turn in the Word of God to the 42nd chapter of the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 42. And we're going to read together from the 29th verse through the 14th verse of the 43rd chapter. So it's Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The verse 29, we read up this morning to verse 28. So we'll pick up the story again. Joseph's brothers have come down into Egypt, ten of them, left Benjamin behind, in order to obtain food. And they have interacted with Joseph, not knowing who Joseph is, although he knew who they were. And he has caused them a measure of distress. And because he first imprisoned them and he has then retained Simeon, as it were, as a hostage, if you want to use that term, until they return and bring their younger brother Benjamin with them. And we read in the 28th verse when they had opened up their sacks and found that the money that they had brought with them in order to purchase the grain in Egypt, it was back in their sacks. We see there in the end of 28, that their hearts feel them, and they turned, trembling to one another, saying, What is this that God has done to us? They had very clearly claimed, came to that point where they understood and saw the hand of God in the events of the preceding few days. Verse 29 then. When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Cana, They told him all that had happened to them, saying, the man, the Lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. But we said to him, we are honest men. We have never been spies. We are 12 brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Kin. Then the man, the Lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that you're honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies but honest men and I will deliver your brother to you and you shall trade in the land." As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they had And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said to them, you have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me. Then Reuben said to his father, Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands and I will bring him back to you. But he said, my son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. Now the famine was severe in the land, and when they had eaten grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, go again, buy a little food. But Judah said to him, the man solemnly warned us, saying, you shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. If you will send our brother with you, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, you shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. Israel said, why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother? They replied, the man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred saying, Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother? What we told him was an answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, bring your brother down? And Judah said to Israel, his father, send the boy with me and he will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. "'I will be a pledge of his safety. "'From my hand you shall require him. "'If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, "'then let me bear the blame forever. "'If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.' "'Then their father Israel said to them, "'If it must be so, then do this. "'Take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, And carry a present down to the man, a little balm, a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio, nuts, and almonds. Take double the money with you, carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks, perhaps it was an oversight. Take also your brother and arise, go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back to you your brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. And now we'll end our reading of the Lord's Word. There are two sides to every story, or so they say. And there are two ways to look at every situation in life. In Genesis chapter 42, and in 43, we are presented with a situation and a scenario and a set of circumstances in the life of Jacob, which leads him to conclude, as we read at the end of verse 36 of the 42nd chapter, that everything is against him. Everything is against him. And I want to look at how Jacob came to this point or this perspective of his circumstances, which looks very fair and very reasonable and would elicit from us a great deal of sympathy. And then I want to look at the alternative perspective, that in fact, far from everything being against him, everything in the providence of God is going for him. In this regard, I think this is a very instructive passage of God's Word, because often in our lives, we tend to think that things are against us, when in reality, if we could see it through the eye of God, we would in fact see that it is for us. The brothers have come back from Egypt with the grain that they have purchased and with the money that they had taken with them in order to make those purchases. It was a highly unusual set of circumstances. They certainly probably anticipated coming back with the food, but I'm sure that they had no thought of coming back with the money as well. They have a very, very simple message for Jacob, and that message is that if they are going to see their brother Simeon again, then they must return to Egypt and take their youngest brother Benjamin with them. They give the father, the old man, a full accounting of their experience. We read in