Que Sera Sera

 Read Genesis 43

Que sera sera,

Whatever will be will be.

That’s a little stoic, don’t you think?

Israel’s family, including his sons and their wives, are out of food.  They can’t go back to Egypt without bringing their youngest brother.

Their brother Simeon is being held pending their return.

Each of the brothers found the silver that they took to Egypt the first time back in their grain sacks.  They might be wanted men if they returned. They didn’t take the silver, but who would believe them.  The lord over Egypt had called them spies.

Rachel is dead. Joseph is presumed dead and now Benjamin will have to go to Egypt with his brothers in order to obtain Simeon’s release and in order to buy food.

Did I mention that everyone was out of food and there was food in Egypt?

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

Do we ever get boxed-in to where it seems like we only have one choice?  Do we make tough decisions when it seems all other alternatives have been stripped away?

Do we ever get to the point where we say, whatever will be will be?

The question is, do we say this with hope or hopelessness?

Hope says that we trust God to be with us even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Hopelessness says that I’m rolling the dice one more time and it’s probably coming up snake eyes but here goes.

Hope or hopelessness?  We face this choice of our disposition when what we can see seems stacked against us.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Even in Israel’s disheartened state, he didn’t want to send Benjamin but had no choice, he asked for God’s mercy and blessing on the trip.

Even in his Que sera sera moment, he called upon the Lord. May God almighty grant you mercy as you face this daunting assignment. Israel prayed that God would grant his children mercy and protection even in the worst situation he could think of.

Trusting in the Lord is not always trusting that he will give us the path that makes the most sense to us or the path of least resistance.  Sometimes, it’s the worst path imaginable, but we trust that God is with us.

We as people of God are a bit confusing sometimes.  We are proactive, putting our gifts and talents to work to produce optimum outcomes; yet we are patient as we wait upon the Lord.

We take everything with which we have been trusted and put it to work.  We want to produce good fruit.  We want to bless the Lord.  We want the assurance that comes with being a child of God.

We also take everything that comes at us and trust in God. We trust God even when all of our gifts, talents, and abilities didn’t get us to where we thought we needed to be.  We trust that God is with us even down the path that goes through the valley of the shadow of death.

It’s not Que sera sera, I’m rolling the dice and things don’t look good.

It’s Que sera sera, the Lord, our God is with us wherever we go.

Whatever will be will be, but my life is in the hands of my God, and I trust my God over my circumstances every day, and twice on Sunday.

Amen.