Genesis 42 — Thoughts
Does God Punish Us for Our Sin?
Joseph's brothers have an interesting response to being thrown into an Egyptian prison: They acknowledge that they were wrong to sell Joseph into slavery, and they speculate that their current misfortune is God's punishment for what they have done.
But does God punish us for the wrong things we do? There are a few important things to remember here.
1.) God never said He was punishing these brothers for what they had done. Not everything people say about God in the Bible is what God would say about Himself. David, for instance, often wondered aloud why God had abandoned him, but God never actually did. So remember: If we encounter a statement about God that God doesn't say about Himself, it actually says more about the speaker than it does about Him.
2.) The brothers didn't know their whole story. They had no idea that the Egyptian official who threw them into prison was actually their brother Joseph. They had no idea that Joseph was listening to their conversation and weeping in response to their repentance. And they had no idea that they would soon be moving their families to Egypt to live under the protection of the second-most-powerful man in the nation. God was actually working things out for their good, and that's not exactly a punishment. They just couldn't see it yet.
3.) If God wanted to punish us for the things we've done wrong, none of us would be here today. The just punishment for our sin is hell (Romans 6:23), and the only reason God allows us to go on living is that He wants to give us the chance to repent (2 Peter 3:9). In this life, unwise choices lead to negative consequences. But when it comes to God's punishment for sin, there are only two ways it happens. One is that we reject His offer of salvation and experience sin's punishment in hell when we die. The other is that we put our faith in Jesus' work on the cross, and HE experiences the punishment for our sin in our place, giving us life.
So the next time you go through a difficult time, don't think that God is punishing you. He already died to save you from that! Instead, remember what is true about God, trust Him — and tell someone else about the hope we have in Jesus.
(Originally written September 3, 2020)