Good Morning.
Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.” (Genesis 42:29-30)
Upon their return to Canaan, the brothers related their experience in Egypt to Jacob and informed him that, unless they took Benjamin with them, they could not return. When they discovered their money was in their sacks, fear and dread came upon them at the thought of returning. At that point Jacob lamented, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me” (Genesis 42:36 20).
He was letting them know that it was his children, not theirs, that they were endangering. Furthermore, he hinted that Joseph and Simeon have been taken while with them and so why should he trust them to take Benjamin? Something might happen to him too. Then there’s also the possibility that he blamed himself for sending Joseph into a dangerous situation. Why would he consent to send Benjamin into a dangerous situation seeing that he was the only one left connected to Rachel?
It must have been an agonizing decision for him to make; should he abandon one son to an Egyptian prison and save another? Or should he risk another son and hope to have all of his family returned to him safely? And then, of course, there is the one particular of the story that he was not yet aware of — his other son was alive. The point, today, is this — there are times in our lives when we have to take, what seem to us to be risks. Sometimes we have to let go of that we love in order for God’s plan for our life to come to pass. If we are following the Almighty, we have to be willing to lay it all on the line. Abraham not only placed his son on that altar but the Promise, as well. Perhaps the words of Messiah sum it up the best — “Unless a grain of wheat goes into the ground and dies, it won’t produce any fruit” (John 12:24).
What may seem to be taking a risk might be, in reality, sowing that grain of wheat into the ground in the belief that, in God’s time, it will bear much fruit. Herein is where we learn to trust Him more. Blessings.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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