I wonder how long the boys were gone? The travel to Egypt wasn’t a short jaunt, and then the time in jail needs to be accounted for. Can you imagine Jacob’s fury when they returned without Simeon? It was only fueled by the fact the Egyptian had requested that Benjamin go back as proof they were not spies. I am sure Jacob was just incredulous. How could this be?
Thankfully they had the grain they had gone for. But what else could go wrong? Their money was also returned. What if someone caught on and they were arrested or worse? It was all very fishy. The boys must have felt extremely vulnerable at this point. What had they agreed to? Was Simeon to be the latest sacrifice?
Have you had experiences like this where you accepted something because you felt you had no other choice? Then regret sets in. How do you deal with that? Do you hold your breath and just hope the other shoe doesn’t fall?
When we feel dread in our lives, we tend to go into denial mode. We try to pretend the situation doesn’t exist. Oftentimes nothing comes of our bad situation. But we may always be looking over our shoulder waiting for it to pounce. We may feel like Jacob and feel like everything is going against us.
There are those people who seem to have a dark cloud that follows them. There are also people who seem to have the world by the tail with all sorts of blessings flowing. We want to be blessed. A lot of what we experience is the result of what we expect. Sad to say. But this can also be a good thing. If we expect good things, good things will come.
God doesn’t want for us to suffer. He doesn’t necessarily stop the evil in the world from trapping us either. But he does promise to be with us when we’re trapped. Our destiny is to be with God in eternity. What happens to us while we walk this earth is pretty much up to us. We can allow others to influence us. We can focus on God and being more like him. Our choice. God works overtime when he needs to.
Doesn’t it sound better to imagine the perfect future God would choose for us? In our story today, God has a solution for this situation. He has been orchestrating all along, working behind the scenes. Isn’t it cool to always know that God has our backs? Think about what you are struggling with and what fears you are facing.
Let’s pray. Lord, we give you our struggle and our fear. We don’t want it to have control over us any longer. Send your cleansing power and restore me today. Help me to see your hand at work in the situations that are keeping me stuck. Help me to visualize the perfect future you have in store for me so I can share the abundance with others. May I be faithful to you despite any circumstance. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
