What have you been delaying because fear has gripped you? In this story we are reading, the food is scarce, and action is needed, but no one is stepping forward, well, no one except Judah.
“Then Judah said to Israel, his father, “Send the boy along with me, and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.” (Genesis 43 v 8-10)
Judah stepped up when everyone else was looking at the ground.
Jacob’s family was starving. The grain was in Egypt, but Benjamin, the youngest, the beloved, could not go unless Judah vouched for him. So Judah offered himself. There are times in our lives when we don’t need advice; we need someone to step forward and be there.
Judah took responsibility. He accepted blame if things went wrong, “… all my life.” Anyone can step forward when there looks like a guarantee of success. That’s not taking responsibility.
Judah decided there would be no more hesitation, for it was costing them. He knew they had to “go at once”. Sometimes courage is immediate.
Judah was the one who had proposed selling his brother Joseph into slavery (this was at the time, out of greed, but it was mixed with the desire not to kill him). Now, he is willing that harm come to himself if something bad happens to Benjamin. This is an offer of redemption.
There are times when the situation needs someone to say, “I’ll go. And if it goes wrong, it’s on me.”
What is fear keeping you from? Who is waiting on you? Is God asking you to step forward? Is He waiting on you also?
Missions Paul 