Word of Encouragement (04/14/2022)

“May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” (Gen. 43:14).

This is Jacob’s benediction on his sons as they head back to Egypt to get more food. There is no mention of such benediction when he sent them down to Egypt for the first time. This is not to say that he did not bless them and pray for them. It was a tumultuous and dangerous journey, to begin with. But it was even more dangerous to travel with food during a famine. If it was not recorded for their first journey, it was to highlight this prayer of Jacob’s for his sons’ second trip—how much more dangerous the situation was that warranted this prayer.

You know what is happening. Joseph sent his brothers back with food (and the money they brought to buy food). But he held back Simeon as a hostage. He asked his brothers to verify their story by bringing back Benjamin, who didn’t come the first time; Jacob did not want to lose another son Rachel gave him (because, as far as he was concerned, Joseph was dead). When the food ran out, they had to go back to Egypt for food and the sons convinced Jacob that there was no chance for them to get more food if Benjamin did not go with them. So, Jacob is sending them away with this prayer.

Notice how he invokes God as “God Almighty” (El Shaddai). He recognizes the seriousness of the situation. There was a danger that his sons would be accused of stealing the food because the money they paid for food was mysteriously returned. So, he tells his sons to take the money back in addition to the money for a new supply of food. He even tells them to take lots of gifts to the prime minister. This had to be done but how inadequate it seemed to avert the danger! It seemed that the prime minister of Egypt had something against them for some reason. All they wanted was to buy some food but he accused them of spying! He didn’t believe their story. He demanded that they verify their story by bringing Benjamin. Was this a ploy to wipe out Jacob’s family by killing all the sons? If the prime minister of Egypt, which was now the most powerful nation in the world, was hell-bent on destroying them, what could they do? No wonder Jacob felt compelled to call on “God Almighty” to help and protect his sons!

Even so, Jacob cannot shake off the feelings of fear and even despair. He thinks of the worst possible scenario and resigns himself to it if it should be God’s will: “And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” We can see this as a positive thing—“Whate’er my God ordains is right / His holy will abideth....” But it seems like, overwhelmed by the enormity of his trouble, he lost sight of God’s promise to him—how He would multiply his children and make a great nation out of him.

As we read this, we can empathize with him, can’t we? This is how we often respond to the adversities that arise in our lives. But we cannot help but also feel amazed by the greatness of God. We can see that God has been working for Jacob and his family even before he prayed this prayer for his sons. As Joseph will confess later, Joseph was sold and sent to Egypt for this purpose. He was falsely accused of trying to violate Potiphar’s wife and thrown into jail for this. Pharaoh was given a dream about the coming harvest and famine because of this. In fact, Joseph’s dreams and Jacob’s favoritism for Joseph and the brothers’ jealousy that drove them to sell Joseph to a merchant—all these things happened under God’s sovereignty to rescue Jacob’s family from the devastating famine in the land. Everyone did and meant evil to one another, but God meant it for good.

I hope this reflection encourages all of us to pray with confident trust in our good and gracious God, who is God Almighty. When we pray, we may think that we must pray to move God to action. But it may be that God has begun to move a long time ago, long before you started to pray, even before the foundation of the world! And your prayer is a part of His answer!