Nothing is Impossible for Him....

[Judah begging to be enslaved in his brother Benjamin's place]: ‘For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?’ ” ~ Genesis 44:34, NKJV

Joseph tested his brothers to discover whether or not their hearts had changed since they had sold him into slavery, and he used Benjamin to do so. When he sent his brothers home with as much provision as they could carry, he commanded his steward to set up a situation that vey much resembled the circumstances surrounding their betrayal of him. Joseph's silver cup was secretly placed in Benjamin's sack. When the brothers were a little ways out of the city, Joseph sent by his steward and overtook them with an accusation of theft. The brothers, naturally, denied such an accusation vehemently. They volunteered for a search and declared that they would all be Joseph's slaves if the cup was found among them, and that the one who stolen it would die. The steward searched and found the cup in Benjamin's sack. He would have taken only Benjamin back as a slave and let the others return to their father in peace. Surely the men who sold Joseph into slavery would have seized on this opportunity; but these men did not. They tore their clothes and went back, with Benjamin, to Joseph. It does not appear that they seriously believed the cup had been stolen. Judah lays the situation at God's feet, saying, “God has found out the iniquity of your servants.” (vs. 16) I think it's likely that the brothers considered the whole affair as God's judgment on them for betraying their younger brother. Joseph himself gives everyone except Benjamin the opportunity to return home. But that's when Judah steps up. He was the one who suggested selling Joseph in the first place; now, for his father's sake, he begs this ruler of Egypt, “Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?” (vs. 33-34) What a change had come upon Judah! Once he sold his father's beloved son into slavery and gave him the boy's bloody tunic to deceive him into thinking Joseph had been torn apart by a wild animal. Now he is willing to trade himself for Benjamin. How God had been working in this family! He can truly change the human heart. No one is beyond the transforming power of His Spirit, not while there is breath in their lungs. God is in the business of redemption, forgiveness, and restoration. Nothing is impossible for Him. All one has to do is ask.

by Rebecca...