The Tell-Tale Heart (Genesis 42:25-35)

Edgar Allen Poe once wrote a fascinating short story titled “The Tell-Tale Heart.” In this story the protagonist commits murder and hides the body. As the police come to investigate, it appears that the protagonist will be able to get away with his evil deed. But within his own ears, he hears the dead man’s heart beating. The beating grows louder and louder until the protagonist can take it no more. He tears up the floorboards under which he has hidden the body and confesses his crime to the police. All of this in order to ease his conscience.

The conscience is a funny thing. When guilty, it can be almost unbearable, as Joseph’s brothers find out in today’s Scripture reading.

Please Read Genesis 42:25-35.

When Joseph’s brothers are accused of being spies and thrown in prison, they believe they are being punished for the way they treated Joseph. But, when they are let go, their money is returned, and they are given provisions for their journey, they see this too as them being punished for their mistreatment of their brother! Whether they are being cursed or blessed, they think it is because of what they have done. Why? Because they have a guilty conscience.

Joseph’s brothers know that they have committed a terrible evil in selling their brother into slavery. What makes their crime even worse is that they appear to have gotten away with it. A healthy conscience will not bear with such injustice. They begin to see everything that happens to them as a result of their evil deed: when they are being treated cruelly for no reason, they surmise that it must be because of their evil deed; when they are being blessed for no reason, they surmise that this will only cause them trouble later because of their evil deed. No matter what happens to them, like the protagonist in the Tell-Tale Heart, they hear their own guilt beating in their ears louder, louder, LOUDER.

Have you ever experienced something like this? Have you ever gotten away with something that you know was wrong? Has your conscience ever made it unbearable to endure this lack of justice?

Sometimes we can dull our conscience and even sear it to the point where it doesn’t disturb us any more. But if you are a true follower of God, and you are striving to follow Him with all of your heart, then the Holy Spirit will work with your conscience to convict you of sin and righteousness and judgment. God will stir your conscience to help you remember your evil so that you can repent. Only through confession and repentance can we find peace.

In fact, one of the clearest signs I search for to see if someone is in Christ is whether they are willing to confess their sin, or they simply act like they have it all together. The true Christian knows he does not have it all together, and the Holy Spirit will not allow the true Chrsitian to act as if he has not sinned. He can only have peace through confession and repentance.

Joseph’s brothers will only find peace when they confess their sin to Joseph and seek his forgiveness. The protagonist in the Tell-Tale heart only finds peace when he confesses his crime to the police. You too will only find peace when you confess your sin to your brother and to the Lord, and are reminded of the forgiveness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.