"Step Up to The Plate"

June 22, 2023  Daily Devotion:  "Step Up to The Plate"  Genesis 42:21  "Then they said to one another, 'Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore, this distress has come upon us'"   In the original language, the "we" in their conversation is emphatic! "We are guilty . . . we saw the distress of his soul . . . we would not listen." The first step toward softening a seared conscience is taking responsibility for one's own personal guilt. The brothers did not blame their father for being passive. They did not blame their brother Joseph for being proud or arrogant or favoured. They did not diminish the wrong by saying they were too young to know any better. They used the right pronoun when they agreed together, "We are responsible! There is no one else we can blame!"