verse 30, of what they say concerning Joseph, whom obviously they do not understand or appreciate that as Joseph. They see him as the Lord of the land. And how he spoke roughly with them and made this accusation of them being spies, which is obviously a very serious threat to any nation that someone is identified as a spy. You're not simply saying that that person is someone who is not Helping the nation, they are doing something detrimental to the security of the nation. Spies are not welcome participants in a nation. They go on and speak of the requirement, verse 34, to bring back their youngest brother. And how that this was to be used as a test case that they were not spies, but honest men. Having done their talking, they then open up the rest of their sacks. One sack had been previously opened, but now all the sacks are opened. And we read in verse 35 that every man's bundle of money was in a sack. This, as had previously been the case when they had opened the one sack and found the money, engendered great fear in them. And it's this engenderment of fear through what Jacob has heard of their encounter with the Lord of the land in Egypt, and with seeing the bundles of money, that then elicits a response that we have from Jacob in verse 36. And he lists it. He draws up the issue of the loss of Joseph some 22 or 23 years previously. Joseph is no more. He now puts Simeon into the same category. You might say that's a slight exaggeration, but in a sense, Jacob is speaking as he sees it. The conclusion is that if they take Benjamin, then Benjamin would be no more as well. And the idea of them causing or doing anything that would lead to the loss of Benjamin was something that Jacob simply could not envisage in his life. To have lost Joseph was a terrible, terrible event in his life. You'll remember how that when he heard the news he had taken off his clothes, torn them, put on sackcloth and mourned for many, many, many days. He was broken by the experience of, as he saw it, losing Joseph to death through an attack of a wild animal. And now the loss of Benjamin as well, that, in a sense, the import of that is summed up when he says in verse 38, my son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead. And then note the words he says then, and he is the only one left. Now, who is he speaking to? Is he speaking to servants? Is he speaking to the wider family? No, he's speaking to his sons. And there he speaks to them of Benjamin as though he is the only son he has left. That shows you the measure with which Jacob looked upon this young man. He identifies him as the only one left. The idea of losing Benjamin is beyond his capacity to consider. Reuben, who is the eldest in the family, steps in. He knows that he's not in his father's good books, if I can use that term, since the day and they are that he slept with one of his father's concubines. He also feels a measure of responsibility for the loss of Joseph those years past. He had advocated a plan. He was going to put him in the pit and then save him. And whilst he was away in other business, then the brothers sold Joseph without his knowledge. Reuben steps in and he says to his father, kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. In other words, give me Benjamin. I will go up to Egypt. I will bring Simeon back and Benjamin back as well. And if I don't bring Simeon and Benjamin back, then you can kill my two sons. This was a ridiculous offer to make. Here is the old man totally distressed at the loss of Simeon, declaring and reminding them of the loss of Joseph, countenancing them against the loss of Benjamin, and the idea that he would then lose two grandsons on top of that. It's amazing how people can say the most stupid of things in an emotionally charged situation. There is a desire within the human heart to solve the problem, whatever it takes. It's something that I have learned to try and avoid, is to jump in and always try to solve the situation. I've learned it through bitter experience. I've learned it by jumping in and finding that the first thing you say out of a desire to square, as it were, and round the circle is not always the wisest. And Rumen was certainly not being wise here. Jacob is not budging. He digs his heels in. He makes it very categorically clear to them. He says, my son shall not go down with you for his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm were to happen to him on the journey, you would make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. In other words, he's not going up. If he goes up, I die. There's a very strong emotional desire here on the part of Jacob not to give in. Time passes. Rain does not come upon the land of Canaan. In the absence of rain, there is no seed germinating in the ground. In the absence of seed germinating in the ground, there are no shoots poking up through the ground. In the absence of green shoots poking up through the ground, there is no harvest to be drawn in. And if there's no harvest, then there is no grain for the provision of bread. And if there's no bread, there's food. And we read in chapter 43, verse 1, that the famine becomes severe in the land. Severe. there wasn't any food to be found in the land of Canaan. And when all the grain that has been brought down from Egypt from the previous journey, Jacob speaks to them again and he says, go again and buy a little food. Why a little food? Because he thinks if they go and buy a little food that they will not encounter the Lord of the land or the governor of Egypt, that