Day 46 - Can You Trust God With What You Fear Losing?

Good morning. Welcome to True Word of Faith for Life with Dr. Sean. We are in the series of Through the Bible in a year, walking the story of God. And here we are, a Genesis 43. Welcome, good morning. What are you gripping because you're terrified God might ask for it? You're got a grip on it. Not because you don't love God. Not because you have no faith at all. You have faith. Of course you have faith. It's not because of any of that. It's because you lost something once. And part of you promised never again. Never again will I be that vulnerable. Never again will I be that vulnerable. Hold on tight. Never again will I trust that deeply. Never again will I let my heart be exposed like that. Genesis 43 brings us back into Jacob's house. The famine. It is still severe. The grain is running out. Simeon is still in Egypt. And the brothers, they can't go back unless Benjamin goes with them. Well, Jacob lost Joseph, you imagine? Now he's terrified of losing Benjamin. When fear gets wrapped around love, love can start sounding like wisdom. While acting like control. So here's the question for today. Not the easiest of questions. Can you trust God? I I want you to really think about this. I want you to really think about this. Can you trust God with what you're most afraid to lose? Cogitate on that for you. Well, I'm Dr. Sean. This is True Word, Faith for Life. Wrote some books. My latest book, True Word, Faith for Life, is available in the store at TrueWordFaithforlife.com. There's a million resources there, but one of the things that you can get there is my book. There's also blog. There's all the episodes are there, the audio version. Every week we do a summation of the prior week. Those are intense, they're deep. Blog post and study guides. Just keep scrolling. Once you click on the blog and you click on the episode, keep scrolling. You'll see it there. It's all free. Nothing you don't have to, oh, I have to sign up now. So why did I write the book? I wrote the book to help you stop surviving on religious scraps. And start actually walking in the truth of God's word with courage, clarity, and faith for real life. You're living in real life, you're a real person. It'll help you. By the way, not responsible for any ruined clothes or burnt inside your noses, your nasal passages. If you drink hot liquids and you're reading the book, it might come out your nose. Just think about that, because there's some funny stuff in there. And there is also some stuff that will make you cry. And some of it will make you shake your first. Darn it, Dr. Shawn. Yeah. It's okay. We'll get through it together. So here is the question for your heart. Again. What are you trying to protect? By control. As if we have some control over God. Over God's will. We do have a little. What are you trying to protect? By trying to control. Because you're afraid to trust God with it. Genesis 43. That's quite a quite a chapter. It continues the movement from Genesis 42. You might say, well, that's stupid. We don't have to count, Dr. Sean. Did they not teach you how to count in seminary and divinity school? Yes, they did, but the Bible is not written in the chronological order, the order in which it happened. Some stuff's out of place. And we'll talk about all that. Well, why didn't you start with Job, Dr. Sean? Why didn't you start with Job? Because Job is uh, you know, really the first book of the Bible. Well, that's true. That's true. But there's a reason I didn't do that. And when we get to Job, I'll explain that. Welcome the story of God. So, yes, Genesis 43 continues the movement from Genesis 42. The brothers went down to Egypt once. Joseph recognized them, but they didn't recognize Joseph. Simeon was kept behind. Daniel Hidu, he who uh had thank you. First of all, thank you for listening on uh I appreciate that. Appreciate you listening. That's awful, nice of you. Uh, welcome to everybody, by the way. This is one of the ways. He he asks, how do I detach from all things except God? That's an awesome question. And uh this is one of the ways. One of the ways. Uh, Miss Sharon says the true word faith for life website is packed with so much detailed inform detail but easy to understand knowledge. Well, thank you. Thank you, Miss Sharon. I tried to create a repository of of really, really powerful stuff. So that's one way. Uh reading your Bible every day, every day. Okay, I was showing off my moose works Bibles last night to my dear, dear friends and um my wife's best friend and and her husband. Awesome people, awesome people, Missy and Rob. And um just just adore them. And I was showing them, and I think Rob kind of liked the real gritty looking one, the rough looking, but anyway, Mooseworks Bible by Melissa on Etsy. If you