Figuring Out God's Lesson: Genesis 43:11-15
God desires for us to learn His ways, but He wants to give us the space to come to Him in a way that makes sense to us. Human beings are funny that way. We are happy to learn. Our brain likes figuring things out. For us to learn the best, though, we need to want it for ourselves – or at the very least see the value in learning the lesson.
Jacob hears Judah’s argument and he understands the truth in what Judah says. If someone doesn’t go to Egypt to buy more grain, they are going to die. Not only will Jacob have lost Joseph, but he’ll lose all his children and grandchildren. As much as it pains him to admit it, he must become willing to let Benjamin go. If he doesn’t, everyone is going to die from famine.
God gives us many opportunities to figure out the lessons He wants to teach us. He typically tries to get us to learn the lesson the easy way: voluntarily. If we are stubborn and refuse, the constraints He places around us get a little tighter to encourage us to learn. If we still don’t want to learn, He gradually makes it more difficult to ignore the lesson. Eventually, we arrive at a breaking point. Like Jacob, we reach a place where we can either choose to learn the lesson or suffer the consequences.
Fortunately for Jacob, he acquiesces. Jacob lets the sons go with Benjamin. Jacob tells his sons to take gifts to Egypt to make the transaction more likely to end favorably. His favoritism still shows. He is willing to do anything in his power to not lose Benjamin, but he does let Benjamin go.
This is how God works. He gives us opportunities to learn. He even gives us opportunities to walk away. Jacob could have refused to let Benjamin go and led his family into imminent death from starvation. I’d like to believe that should Jacob have chosen to be too stubborn to learn, then one of his sons would have taken matters into their own hands rather than die from starvation.
The point is at no time in this story did God force Jacob’s hand. Rather, God orchestrated a pattern of events and allowed Jacob to choose how he navigated through them.
This is a useful approach because it allows Jacob to learn organically. Jacob will either learn when he wants to or when life makes it obvious the lesson is important. It also gives Jacob the free will to be stubborn and refuse to learn the lesson.
God always gives us the opportunity to learn and walk with Him. He is gracious and gives us multiple opportunities if we need them. God desires for us to learn His ways, but He wants to give us the space to come to Him in a way that organically makes sense to us.
