Truth in Trial

Joseph brings his brothers into a hard trial, and the psalm teaches us how a servant of God must stand in such an hour. Hidden guilt is drawn into the light; fear, shame, and pleading all come forth. Yet this is not for destruction alone. God exposes what is buried so that men may turn from crookedness and learn His paths.

The prayer of the psalm is therefore the right companion to Joseph’s testing: not a demand to escape, but a plea to be taught, led, and forgiven. The one who says, “Remember not the sins of my youth,” does not use mercy as a cloak for laziness. As Chrysostom says, “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my ignorances, utters this, as one doing right in his old age. Do not then, by the deeds of age, deprive yourself also of pardon for the sins of youth.” Repentance must bear fruit in a changed life.

Judah also stands forth and begins to bear the burden of another. This is the beginning of a better obedience than the brothers showed before. The house once torn by envy now begins, through confession and self-offering, to be healed. So also with us: if we would be delivered from snares, we must not only ask for help, but walk uprightly. As Hippolytus says, God “will deliver them out of his toils, and with His right hand He will save those from his snares who in a worthy and righteous manner make their supplication to Him.”

Let us then pray for mercy without deceit, confess old sins without excusing new ones, and accept God’s searching judgment as medicine for the soul.