Joseph wasn’t the only one forced to live with pain for a season. Jacob, Joseph’s father, was also forced to live with pain. He’d experienced loss for an extended period of time—the loss of his son Joseph. This incident was completely outside of Jacob’s control. However, he was forced to live with unanswered questions. What exactly happened to my boy? What if I had not sent him to his brothers? Would he still be alive? Did I do enough to protect him?
He’d also lost his wife, Rachel, mother of his son Joseph. The only child he had left of his wife was Benjamin. Jacob had to pass the test of living with loss. Would he trust God enough to still be okay if he’d loss Benjamin too? This was the test being presented to him from his sons when they shared with him that the overseer in Egypt, who was Joseph, unknown to Jacob’s sons, had requested for Jacob’s son’s to bring their youngest brother back with them to Egypt or else one of their brothers, Simeon, would not be released from prison. Joseph had accused the brothers of being spies and the only way they’d prove they weren’t would be to bring the youngest, “Benjamin.”
Click here to read the full article
