace says, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.”  But grace has not yet relieved the fears of Joseph’s brothers.

What about you, is this your experience?  Have the hardships that God has sent to you awakened you to the reality of your sinfulness and how right it would be for God to send you to hell?  Have you, are you, mourning over your sin?  Then don’t you see that all the kindness that God is showering upon you in this life and especially his kindness in giving his Son to die for your sins are meant to convince you that he can be trusted?  As John Piper said in a recent essay, “O Christian, know your condition - the misery and the mercy.  And let the horror from which you have been rescued, and the mercy in which you live, and the price that Christ paid, make you humble and thankful and patient and kind and forgiving.  You have never been treated by God worse than you deserve.  And in Christ you are treated ten million times better. Feel this.  Live this.”  Sovereign grace is pursuing stubborn sinners to make them willing to return to him by putting them in difficult situations, by exposing their sin and by showering them with kindnes