When emotions stifle our conscience
In Genesis 42:21, we read, “Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” (ESV)
These are the words of the brothers of Joseph as they stood before him, unaware that the Governor of Egypt before whom they stood, was their own brother Joseph whom they mercilessly threw in a pit, and later sold as a slave to some merchants. They attributed the predicament they were in, to the hardness of their hearts when they ignored their brother Joseph’s plea, when he begged them in his distress and pleaded with them to have mercy on him.
When jealousy overpowers our conscience
In Genesis 42:9-12, we read, “And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.”(WBT)
For a background to this story, Joseph was sold by his brothers as a slave, but the Lord intervened and raised Joseph to become a ruler, next in command to Pharaoh, King of Egypt. The severe famine in Israel had forced the brothers of Joseph to go to Egypt to buy food for their families. The Lord was with Joseph and has raised him up to be the Governor in Egypt, but his brothers were unable to recognize him. When Joseph accused them of being spies, who had come to survey the land of Egypt, the brothers of Joseph felt compelled to give Joseph a background to their family. They mentioned that they were twelve sons of the same father, and that one of the son’s was lost, and the youngest was back home with their Dad.
When Joseph refused to believe their explanation, his brothers begged him to have pity on them, but he turned a deaf ear and threw them in prison for three days. Joseph later released them on the condition that they bring back their younger brother, when they come back for more food. As Joseph’s brothers stood before Joseph with fear and dread of what would happen to them, they recalled a similar situation many years ago, when they had ruthlessly sold their brother Joseph into slavery, and had completely ignored his cries for mercy. They perceived that the reason for their predicament was because of what they connived and did most heartlessly to their brother, not giving heed to his intense cries for help. Even though their conscience bothered them as they sold their brother, the brothers of Joseph were so overwhelmed with the feelings of jealousy, that their conscience got dulled in the process. Their jealousy was so extreme that they stilled the voice of their conscience, and sold their own brother for money, as a slave to strangers.
The reasons Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him was that their father favored him. Joseph was also a young man of integrity, who would not tolerate any indiscipline from his elder brothers and would report them to his father. The Lord gave Joseph dreams about his glorious future, which Joseph shared with his brothers, all of which made his brothers even more envious of Joseph. Joseph however, lived with the awareness that the Lord was with him and watching over him.
As we have looked at in the previous chapters, our conscience is God’s precious gift to us, that cautions us before we do wrong, convicts us when the deed is being done and worries us with guilt when we are done with wrong doing. When we like Joseph, are rejected by our family or society, we can be sure that the Lord is working out something amazing in our lives. The very people who despise us will one day come to us, to seek our favor and therefore there is no need to despair.
Many people are struggling with these intense emotions of jealousy. Notice how jealousy arises in our hearts only when we compare ourselves with others, their looks, their position, possessions etc. Most often our comparisons are only with those who are doing better than us, never with those who have much less than us. If we don’t train ourselves to be content with what we have, we will be overpowered by jealousy. When feelings of jealousy, overtake us, we will find the voice of our conscience will be stifled and sometimes stilled within us, thereby prompting us to do things that are contrary to God’s will and plans.
Joseph’s brothers stood where he stood once
We read in Acts 7:9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him.” (ESV)
Though the evil deed of selling their own brother was done more than thirteen years ago, the brothers of Joseph stood convicted and condemned because of the voice of their conscience, which was awakened by their predicament, as they stood before the Governor of Egypt. The reason for their hatred towards Joseph was their intense feeling of jealousy, which when left uncontrolled, stilled the voice of their conscience.
The brothers of Joseph who treated him so unkindly and harshly now stood in exactly the same place before their brother, begging his benevolence. The only difference was that when Joseph begged for their mercy, they knew him but now they begged mercy to the Egyptian Governor, unaware that it was their own brother.
God can turn every unfavorable event to a favorable one, if only we listen and live in obedience to the voice of our conscience.
When anger overpowers our conscience
We read in Genesis 4:4-5, “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.” (ESV)
Cain and Abel desired to worship God and both of them presented an offering to the Lord. The Lord examined their hearts before he approved their offerings, and by so doing God accepted Abel and his offering while He rejected Cain and his offering. When God shunned Cain’s offering, instead of feeling remorse, Cain was filled with anger towards God and his brother. Cain’s anger was heightened by the thought that his brother found favor with God, and he did not.
