Day 15 or January 15. God loves it when we risk everything for Him. Our thought today
is rooted in Genesis chapter 43 verse 13. Take your brother also, and go back to the
man at once.
And now the big picture surrounding this verse.
Two years pass by and Joseph is still in jail. A call comes from Pharaoh for him to interpret
dreams that had baffled the wisest men in the land. Joseph appears before Pharaoh and
tells him that his dreams clearly warn that a famine is coming to Egypt, but there is
still time to make preparations for it. Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph that he appoints
him to oversee the whole project. The famine spreads to other countries, including Judah,
where Joseph's relatives are living, and his father Jacob sends Joseph's brothers to buy
food from the Egyptians. He sends all of them except Benjamin. He has already lost one of
the sons of his favorite wife Rachel, and he is unwilling to risk losing the other one,
so he keeps them safe at home. Joseph demands that they bring Benjamin with them, before
he will sell them any food. Jacob is very reluctant to let Benjamin go, but finally
agrees as he sees he has no choice. They buy some food, but this time a sack belonging
to Benjamin has one of Joseph's silver cups hidden in it, and he threatens to detain Benjamin
as punishment for the theft. This could prove disastrous. The whole situation looks bleak.
Is God punishing them for what they did to Joseph all those years ago?
And now our action step for today. Sometimes we have to take a risk for God, just as Jacob
did when he sent his favorite son Benjamin down to Egypt. There was a risk that it wouldn't
work and that he would never see him again. Sometimes, when we take a step of faith, it
is so big that we risk a lot by taking it. In our family, we have a favorite saying connected
to a step like this. The worst that will happen is that it doesn't work. Our God is big enough
to overcome any of our mistakes, so let's just do it. Our God can retrieve any sticky
situation we get ourselves in. Just step out.