Genesis 43:14: “And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”

October 28th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Jacob’s sons had already gone to Egypt once for grain because of the famine, and had left behind their brother Simeon and been told not to return without their younger brother Benjamin. Jacob did not want to send him, but the famine was bad and his family needed food. Jacob was desperate and reluctantly gave it over to God Almighty (Hebrew = ‘El-Shaddai’) saying, “If I lose my son, I lose my son.” Severe pressure (famine) forced him to allow God to be God. Pessimism had gone even deeper into Jacob’s heart after the loss of his favorite son Joseph. Of course he had no idea that the man in Egypt requiring him to send his youngest son ahead was in fact the son he thought he had lost. God was in the process of restoring everything Jacob had lost and more, but he had become so negative he couldn’t see God’s blessings coming right at him. Even though he’d known the Lord for over 100 years, Jacob was a man who had a lot of trouble walking by faith.

It’s one thing for us reading this story, knowing what the outcome was, to say, “What’s Jacob so stressed out about? I would have trusted God in this situation!” But is that true? Would we really? If it’s so easy, why didn’t we trust Him last week? Why did we get so stressed out over that little crisis last month? So often when life drops unexpected changes in our laps, our first reaction is to fight them. Most of us like things to remain the same. Change messes with our carefully constructed routines and the “fur-lined ruts” of our life. The hardest thing in the world to change is a habit. First we form our habits, and then our habits form us.

The habits of pessimism, cynicism, doubt, distrust, and negative thinking are perhaps the most difficult habits to change. God was in the process of forcing change on Jacob through his circumstances. That’s because God knew Jacob couldn’t become what he needed to be by remaining what he was. The very same is true in our lives. So the lesson for us here is to be careful when we find ourselves resisting change because we might just be resisting God! Question: Have you ever thought that God might be allowing a particular situation that’s bothering you to occur in your life in order to bring about the change in you He requires?

“LORD, change us because we can’t change ourselves. We give you permission, no, in fact, we beg You to change us to be more like You this day.”