look up Mooseworks Bible, uh literally it's moose works, moose works, one word, crazy, and then space Bible. She'll show up, and she is just a fantastic lady, and she hand does them. Anyway, reading your Bible every day, every day. And if you don't have a Bible, by the way, get a hold of me through true wordfaithforlife.com slash contact. There's a button at the top that you can type out, and then there's a little thing on the side you can click on that you can leave me a voice message. Now, it I pay for it, so you don't have to. So two minutes, you have two minutes. So your two minutes, use them how you wish. Uh, but anyway, you can reach me there and I'll help you. There's a bazillion resources there. You have to invest in it. And I've said this repeatedly. I can't read the Bible for you. I can't. Um, I love reading scripture, but there are times where it's a challenge for me. And and uh the enemy will do all he can to keep that from happening. You will never have a true close relationship with God unless you do two things, three things, four things. Listen, growing, you're scared to death now, you're gonna bounce out of Christianity because there's too many things. The first thing is you have to place your faith in him. Bottom line, you have to place your faith in him for real, for real. And then the next thing is reading scripture and praying, they're you know, they're they're cornerstones of the faith. You just have to do it. Maybe you will, maybe you won't. I don't know. I can't answer for anybody, but I know it's not the easiest thing. I need a Bible designed for ADHD millennials, lots of pictures. You know what? It's it's ironic. This is what uh Daniel says. I need, and I'm sure he's not alone. I need a Bible designed by ADHD millennials, lots of pictures. There are Bibles like that. There are pictorial Bibles now, they're thick, I'm not gonna kid you, and they're expensive. Depends on what you think expensive is. Um, so get a hold of me, uh, not just Daniel He who, not just, but not only, I should say. Everybody, feel free. I'm a resource, and folks can tell you. I answer. And good morning, Nicole. For 410, where Nicole is, and 4'10 in the morning. Yesterday we had somebody listening today. I mean tomorrow. I mean today. I mean tomorrow. No, it was he was listening from the Philippines, it was the next day. Pretty cool, right? Or Sunday night, I think that was. Anyway, I gotta get going. So the brothers went down to Egypt. They went down the first time, and they didn't recognize Joseph, and and some people get tripped up on that. Why would they? It's been a while, it's been a minute. He's changed from what he looked like in that pit. He's changed from what it looked like when he was sold by his brothers into slavery. He recognized them. They didn't recognize him. And Simeon was kept behind, right? The money returned in their sacks. This was something that happened. You want to read that, Genesis 42. It's really powerful. It's really cool. Joseph demanded that Benjamin be brought back if they wanted to prove they were honest men. Now that's what they said yesterday. Remember, they said, hey, we're honest men. We didn't do our brother right. They admitted that. And that was important, and it's important now. But here's the thing Jacob wouldn't let Benjamin go, right? They could get grain for their family, but Jacob wouldn't let Benjamin go. And honestly, I understand why. I don't know if you understand why, but I understand why. Benjamin is Rachel's other son, right? Right? He's got sons by different women. Remember, Rachel's passed away, she's gone. And Joseph is gone, at least in Jacob's mind, as far as he knows, Joseph is gone. And Joseph, remember, it was his favorite. We gotta stop pretending that we don't have favorites in life. We do. So Joseph is gone. Benjamin is what Jacob has left of the woman he so loved. And the son he still mourns. Now he doesn't realize Joseph is alive. And look, that pain is real. Wait till he finds out that his brother sold him into slavery. Wait till wait till he finds out all this. Won't that be something? Look, I want you to take a deep breath. This next part you really gotta hear. Really gotta hear all of it. But this part, gotta hear this, gotta feel this one. This the other day when I was writing this, and I rewrote this yesterday just because there were some things that I wanted to include. Real pain can be a false master. Real pain. It can become a false master. Listen, grief can become control. It can become your identity. There are people who have lost people in their lives, and we all grieve differently. I do a I do a workshop uh living through grief on purpose. I designed it for gold star families. We do it for free all over the country. You gather up a bunch of gold stars and you