A Time of Tension: Despair (Gen. 42:36-38)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 01-13-2008

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  A Time of Tension:  Despair

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                    Reference:  Genesis 42:36-38

 

            Message of the verses:  “36 Their father Jacob said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me."  37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you."  38 But Jacob said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’”

 

            Verse 36 Jacob seems to indicate that he thinks that the ten sons of his had something to do with what happened to Joseph.  Jacob knew that these ten sons had hated Joseph, but I am sure that it would have been hard for him to believe that they would have actually murdered him at that time, but perhaps after he thought about it for a while he may have suspected them in some kind of foul play.

 

            Jacob makes a statement in verse 36 that is the opposite of a NT verse in Romans 8:28, where Paul writes to the Roman church that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, and when the rest of the story is told this will happen in Jacobs life.

 

            Ruben makes a very unwise statement in verse thirty-seven when he offers his two sons’s to be put to death if Benjamin were not returned.  I think this statement could be said of that Ruben opened his mouth before he engaged his brain.

 

            In verse thirty-eight Jacob says that Benjamin would not go down to Egypt with them, but when the food runs out Jacob changes his mind, which was surely in the will of God for him.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can learn a lot from these three verses, things that I too have done by not praying about something and making a fast unwise decision and afterwards had egg on my face.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To take time to pray before I make any big decisions.