Out of the Mire - Trusting God in the Middle of TrialsSample

Guilt

Did you know there are two types of guilt? The first type is healthy. This type makes you feel sorry after you’ve done something wrong. It gives you courage to confess and repent so you grow in the future.

The second type is unhealthy. This type holds you back. It makes you feel horrible about the same thing repeatedly - even if you’ve already confessed it! It keeps you from having a healthy relationship with God, with others, and even with yourself.

Genesis 42 takes place 20 years after the brothers sold Joseph into slavery. The famine has begun, so the brothers reluctantly travel to Egypt for food. They meet Joseph himself but didn’t recognize him! Joseph pretended to be a stranger. He wanted to test his brothers to see if they changed at all in the past 20 years. Joseph threw them all into prison, claiming that they must be spies from a foreign nation.

The brothers are now in a pit of despair of their own. They are so distressed by their circumstances that they blame themselves and each other for what they did to Joseph over twenty years before! They believe their previous actions caused their current misfortune.

Though the brothers should have felt guilt over what they did to Joseph, they crossed over into unhealthy guilt at some point in their lives. They were forgetting that they had a wonderful God who was able to forgive, restore, and heal.

Holding on to guilt is not biblical. It’s a form of fear. Part of you believes that God is unable to fully forgive you of your shortcomings. You are not trusting in His power.

When you have the love of Christ inside you, there is no reason to feel guilt after you confessed your sin to God and those you’ve hurt. God loves you and sent His Son, Jesus, to pay for your sins. He wants to free you from your shame, your past sins, and your guilt.

Next time you struggle with recurring guilty thoughts, tell yourself that you will not give power to them. You live under the grace and love of Jesus Christ. He desires to free you from the guilt and sins of your past.