Years earlier he had lost his favorite son, Joseph. And now, as famine stalked the land, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt where, he had heard, food could be purchased. When they returned with desperately needed food, Jacob discovered one of his sons, Simeon, had been detained.
And as if this was not trouble enough, Jacob despaired to learn that Simeon would not be released until Benjamin, Jacob’s youngest son, was brought down to Egypt. Past sorrow and future dread erupted as he cried,
Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me (Genesis 42:36).
With no ability to see beyond the present, it is easy to collapse in despair as circumstances turn against us. Jacob had lost his favorite son, famine ravaged his land and livestock, Simeon was taken away and Egypt was determined to rob him of his youngest son. What could he do? Where could he turn?
In light of his circumstances, imagine Jacob’s response, had he heard Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonian believers:
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
When everything goes wrong, what sense does it make to be joyful, prayerful and thankful Like Jacob, we too face a world wracked with problems: floods, famines, earthquakes, wars, terrorism, sickness and death. As one person put it,
Life is hard, then you die.
Frankly, if what we see here and now is all there is to life, then Paul’s words are sheer nonsense. Or as Solomon observed:
…it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 2:17).
But there is more to life than what we see, which is why Paul’s words are wise counsel. What Jacob did not know - could not know - is that Joseph’s disappearance many years earlier, the seven year famine, Simeon’s detention and the demand that Benjamin be brought to Egypt were all part of God’s unseen plan to preserve Jacob’s family. Jacob was dead wrong in his despair. The events causing him to cry
everything is against me
were really proof that God was for him.
Returning to Paul’s exhortation, believers whose lives are built around prayerful communion with God find a joy and peace that is beyond understanding. These are Christians who understand that daily communion with God helps keep temporal and spiritual values in balance. They realize that the aggravations of life are but a
temporary part of a larger plan for our spiritual well-being (Robert L. Thomas, Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 11, p.291).
When faced with the inevitable quandaries of life, I often reflect on the words of the late Ruth Robins, one of my instructors when a student at New Brunswick Bible Institute many years ago:
Those who see God’s hand in everything are content to leave everything in God’s hands.