1 Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”

6 Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”

7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.”

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

Dear God, I think of this story as Jacob’s surrender. He was willing to let Simeon rot in jail before he would surrender what was most precious to him. Simeon should have been glad that the famine persisted because I get the feeling from this story that if the famine had broken then they would have never gone back for him. But the famine had broken Jacob. He surrendered to you, finally saying in verse 13, “As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” In other words, “I give up. If I am going to suffer then I am going to suffer.” Little did he know what blessing you had for him on the other side of the suffering.

Meanwhile, back in Egypt, I wonder what Joseph was thinking. After all, shouldn’t they have been back by now? Would they come back? Would they die? He had been excited about being reunited with his family. Had the window closed? I am sure he was praying to you during this time. I am sure he was asking for your mercy.

Father, help me to surrender to you before I get to the point where all hope seems to be lost. Help me to surrender to you when there is still much hope that things will work out on their own. Help me to surrender to you when things are going perfectly. I don’t want to be a person who is driven to his knees only in bad times, but I want to be someone who is driven to his knees simply out of devotion and surrender to you. I know that I take you for granted. I know I take your blessings for granted. There is no doubt about that. I don’t know how to not take you for granted. But help me to experience you and surrender to you so that you might live through me and be glorified in me.