know, put us up and put me up, get me there, and I'll do it. It's it's powerful. And look, grief can become look, and and you know, in in this culture, we equate, okay, well, how quickly do you move on, right? If you have a business that you ran with your or an organization you ran with your spouse, and your spouse is suddenly not here, people will look at you and say, you got to look a certain way, you got to behave a certain way for a certain time. But listen, life goes on. You got a thousand people on your payroll. Their lives depend on you getting it together. Doesn't mean you've stopped grieving. Grief can become control. But you know what? Love can become a possession. Protection can become fear with a respectable name. Jacob is a wounded father, there's no doubt about that. But Genesis won't let us pretend that understandable fear is the same thing as faithful trust. The food runs out. The food runs out. Sometimes God allows the thing we used to survive to run out. So I have to face what we refuse to face. At some point, it gets stripped bare, and then we have to face the facts. Jacob tells his sons, go again, buy us a little food. Oh, go again. And Judah answers plainly. He doesn't mince any words. They cannot go unless Benjamin goes with them. And this is where we see something important. This is something happening, and it's very important, and it's happening in Judah. This isn't the same Judah who helps sell Joseph in Genesis 37. I remember I told you I don't like that guy. I don't like I punch him right in his face. Back then. But you know what? There's a whole lot of people that would love to punch me right in my face. Now they don't know I'm 6'4 and 250 pounds, but still, they'd like to. Then not the same me. I'm not the same me. My Genesis 37 isn't the same. Not even the same in Genesis 38 and not the same in Genesis 43. He drifted from family in Genesis 38, right? Remember that? Judah isn't fully formed yet, but he is changing. He says, send the boy with me, and we will arise and go. Y'all. For the audio elements, I'm I've taken off my glasses in a dramatic fashion. And now I've put them back on. The people that if you listen to the audio only, and then you come listen to this, you'll remember why you listen to audio only. By the way, we have an audio player. Uh it's driven by the engine, is um it's iTunes or Apple Podcasts, or I don't remember what. Yeah, by the way, we're on all of them. Whatever one you listen to, look for true word, faith for life with Dr. Sean. Spelled S-H-A-W-N. We'll be there. Click on us, do the follow, subscribe, maybe leave us a review. Be awesome. He says, send the boy with me, and we will arise and go. Then he offers himself as a pledge for Benjamin. Somebody. Ancient Near Eastern culture, language, and context doesn't mean a little. Doesn't even mean a lot. It means everything. And if you don't understand it, you don't understand it. That's why I'm here. That's why I teach the way that I do. It marks relationship. Boy marks relationship, vulnerability, and family concern. Benjamin is the protected son. It's actually in Hebrew, Binyamin. The one Jacob cannot bear to risk. He's the protected son that Jacob, I can't lose this kid, too. I lost his mom. Then I lost his brother, he thinks. And for all intents and purposes, he did. Those years you can't get back. And he can't bear to risk Benjamin. So Judah steps toward responsibility. He doesn't just say, it'll probably be all right. It'll probably be fine. I mean, it'll probably be fine. I don't know. No, he puts himself on the line. Listen, that's repentance. You put yourself on the line, that's repentance. That's repentance beginning to grow legs. And soon Teshuvah or repentance will run in Judah. Jacob finally yields. But listen that, listen, listen to how he yields. This is so important. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. Now this isn't polished faith. That's exhausted surrender. This is a grieving man opening trembling hands because the next faithful step requires it. So what happens? They are brought into Joseph's house, and fear immediately starts to interpret everything. Remember, they remember what they did, but they don't know that's Joseph. They think because they think they are being trapped in some way. Remember, he said, what do you guys spies? Joseph said. What's going on here? Remember, go back and read that. I want you to physically read it. They expect accusation. They expect punishment. They expect the worst. And listen, that's what fear does. We fear the worst. I remember I arrested a guy and uh he'd done heinous things. And when I get him in the interview room and I'm interrogating him, he's got this look of immense relief because I've been watching him for a long time. And I knew he did it. And I asked him, I