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Hi, I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time Devotions and day four of our
ninth week together through the book of Genesis. So that means Genesis chapter
44, it's another chapter on Joseph's family working towards restoration. Now
even as we start this chapter, this is in a section where I'm talking about how
do you live out a God-given dream in your life?

What does all this family and relationship stuff have to do with living out the
dream? I mean, his dream was to rule, it was to rule Egypt, and here Joseph is
caught up chapter after chapter, he's dealing with his family. Let me remind you
of something.

God has another dream for your life that's going to last longer than the dream
that you might have for your life. The dream of a restored relationship, that's
God's dream. Now God puts into our lives dreams for ministries and dreams for
businesses and dreams for success.

He puts those dreams into our lives. I have no doubt about it. It's evident
throughout the Bible, but God's greatest dream for your life is the dream of
restored relationships with God and with others.

And so in the midst of whatever dream you're living out in your business or
finance or career or ministry, God is always working in our lives toward this
greater dream. Relationships in your life, they're not an interruption of the
dream, they're part of the dream that God is working out, is living out in your
life. And as Joseph and his family are working out this dream, there's an
interesting section of scripture in Genesis 44.

It's all about tests. You have Joseph's test and you have Judah's response in
chapter 44. I said yesterday that Joseph kept testing the family to see if he
could trust the family, to see if the relationship could be restored.

And here is the test that he comes up with that we alluded to yesterday in
chapter 44 verses 1 to 13. Let me read those verses. Now Joseph gave these
instructions to the steward of the house.

Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry and put each man's
silver in the mouth of his sack. Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth
of the youngest one's sack, along with the silver for his grain. And he did as
Joseph said.

As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. They had
not gone far from the city when Joseph said to the steward, "Go after these men
at once. " And when you catch up with them, say to them, "Why have you repaid
good with evil?

Isn't this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a
wicked thing that you've done. " When he caught up with them, he repeated these
words to them.

But they said to him, "Why does my Lord say such things? Far be it from your
servants to do anything like that. We even brought back to you from the land of
Cain and the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks.

So why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house? If any of your
servants is found to have it, we will die and the rest of us will become my
Lord's slaves. " "Very well then," he said.

"Let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave and the
rest of you will be free from blame. " Each of them quickly lowered his sack to
the ground and opened it.

Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with
the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. At this, they tore their
clothes.

Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city. First, in these
tests that Joseph had for the family, he gave Benjamin more than anyone else at
the meal to try to incite their jealousy because they'd been jealous against him
as the youngest. And now he creates this situation where they could easily
sacrifice Benjamin to save themselves, even as they sacrificed Joseph to save
themselves.

They knew, these brothers had to know that Benjamin hadn't stolen this cup
because they saw the silver put back into each of their sacks. They'd seen it
happen twice now. They knew it, but they could also have easily ignored what
they knew in order to save themselves.

That is the test that Joseph gives. Here is the response that Judah, one of the
brothers that Judah has. Verses 14 and then skipping a few verses down to verse
44.

Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in and they threw
themselves to the ground before him. Joseph said to them, "What is this that you
have done? Don't you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?

What can we say to my Lord? " Judah replied. "What can we say?

How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servant's guilt. We are
now, my Lord, slaves.

We ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup. But Joseph said, 'Far be
it from me to do such a thing. Only the man who was found to have the cup will
become my slave.

The rest of you go back to your father in peace. ' Then Judah went up to him and
said, 'Please, my Lord, let your servant speak a word to my Lord. Do not be
angry with your servant, though you're equal to Pharaoh himself.

Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not
bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life.
Now then, please let your servant remain here as my Lord's slave in place of the
boy and let the boy return to his brothers.

How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No. Do not let me see
the misery that would come upon my father.

" This is a fascinating solution that Judah has. He promises that he himself
will stay and become a slave so that Benjamin can go back. He was the
responsible martyr in the family, but in this case, because of that, because of
his inclination, he does the right thing.

And I want you to notice the difference between the solution that Brother Reuben
had back in chapter 42 when Jacob was worrying about sending Benjamin along and
this solution that Judah has. Reuben's solution, chapter 42 verses 36 to 38,
"Their father Jacob said to them, 'You've deprived me of my children. Joseph is
no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin?

Everything is against me. ' Then Reuben said to his father, 'You may put both of
my sons to death if I don't bring him back to you, and trust him to my care, and
I will bring him back. '" Oh, that's a great offer from Reuben.

Instead of putting himself on the line, he says, "You can kill my two boys if I
don't bring your youngest back. " His commitment wasn't about himself, but about
somebody else. But here is Judah saying, "No, it's me.

I will stay. " That's a different type of commitment. In fact, you see two
different kinds of commitment evidenced here.

One kind of commitment, Reuben's kind is in dramatic words, but Judah's
commitment is in real actions. Reuben's commitment is committing others, but
Judah's commitment is committing himself. Judah acts in these verses out of this
test, and because of this, we're going to find out in the next chapters, Joseph
reveals himself and the family begins to be put back together.

But I have a question for you, maybe a very personal question to you and your
family and your relationships. Here's the question. How would this story have
been different if Judah had not acted?

How would this story have been different if they'd left Benjamin there? They'd
gone back to their father one more time and said one more time, "What could we
do? How could we change things?

What would have happened to this family? What irredeemable possible thing could
have happened to this family's life? " But Judah does act, and it makes all the
difference in the world.

Now here's the personal question. Where do you need to act? Where do you need to
act to make a difference through your commitment?

Not committing somebody else, but you yourself making a commitment. Not a
commitment just in words, but in genuine actions. You've got a family that's
falling apart.

You can't do what everybody else needs to do. You can't forgive if you weren't
the one that was hurt, but you can do what God's called you to do. You can
sacrifice and serve.

You can choose to love. You can make a connection. Maybe it's been a long, long
time since you made a connection with someone in your own family.

You can choose to do what only you can do. And just like Judah, maybe your
commitment is the one that's going to turn the whole family. In this case, it
was the commitment that turned Joseph to be able to forgive and express
forgiveness.

Maybe your commitment, God will use it. However, God might use that invitation
of your commitment. You know what it is that you need to do.

You know who it is that you need to call. You know who it is that you need to
serve. You know how it is that you need to let go of something.

You know who it is that you need to forgive. What would have happened in this
family if Judah hadn't done that? What could happen in your family if you choose
to make that commitment?

What could happen in your relationships? Maybe somebody not in your family, but
a relationship that's broken in your church or with a friend, somebody at work,
somebody at school. What could happen in your relationships when you decide I'm
going to be the one who does the godly thing in this situation?

I can't live out your commitment, but I can live out mine. Would you just ask
Jesus in prayer this simple question? Lord Jesus, what can I do to make a
difference in this relationship?

Help me not to try to do what I cannot do. I can't take your place. I can't even
take the other person's place.

Lord, what can I do? How can I communicate? How can I serve?

How can I show grace? How can I have courage and faith? How can I stop bowing to
the other person's needs always and recognize that God, it's all about you and
not about them?

Lord, what can I do to have faith in this relationship? Will you show me Jesus?
And as you show me, would you help me to live out that commitment?

Not just to talk about it, not to hope that other people will do it. Help me to
live out that commitment. I pray this Jesus in your name.

Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to take a look at what to do when God opens the door
to change.