When the path is clear...

Don't hesitate! 

Genesis 43:1-14(NKJV)
1Now the famine was severe in the land. 
2And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”
3But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 
4If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 
5But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”
6And Israel said, “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?”
7But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
8Then Judah said to Israel his father, “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. 
9I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 
10For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”
11And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 
12Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. 
13Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. 
14And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”

Just so we are all on the same page let me recap the events.  Because of the famine, Jacob/Israel sent all but one of his sons to Egypt to buy grain.  The one he didn't send was the youngest.  He didn't send his youngest because he didn't want anything to happen to him. 

Their brother Joseph who they had sold into slavery is running things in Egypt.  The brothers don't recognize him.  He sells them the grain but keeps two of the brothers and tells the other brothers that they have to bring back the youngest brother for Joseph to see before he will let the two other brothers go.

Now here is where it gets interesting.  Jacob leaves his two older sons sitting in  jail in Egypt.  He is so afraid of something happening to his youngest son that he won't send his youngest son down there to get the other two out.  What does this prove?  What those of us who are older siblings have known for years.  They always love the baby the most!  LOL. 

But seriously, here is a situation where the path is clear to Jacob but he continues to hesitate.  He keeps hoping for the situation to change.  For things to get better.  He thinks about this bad thing that can happen or that bad thing that can happen.  How this or that could go wrong.   But in the end, after all of that mental torment and anguish, Jacob is resigned to take that path anyway.  "If I am bereaved, I am bereaved."

There is a life lesson here folks that we have all probably learned at least once in our lives but bears repeating.  If the path is clear, don't hesitate.  Take the path.  For those of us that have gone through this a time or two what do we find?  Nine times out of ten things turn out fine.  All of those things that we feared would happen, didn't.  All of that time and mental anguish was wasted.  And what about that one out of ten times when things turn out badly?  Well at least you get it over with.  You avoid the weeks or months of torment you put yourself through.

So what is the key to dealing with these situations?  Rely on Jesus to be with you through the whole thing.  As long as you have Jesus by your side, when the path is clear, don't hesitate because Jesus will be there every step of the way to help you deal with it!