Daily Devotions – Tough Choices

Daily Devotions – Tough Choices

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

 

Genesis 42:35-38  (NIV)
35 As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.” 38 But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.”

 

Almost every day we have important choices to make at school, home, or work. But sometimes in life there are really important decisions that we are faced with that have no easy answer. In this reading, Jacob has already lost a son and it seems another one is being threatened. But if he does not send Benjamin to Egypt then his whole family might starve! In this moment Jacob has forgotten the most important piece of the puzzle: God. God promised to bless Jacob and take care of his family. When faced with choices, big or small, it might not always be clear what God wants. What we do know is that God’s mercy, love, and forgiveness covers us no matter what choice we make and when we rest in His love we are far more likely to make a wise decision than if we forget about God and live in fear.