if they go they might meet a junior civil servant, and that that junior civil servant might give them the food that they want. And okay, he is forfeiting, as it were, Simeon's freedom, but is it the case that he's choosing to forfeit Simeon's freedom at the expense of keeping Benjamin alive and at home? Judah is not going to allow him to go to that place. Judah is very clear, verse 3, and honest. He speaks it as it is. You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. The implication being was that no one was going to transact business with these men except Joseph, and Joseph was not going to see them unless it had brought Benjamin with them. He reiterates to the father very clearly the situation. Jacob's response, because verse 6, Israel is the same person that's speaking. Jacob and Israel are the one person. Jacob says, why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man you had another brother? In other words, why did you open the possibility of this happening? What were you thinking? How on earth could you conceive to actually expose the rest of your family, in particular the one that I loved? Why did you not Keep your mouth shut. They, to a man, make it clear that they didn't proffer this information easily, but it was elicited from them by the Lord of the land through very direct and careful questioning, specifically relating to him as their father and to the presence of another brother. Judah then speaks to Jacob, and he offers himself as a pledge of safety. And eventually, Jacob, in the face of the inevitable famine that is depriving them, has a choice to make. And Judah makes the point to him that if he hadn't had delayed, verse 10, they could have gone and returned to Egypt already on two occasions. Israel, Jacob relents. And he makes provision for them to go down into Egypt with a gift, with double money, and with the blessing of God's grace upon them. Almighty grant you mercy before the man, verse 14, and may he send you back your brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. You read that and you want to put your arm around Jacob and console him with all the love that you can. He had lost Joseph. Simeon was a different character, yes. The reason why Joseph had actually kept Simeon was because Simeon was such an evil character that I think that Joseph didn't want Simeon going back with his brothers in case he would have talked them out of telling the father about Benjamin. Simeon was the one who had led the slaughter of the Shechemites. I don't think the choosing of Simeon was an accident on the part of Joseph. But as Jacob mulls these things over in his mind, there is an essence in which you feel a great pathos for him. It seems that he's losing his family. His family are in real physical need, and it's as though his hands are tied. And he sees it in the clamoring of his sons to try and facilitate the situation. He actually sees the depths of the difficulty that they're in. He hears in the voice of Reuben's offer of his two sons, that he can kill them if Reuben doesn't return with Benjamin Simeon. That speaks even though it is absolute and utter nonsense. Not that he meant it as nonsense, but the idea of it as nonsense. Jacob has to be confronted with that and sees in the face of his eldest a sense of despair that he would offer up his two sons to his father in this situation. I mean, this has to tell us about the magnitude of the difficulty that this family was experiencing. This wasn't just a minor issue. This wasn't something you just talked around the kitchen table and said to themselves, well, we'll sort this out. If we do this and we do that, then that will work all right. This is serious. They're starving, literally, to death. That's the point that Judah makes. You know, if we don't get food, our little ones are going to die. It's a very emotive statement. Send a boy with me, he says in verse 8 of chapter 4, we will arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and you, and also our little ones. The little ones are going to start dying. Father, if you don't take some action here. And so this situation that Jacob is faced with is one of great depth, a very harrowing set of circumstances, and one that we should surely feel sympathy for because we can't feel empathy because if none of us have been in that situation, we could surely feel sympathy for him. Everything is against him. And yet, the truth is, from a different perspective, everything is for him. Joseph, his son, isn't dead. He wasn't killed. He's very much alive. What God is doing here is, God is bringing this family into Egypt in order to put them in a place in Egypt where they will have the land, and the materials that they need to build by his grace into a nation of sufficient size that when he brings them out of that land 400 years later and takes them into the land that has been promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob, then they're going not simply to survive, but they are going to rule as the people of God. Of course, Jacob couldn't see this. He wasn't to know that Joseph was the harsh speaker of words in Egypt. He wasn't to know that his son Simeon would be released. He wasn't to know that Benjamin, far from losing his life, would experience great joy in meeting his brother. He wasn't to know that the family would go down into Egypt and experience all the blessings and the opportunity to grow in freedom in a region that would be for good for them. None of that was revealed to him. Which brings us back to this question of