God of the Hidden Heart,
You see what others miss.
You know what lies beneath appearances
the guilt we carry,
the shame we bury,
the sins we thought time would silence.
Joseph tested his brothers.
He hid the silver,
placed the cup in Benjamin’s sack,
and waited.
Lord, You test not to trap,
but to reveal.
When the steward stopped them
when the sacks were opened
they tore their clothes in anguish.
Because the pain of losing another brother
was greater than the fear of being caught.
Something had changed.
These were not the same men
who once sold Joseph for silver.
They had tasted grief.
They had lived in the shadow of sorrow.
And now Judah speaks.
Not as a deceiver,
but as an intercessor.
“Let me remain instead of the boy.”
Lord, what transformation.
The one who once said, “Let’s sell him,”
now says, “Take me instead.”
This is the fruit of repentance.
God, I confess
I want restoration without testing,
healing without honesty,
reunion without confession.
But You walk us through the process.
You draw the guilt to the surface
so that grace can cleanse it fully.
Judah’s plea wasn’t eloquent
it was desperate.
Raw.
Broken by years of regret.
He remembered the sorrow in his father’s eyes.
He carried the weight of promises made.
He offered himself
to keep another from suffering.
And in that moment,
the gospel shimmered on his lips.
Lord, make me that kind of person.
Someone who stands in the gap.
Who doesn’t explain away sin,
but steps forward in love.
Who doesn’t hide from the past,
but allows You to redeem it.
Joseph had every right to condemn them
but You were softening the soil for reconciliation.
You were showing
that true healing begins
when truth is finally spoken.
So I speak mine.
I bring my guilt into the open.
I let the testing shape me
instead of harden me.
Because You are the God
who doesn’t just test the heart
You transform it.
In the name of Jesus,
our greater Judah,
who didn’t just offer to stay in the place of the guilty
but actually did
Amen.