27 At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. 28 “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.”

Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, 30 “The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.’

33 “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. 34 But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade[a] in the land.’”

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.”

Dear God, I kind of like the idea that Jacob is willing to write off Simeon in favor of Benjamin. Seriously, though, I am trying to think of what I would do if I were Jacob. If I were him, even though I was very old, I probably would have gone myself along with one of the boys (leaving Reuben behind since he was the oldest) to get Simeon. Then I would go and ask to be exchanged for my son in prison, hoping for mercy. If I don’t get mercy then I am either in prison with my son or I die (which, at that age, I probably wouldn’t last long in prison anyway).

You wonder if the boys are starting to feel like they should tell their father everything. Should they tell him their secret about Joseph? They are obviously already feeling guilty about it. Should they go that extra step and explain to their father what they think is going on? The answer they ultimately come to is “no”. I wonder if Jacob, in the back of his mind, is thinking that perhaps some of the dishonesty of his past is catching up with him. This is a family with a lot of deception in its past. There are a lot of things for them to look at and wonder if what they sent around isn’t coming back around on them.

Father, it is interesting, but even with the trials I am facing at work, I have never felt personally attacked by you. They have all seemed circumstantial. Things were done poorly. These are challenges I must face. I need your help and power to face them. But I haven’t ever thought that there is something I have been doing wrong that made you bring these difficulties upon me. I am either naïve or I have a clear conscience. In either event, help me to face my challenges with your strength and grace. Love others through me, and use me as an example so that others might be drawn closer to you.