seeing. Of seeing. As we have seen, Joseph saw what God had planned for Pharaoh and for the cupbearer and the baker. He saw the dreams. God revealed to Joseph what was going to happen because Joseph trusted in God, and because Joseph trusted in God, God trusted in Joseph. But Jacob wasn't seeing And the reason why Jacob wasn't seeing, because he wasn't trusting. He wasn't trusting. He wasn't listening to God. God had spoken to him and promised to him that he would be fruitful and multiply. Genesis chapter 35 verse 11. that he would become a great nation, a company of nations would come from him, that kings would come from his body, and that the land that God had given to his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac, that he would have that land. And as Joseph, or Jacob, considered that, he looked at his life and he said, well, I don't see our family prospering. I don't see kings coming from my family. I don't see us being blessed in this land that God is giving to us. As he looked from the perspective of where he was at, he could not see what God was doing. He was so caught up in his circumstances that he couldn't step out, listen to what God was saying, and then make decisions on the basis of what God said rather than what he saw. that speaks to every one of us. It speaks to every single one of us. We get so embroiled in the circumstances of our lives that we feel to disengage, see what God has promised, and then step back in and take decisions and choices, not on the basis of what we see, but on the basis of God's promises. God had made very specific and very clear promises to Jacob. As he saw the situation before him, he could not see the unfolding of those promises. He could not see how his family was being blessed with the loss of Joseph. He could not see how his family would multiply if Simeon was taken. He could not see how his family could be fruitful if Benjamin was taken. He could not see how his family was going to become a multitude if they were going to die. His son Judah is saying even the little ones are going to die. How does that sit with the promises of God? It doesn't sit at all with the promises of God. And this very land that God had promised an oath to his grandfather and his father, rather than being productive land in which they would fill and multiply and rule over, it was a basket of emptiness. Famine reigned. And if we'd have been there, we'd have been sitting putting our arms round Jacob and saying to him, This is a terrible situation you're in and we can only but sympathize with you. But the reality is that Jacob didn't need sympathy. Jacob needed someone to say to him and tap him on the shoulder and say, Jacob, step out and step back. Listen to the promises of God and hear what God has to say. Listen to what God is doing. It's evident that the man isn't trusting God. How is that clear? Well, let me work through half a dozen things that show you that this man is not operating on the basis of trusting in the promises of God. His irrational fear. Don't take Benjamin because Benjamin is going to die. Well, how did he know that? He didn't know that. That was irrational fear. Look at his pessimistic attitude. Chapter 42 and verse 36. You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more. Simeon is no more. All this is against me. Verse 38. Gray hairs, my gray hairs will go down to show all if this happens. He didn't know what was going to happen. Okay, he could say there's a possibility of it happening. But he had no knowledge of what was actually going to happen. He was being presumptuous about the future. How often have you been governed by irrational fear? Irrational fear. Oh, if I do this, this is definitely going to happen. You don't know what is definitely going to happen. You can't even say if you're going to breathe tomorrow, as I can't say I'm going to breathe tomorrow. Do you never think to yourself that the irrational statements you make, oh, this is going to be absolutely the worst thing in my life, that that doesn't speak of the care and provision of God? Do you think that when God says to you, I want you to do this, and if you do this, you will show that you trust me, and I will provide for you, and I will love you, and do you think that whenever you turn around and say, That's not going to happen. The absolute worst is going to happen. Imagine if someone whom you loved came to you and said, I would like you to do something and I am going to give you all the help and you support you need to get that done. I'm not going to tell you what help and support I'm going to give you, but if you trust me, I will give you all the help and support. And you turn around and say, well, I'm not going to trust you in that because if I go down that road, I know that I'm going to be left of everything. I'm going to lose everything. I'll lose the home. I'll lose everything I have if I trust you. Irrational. He's self-centered. Everything's about him. All this has come against me, he says in verse 35. He doesn't think about the young men sitting there. He doesn't think about his family. He doesn't think about the fact that they have lost a brother in some end. He only thinks about his own life in terms of going down to the grave. He's not thinking about the little ones at this moment in time, is he? Oh, you can't have Benjamin, because if you have Benjamin and he's bereaved and he's lost and he comes back, then where am I going to be? Where's that going to leave me? It's all about me. It's all about me. It's all about me. It's all