Genesis 42 starts with these words, “When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you look at one another?’”  Jacob and his family were facing starvation.  The famine in the land was so great that Jacob now risked sending his family out of the promised land to find food in Egypt. As soon as Jacob mentioned Egypt, his sons could only look at one another.  Why?  The last time they thought of Egypt was when they sold their brother into slavery. They sold their brother to Midianite traders who would sell their brother into bondage in Egypt. They stood there looking at one another because their conscience had been pricked.

It had been over 20 years since they had plotted to kill their brother but deciding to sell him instead. I do not know how often they thought about what they had done, but I am sure that after 20 years their consciences had been seared regarding the deed. We choose to do that so that we don’t get mired in guilt.  But if we belong to God, He will not leave us that way.