Day 15, or January the 15th. 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 favourite
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 favourite 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 favourite 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.