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Relinquishing Worries
Posted by Lev/Christopher on December 14, 2009 at 6:08am in Torah Studies
Parashat Hashavuah
Miketz - מקץ : "At the end"
Torah : Genesis 41:1-44:17
Haftarah : I Kings 3:15-4:1
Gospel : Matthew 21-22
Relinquishing Worries
Thought for the Week
"And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?" (Luke 12:25-26).
Commentary
Their father Jacob said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me." (Genesis 42:36)
The brothers told Jacob that they needed to take Benjamin to Egypt if they were to buy more grain and liberate Simeon. However, Jacob was unwilling to risk Benjamin. Joseph had engineered Benjamin's trip to Egypt in order to test his brothers' hearts. Ironically, it proved to be a test of Jacob's heart as well. "All these things are against me," he bemoaned (Genesis 42:36). Having already suffered the loss of both his wife Rachel and his son Joseph, Jacob could not imagine losing Benjamin. Jacob declared that without Benjamin his life would not be worth living. He would die of grief. Benjamin was a non-negotiable.
If we examine our own hearts, we will find that there are many things that we are unwilling to let go. We all have certain things that are non-negotiable to us. They may be material things, like jobs or possessions, or they may be relationships or they may be loved ones. For parents, it is our children that we continually fret over. The walk of faith demands that we entrust even these non-negotiable things to God and that we learn to rely on Him alone. Sometimes God will ask such things of us simply to teach us to trust Him better. Even if we lose this precious thing, regardless of what it might be, we will still have our Father in heaven. Ultimately, all things are in His hands. When we relinquish our non-negotiables to God, we experience the freedom, confidence and joy that come from really trusting in Him. We can live without the gnawing agony of fear and worry, because we are no longer trying to retain control.
It's not easy to just quit worrying. Jacob was terribly worried about allowing Benjamin to go to Egypt, but in order to save the family from starvation (not to mention liberate Simeon), he had no other choice. According to Rashi, after Jacob had done all that he could by providing his sons with gifts to bring to Egypt, he said, "Now you lack nothing but prayer. I will pray for you." In the text of the Torah, he prays, "May God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin" (Genesis 43:14).
When we have done all that we can do, we should do like Jacob and convert our worries into prayers.
Courtesy of www.ffoz.org
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This page was created on 5 May 2010
Updated on 5 May 2010
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