At the End of My Rope

O.T.#91  "At the End of My Rope" 
July 24, 2013
Genesis 43-Part 1
And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other
brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. Genesis 43:14

LET IT GLOW

Have you ever been at the end of your rope? Maybe you feel that way now. Well I literally
was. It was almost 40 years ago. We had bought a nice house and wanted to move the
antennae for the tv from the old house. So my husband tied some ropes onto it, and we were
going to let it down easily to the ground from the roof. My job was to hold onto one rope while
he preceded to lower it with the other one. Good plan. One thing we didn't anticipate was that
the rope I held would break. That's just what happened. I went flying off the roof of the house, holding onto the end of the rope, thinking, why am I holding onto this rope? I survived our
adventure with only a sprang ankle. (It's okay to laugh, I do.)
In this chapter, Joseph's family was at the end of their rope.

Jacob's family became hungry again. Like the prodigal son in Luke 15, these men had to go
back to Egypt and Joseph, or starve to death. What's so good about that?

We see indications of their change of heart:

• Judah's willingness to be surety, to bear the blame for young Benjamin;
• their willingness to return the money first paid for the grain, then found in sacks of grain;
• confession of the truth to Joseph's steward (verse 19-22).(Wiersbe)

Doesn't the Lord know what to do so we get to the point of our need for Him, at the end of
our rope? He changes our heart when we come humbly to Jesus.  The result is our willingness to make things right that we did wrong.
Are you at the end of your rope?

LET IT GROW

We left Simeon back in Egypt while his brothers took the grain home. It was just a matter of
time when they returned to buy more. Sure enough, the food ran out and there was no where
else to turn. Judah talked their father, Jacob, into letting Benjamin, Joseph's younger brother, go with them.

What did the 10 brothers take with them on their second visit to Egypt?

• balm
• honey
• spices
• myrrh
• pistachio nuts
• almonds
• double the silver for the 2 purchases
• Benjamin.

Jacob made the statement found in our key verse. God does grant mercy to the sinner that
confesses their sins, asking for forgiveness.

So the guys got in their jet plane and flew to Egypt, well maybe it was another camel caravan.
When Joseph saw Benjamin, he told his steward to take them to his house and prepare a meal
for them. He intended on
The brothers made a mistake of confessing to Joseph's servant, instead of to Joseph. God
controls circumstances to bring the sinner to himself and to the end of himself. We can't buy
our salvation (brothers' gifts). It doesn't do any good to confess to a human servant (only Jesus
forgives sins), nor making some great sacrifice (as Judah offered his own life as surety for
Ben). Since Joseph is a type of Jesus in the Old Testament, the brothers needed to confess and
repent of their sins before him, as we do to Jesus.

Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins?

LET IT GO

Confess my sins to Jesus.

Have a change of heart.

Be willing to follow Jesus wherever.

When I'm at the end of my rope, turn to Jesus.