We must keep in mind that God always looks deep into our heart, and can assess the true motive behind every action of ours. Like in Cain, the other emotion that is very strong in most of us is anger. Anger is a God given emotion, but if our anger is uncontrolled it displeases the Lord.
We read in Genesis 4:6-7, “The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” (ESV)
God graciously spoke to Cain and cautioned him as to what lay ahead of him, and surely his own conscience spoke to him, but Cain’s anger was so intense that it stilled the voice of God and his conscience. God being a loving God, encouraged him that if he did well, he too would be accepted but Cain was so filled with anger, he failed to hear God and chose not to respond to Him. Cain failed to heed God and the voice of his conscience, but he let his anger take control of his life. As God spoke to Cain, he remained silent and refused to respond back to God because anger had overpowered him. He had also decided beforehand, on what he would do to his brother Abel. Cain masked his anger, took his younger brother Abel to the field and killed him. When anger conquered Cain he did the unthinkable, and later pleaded with God that his life be spared.
Anger is good if it is for the right reason, but our anger should always be under control. Uncontrolled anger will ruin our lives, and the lives of those around us. Extreme anger will also smother the voice of conscience within us, and make us do things that we will most certainly regret later.
When lust overpowers our conscience
King David had many wives and many children. Among his children, some were blood brothers and sisters while others were half-brothers and half-sisters (which refers to those who had the same father but different mothers). David’s son Absalom and David’s daughter Tamar were half-brother and half-sister.
We read in 2 Samuel 13:1, “After this, Absalom the son of David had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar, and Amnon the son of David fell in love with her.”(MEV)
Though Amnon was well aware of his relationship with Tamar, Amnon lusted after his sister Tamar because she was very beautiful. He was so infatuated by her beauty, that he was completely disoriented and obsessed by Tamar.
In 2 Samuel 13:3, we read, “But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother; and Jonadab was a very crafty man.” (AMPC)
Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, who was a cunning man and when Amnon asked Jonadab for advice, he led him astray. He counselled Amnon to pretend to be sick, request that his sister Tamar be made to bring food and take care of him, so he could turn the situation to his advantage to have her as he desired. Amnon had a conscience that convicted him that what he craved for, and was about to do to his sister was a detestable thing. However, he was so overcome with his lust for Tamar, that he was not inclined to listen to the voice of his conscience. He went ahead and sexually abused Tamar, and the consequence he faced later was death. Amnon who could have been king in the place of his father David, was a later avenged by Tamar’s brother Absalom who murdered him.
Many young people today are confused between the emotions of love and lust. Someone said it this way, ‘love is blind, but marriage is the eye-opener.’ When overtaken by lust, the emotions are heightened and our conscience becomes silent. We should also be cautious as to the kind of friends we choose to have. There are lot of people who are crafty in their ways, and are being led by the evil one. If we go to such people for counsel, we can be sure that we will be misled into making wrong choices, and end up doing inappropriate things. Our counsellors and friends should always be godly people, who will lead us in the right ways of God.
In Ephesians 4:31, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”(NIV)
If we study this verse closely, we see that there is a process explained; it begins with bitterness, which leads to rage and anger, resulting in quarrels, followed by slander which then opens the door to all forms of malice. Many are unaware of the evil power of bitterness, which if left unchecked as the word of God says, can be compared to a root that remains deeply embedded in our hearts, which then leads us into every form of malice.
We must be conscious of the emotions that rule our lives. We have looked at jealousy, anger and lust, all of which must be under the control of the Holy Spirit. We must never allow our emotions to overrule the voice of our conscience which the Lord has graciously placed inside of us.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit of God to awaken our conscience. As long as we live in this world we will constantly struggle with our emotions. But let us be mindful to not let the jealousy of Josephs’ brothers, the anger of Cain or the lust of Amnon overpower us. It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we can keep our emotions under control, and live our lives in a way that is completely pleasing to the Lord. Let us live in obedience to the prompting of the conscience that the Lord has instilled inside each one of us. Let us make it our goal to live like Jesus did, a life of holiness that pleases God in every way.
Pastor F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by : Ms. Esther Collins