said, What's up? He said, I'm just relieved. I was so relieved. Hey, look, we expect accusation. When we've done wrong, we expect it. We expect punishment. We deserve it. I deserve it. And we expect the worst, and that's what they did. They expected the worst. That's what fear does to us. Fear writes the ending before God has finished the story. So they explain themselves to Joseph Stewart, and the steward says, Peace to you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. Peace to you. Do not be afraid. In Hebrew thought, shalom is not just a peaceful feeling. Shalom is wholeness. Order. And the brothers rightfully expected judgment, but instead they heard shalom. Please imagine this. I want you to take yourself there in your mind. Don't do this if you're driving, but if you can, close your eyes and imagine. Then Joseph sees Benjamin. Joseph is deeply moved. He leaves the room and he weeps. Then he washes his face. He comes back out. He gets control of himself. And he serves the meal. The brothers are seated in birth order from firstborn to youngest. And they are astonished. They don't understand what's happening here. Would you? They don't understand. But God is working underneath what they can see. They they see and they they're seeing it, they're experiencing it, they're living it, but they don't understand it. This is where Genesis 43 walks straight into our lives today, the life you're living right now. How are you living? Fearful? How you living? Shaken. Some of us are living inside Jacob's fear right now. You lost something once, and now you're trying to make sure your life never hurts. You're trying to make sure your life never hurts you that way again. You lose trust. So now you control relationships. You lose stability. So every change feels like a threat. You were betrayed, so now you call suspicion discernment. You were wounded. So now you call control wisdom. But fear is a terrible shepherd. Fear may warn you of danger, but it cannot lead you into shalom. Fear may help you survive one moment, but it will enslave you if you let it rule your life. Jacob loves Benjamin. But that's not the problem. The problem is that fear has begun making the decisions. And when fear leads, the thing you love can become the thing you imprison. Faith doesn't mean you stop caring. Faith doesn't mean law stops hurting. Faith means you bring what you love under the care of God, and then you obey the next faithful step. Sometimes opening your hands feels like losing control. Closed hands cannot obey freely. So what is that? What does obedience look like today? First, you've got to name what you've got that death grip on. Say it plainly. Don't dress it up, don't fancy it up. Father, this is the person I'm so afraid to lose. This is the future I'm afraid will fall apart. This is the outcome I keep trying to force. And then second, separate love from control. Love protects wisely. It does. Control possesses fearfully. And you gotta ask yourself the honest question. Am I doing this because it's faithful and wise, or because fear is driving me? Third, take responsibility where passivity used to hide. Judah steps forward. He doesn't just talk about care, he steps forward, he pledges himself. Himself, puts himself in the line of fire. Some some of us need to stop waiting for someone else to fix what we help break. Call what it is. Stop looking around for somebody else to come swooping in and fix what we broke. Make the call. Make the hard call. Tell the truth. The unvarnished truth. Show up. Stop talking smack. Talk is cheap. Own your part. Own it all. That is yours to own. Own it all. We don't like that. We don't like that at all. And number four, receive mercy where fear expected punishment. The brothers expected accusation. They heard, peace to you, do not be afraid. This is not what they expected. Shalom. Don't be afraid. Some of us are so trained by our fear that we don't recognize mercy when it arrives, when it's right in front of us, when it's right in the middle of our struggle. We're so trained on fear that we don't see the mercy when it arrives. Genesis 43, listen, listen. Genesis 43 shows us trembling surrender, costly responsibility, and unexpected mercy, and it points us forward to Yeshua without erasing the real story in Genesis. Judah begins to offer himself as pledge for Benjamin, but Yeshua is the greater and perfect pledge. Judah says, in effect, hold me responsible for my brother. And Yeshua gives himself fully for his people. That's you. And that's me. We are his people. We could never carry this. He brings us into the Father's house. Not as condemned enemies, but forgiven sons and daughters. Where fear expects rejection every time we expect it. Our fear drives us to expectation of rejection and loss. Yeshua speaks peace. Then