Our father and Our brothers.

There are brothers in the Bible who are quite the opposite to each other. The first is Cain. When Cain saw that God blessed Abel and his offering, Cain was angry and he killed his brother, Abel. Genesis chapter 4, verse 9 says, “Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ He said, ‘I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?’” The answer shows sheer negligence, shrugging off his responsibility towards his brother and accountability towards Father God.

Then we have another brother called Reuben, who was in a situation to take his younger brother Benjamin to the ruler of Egypt (he never knew that the ruler was his brother Joseph ) to prove their loyalty and bring food to their family. When Jacob refused because he was afraid of Benjamin's safety, Reuben took accountability to bring him back to their father. Genesis 42, Verse 37 says, “Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, ‘Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him (Benjamin) in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.’” Here Reuben is talking like Moses. We know how Moses requested God to blot his name from the Book of Life to save the Israelites. Reuben here is offering his own sons to his father to bring back his brother to him. But Jacob didn't agree to this plan.

Then as the famine went on, after the food from the first trip was over, the family had no other way but to go back to Egypt to meet Joseph with Benjamin to get the food. This is where, Judah comes into the picture.

Then in Genesis 43:8–10 comes the strongest conversation between Judah and Jacob.

Judah says:

“Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones.”

Then Judah takes personal responsibility:

“I will be a surety for him; from my hand you shall require him.”

And then he says something very powerful:

“If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.”

Here Judah is taking responsibility giving full guarantee and finally gets permission to take Benjamin to Egypt and meet Joseph.

Later, when things go wrong and Joseph plotted Benjamin to be with him in Egypt, again, we can see Judah interceding with Joseph. As Genesis 43 verse 33 says, “Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord... For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me?” This shows how Judah is willing to put himself under risk and be a slave to get his brother Benjamin back home to be with his father.

And here we learn one truth about the heart of the father here. It is in Genesis 43, verse 38. Jacob says, “If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my grey hair with sorrow to the grave.” This is the love of the earthly father.

Hey friend, we too have a responsibility, accountability to our fellow brothers in our own families, in our neighborhoods. What are we doing to take them back to the Father? Are we shrugging off our responsibility like Cain, or are we risking our lives to bring them to the Father like Judah?

And most importantly, do you want to know about the heart of our Heavenly Father? It can be seen in the book of Jonah, where He says the following verse after forgiving the people of Nineveh:

“But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not laboured, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?’”

Jonah is the only book in the Bible that end with a question. Nothing more than these words can melt our heart. We have a good, good Father, and each of our brothers deserves to go back to Him. More than that, our Father deserves them back in His arms.

Dear Father, may our heart melt for what moves You. Help us to use everything we’ve got to bring our brothers back to Your arms. Use us, dear Lord, in ways unimaginable. Hold our hands and guide us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

( Post inspired by Bro.Solomon kings)