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Day 15 or January 15. God loves it when we risk everything for Him. Our thought today

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is rooted in Genesis chapter 43 verse 13. Take your brother also, and go back to the

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man at once.

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And now the big picture surrounding this verse.

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Two years pass by and Joseph is still in jail. A call comes from Pharaoh for him to interpret

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dreams that had baffled the wisest men in the land. Joseph appears before Pharaoh and

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tells him that his dreams clearly warn that a famine is coming to Egypt, but there is

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still time to make preparations for it. Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph that he appoints

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him to oversee the whole project. The famine spreads to other countries, including Judah,

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where Joseph's relatives are living, and his father Jacob sends Joseph's brothers to buy

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food from the Egyptians. He sends all of them except Benjamin. He has already lost one of

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the sons of his favorite wife Rachel, and he is unwilling to risk losing the other one,

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so he keeps them safe at home. Joseph demands that they bring Benjamin with them, before

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he will sell them any food. Jacob is very reluctant to let Benjamin go, but finally

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agrees as he sees he has no choice. They buy some food, but this time a sack belonging

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to Benjamin has one of Joseph's silver cups hidden in it, and he threatens to detain Benjamin

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as punishment for the theft. This could prove disastrous. The whole situation looks bleak.

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Is God punishing them for what they did to Joseph all those years ago?

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And now our action step for today. Sometimes we have to take a risk for God, just as Jacob

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did when he sent his favorite son Benjamin down to Egypt. There was a risk that it wouldn't

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work and that he would never see him again. Sometimes, when we take a step of faith, it

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is so big that we risk a lot by taking it. In our family, we have a favorite saying connected

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to a step like this. The worst that will happen is that it doesn't work. Our God is big enough

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to overcome any of our mistakes, so let's just do it. Our God can retrieve any sticky

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situation we get ourselves in. Just step out.