that's not cheap peace. It's not cheap peace. It's a resurrection peace. He bought it with his blood. He was tortured. He was murdered. And he resurrected. He died and he resurrected. Just like scripture said, just like he said. Don't you want that kind of peace? Don't you want that kind of shalom? So I have for you today a challenge and a choice. Here is your challenge. Open your hands before God. Open your hands before God. Name the person, the plan, the fear, or the future you're gripping so hard to. Then ask, what does obedience look like if I really believe God can hold what I cannot control? Then here are your choices? Will fear keep making your decisions? Or will faith, will faith begin to open your hands? Will you call control love? Or will you let God teach you the difference between the two? Will you spend your life protecting yourself from yesterday? Or will you walk with God into the next faithful step? Today, take one open-handed step. Have the conversation. Release the demand you have put on someone else. If you loved me, you would do this. If you're really my friend, you're going to be my friend how I'm your friend, how how I define friendship, how I live out friendship. Release the demand. Stop manipulating the outcome. The next two you're not going to love. You're not going to love them. Pray honestly. Pray honestly. Obey clearly. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Listen, prayer isn't asking for an easy journey. It's asking for a strong back. Nothing easy about this. Let's pray. Father, show us where fear has been making our decisions. Show us where grief became control. Show us where love became possession. Teach us to open our hands without becoming careless. Teach us to obey without pretending we're not afraid. Give us the surrender that only comes through courage. Give us the courage to actually surrender. Give us the wisdom of responsibility. Give us the shalom that fear can never produce in Yeshua. Yeshua, your matchless son and my redeemer's name. Amen. Well, if today you realize you've been trying to control your life, you've been trying to control your life. Because you you don't yet know who the father, you don't know this father that I just prayed to. You've heard about him, but you don't know him. You don't know the father who can be trusted with your life. This is where you come home. This is where you come home. This is where you come home. Yeshua gave himself for sinners, people with hearts, habits, and hangups, just like you, just like me. He died, he was buried, and he rose again, so you and I could be forgiven, restored, and brought into the family of God. At some point, you gotta accept that it's time to get off the fence. Welcome, Robbie. It's so good to have you. Listen, if you're ready to turn from sin from your hurts, habits, and hang-ups, pray this from your heart. Just talk to God. Father, I know I've sinned and I need your mercy. I believe Jesus died for me, was buried, and rose again. Today I turned from my sin and I place my trust in Him as my Lord and my King. Forgive me. Make me new and fill me with your Spirit. From this day forward, I want to follow you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, welcome. Welcome to the family of God. You don't have to figure this out alone. You don't have to be perfect in ten minutes. This is a journey, man. It's a journey. And I will tell you, it isn't an easy one, but it's so worth it. If you gave your life to Yeshua, or you still have honest questions, by the way, Yeshua is Jesus. The real name is the real name, Yeshua. If you have honest questions, reach out to me through true wordfaithfullife.com slash contact. I promise you I will personally, I will personally connect with you as soon as I get your message. I will connect with you. I'll help you take your next step. You're not alone. You're not alone. Listen, fear closes the hand. But here's the crazy thing: faith opens it. Fear says, I gotta hold this or I'll lose everything. But faith says, I cannot hold this better than. Look, faith, faith, faith says, God, I I I can't hold this better than you can. The open hand, it may tremble, but it's still open. And sometimes that trembling open hand is where surrender begins. Look, if this helped you, send it to somebody who's trying to trust God with what they fear losing. You gotta know somebody. Just one. Until tomorrow at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. May Adunai bless you and keep you. May Adunai make his face to shine upon you and show you his favor. May Adunai lift up his face toward you and give you shalom. Shalom Bishem Yeshua. The shalom alakim. This has been True Word Faith for Life with Dr. Sean. For more teachings, visit True Word Faith for Life dot com. Until tomorrow at seven AM. Shalom Shalom