Read Genesis 43
Key Verse: “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.”
Observation: I love the plot twists that I often overlook or sometimes just don’t see. Judah’s family line is the line of David and the line of the Messiah. Satan must be blind about the future and what God is doing. He may have attacked Joseph as a means to thwart the coming of the Messiah but Joseph’s line is not from where the Messiah comes. Judah now offers up his family line if he does not bring back Benjamin safely. The reality they could not see is that Judah’s family line is the line from which the Messiah will come. If his kids die, then King David would not have come about and Jesus’ family tree would not have happened. What if satan is starting to see Joseph is not the chosen line and so he is going after another branch of the family tree in Judah? Satan not only hated the children of Jacob for what they were, but also for what God would make of them. What if the attacks on us in the here and now are not just all about the here and now but about what God will do in the future through us?
Application: God is the God of the future and He is bringing his will to pass day by day. Satan will attack whatever might move towards God’s future. It is not a stretch to believe that Satan will attack our families and our church if they are moving to bring about God’s future. Many people have children that have been difficult but it might very well be that those difficulties are coming about because Satan is attacking where God is moving.
Prayer: Father, I do not know what the future has in store for my family or for our church. What if our church is to become part of the new church world that I believe is coming about in the next 30 years (a bit beyond my lifespan)? What if we will be the remnant if we survive satan’s advances? What if the future you have in store for us is the reason he is working so hard against us? God, help us to live in your will day by day and trust you with our future.