about me. Everything in Jacob's life is about me, this old man. sitting there, whinging and crying, and you want to put your arm round him. Oh, what a terrible life he's had. But he doesn't relate to anybody else. It's all about me. He blames everyone else around him. He blames his sons when it comes to the loss of those in his family. We see how he blames them and points the finger at them in verse 6 of chapter 43. Why did you treat me, there's me again, so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother? It's your fault. If you had not opened your mouth and blurted out, you had another brother, then we wouldn't be in this predicament. It's all about your fault. I haven't done anything wrong. It's all because of you. He refuses to see reality. It takes the emotional stirring of Judah and the eliciting of an emotional reaction concerning the children to actually get him to think about the reality of the situation they're in. He refuses to see God's hand in it. He refuses to see God's hand in it. He tries to buy his way out of it. Verse 12, take double the money with you, carry back with you the money that was there before. He turns to God, but he doesn't turn to God in prayer. He says in verse 14, may God grant you mercy before the man, but he doesn't say, listen, God is going before us. God has given me a promise. I remember that night when I wrestled with the Lord. I remember that night when I saw the ladder going up and the angels ascending and descending. I remember the words of the Lord. The Lord would bless me. The Lord would bless this house, that he would multiply me, that my offspring would be as numerous as the sand in the seashores, and that they would give us this land that they promised to my grandfather and my father. Now, sons, let us gather before God and pray. There's none of that. It's almost like a religious statement. May the Lord bless you. There's no real engagement with God here. There's no real trusting in God. There's a stoic resigning of himself to some fate. If I am bereaved of my children, I'm bereaved. Que sera, sera. Whatever happens will happen. So here is a man who you look at from one perspective and everything is against him, the difficulties of his family, the difficulties of his life, the difficulties, the circumstances brought on by the famine, and you think to yourself, boy, he had a tough time. And if you were to transport yourself back to that situation, you'd want to put your arm around him and say, you have a difficult time, haven't you? But the reality is that his difficulties were not to do with the famine, were not to do with the loss of Joseph, were not to do with the potential taking of Simeon and then Benjamin, his real difficulty was that he wasn't trusting in God. He didn't step back and say, where is God in all of this? He was driven by a fear that was irrational, He had an attitude that was marked by pessimism and negativity. He was eminently self-centered. He blamed everybody else around him. He was reluctant, even in the face of reality, to concede. He excluded God at every turn. He depended on human resilience rather than the grace of God. When he does bring God into the equation, it's not in any way in a sense of God is real. It's more like a throwaway phrase, I believe. It's just a sort of a passing blessing. And he resigns himself just to whatever will be. This is not a man of God at this time in his life. You don't have a sense here of a man who understands that God will love him and care for him in all things. That God is for him, so who can be against him, as Paul writes to the church at Rome. And I think the counsel of God's word to us tonight is simple. We need to take care. We need to take care in the difficulties of our lives That we don't communicate to other people, woe is me, for I am undone. And everybody needs to be looking at me, because it's all about me and my life. And I'm not really relying on God at all. And a lot of things that come out of my mouth are irrational. I'm pessimistic about the attitude. Oh, I have this difficulty and I have that in my life. We all have difficulties, waking up to the reality of life, we all have them. There are people in this building tonight well on in years, and it's been an effort for them to get here tonight. Every day is an effort. That's the reality. It's always somebody else's fault. Oh, it's somebody else's fault. If he hadn't said this, if you hadn't have done this, if he had showed me more love, if they hadn't have done this, what's that saying? invoking God as almost like as if it's just a something you invoke. Trusting in God faces the reality of the circumstances in our lives and says, God has made promises and I am going to take him at his word. I'm going to trust him. I'm going to look at this situation which doesn't make any sense, and I am going to invest my trust in God. I'm going to believe in Him. I'm going to take Him at His word. I'm going to live as one who knows and loves God." Jacob didn't need anybody to put their arm around him. Jacob needed someone to say to him, who is God, What has God said, and do you believe that God will do what he said he will do? Because if you believe in God, and you believe that he will do what he says he will do, God will make this for good. And that's exactly what was to happen. That was exactly what was to happen. It's just sad. that Jacob put himself and his family through the grinder to get to that point where he eventually accepted that God was to be trusted and not to be worked against. Amen.