Two Types of People Receiving God's Blessing

God wants to give us His unimaginable blessings and the world of God, but we can’t receive these things while in the mold of our thoughts. Therefore, at times, God makes us deny and give up on our selves. Even by looking at Jacob’s life, God first made Jacob deny his thoughts and give up on his self.
Then he received tremendous blessings later on. Since God wants to give those kinds of blessings to us, He is doing the same work in us that He did in Jacob.

Two Types Of Giving Up On One’s Self

When you read the Bible, there are many stories where people receive great blessings in front of God. However, if you look at the actual process of them receiving blessing, they received God’s great blessing when they gave up on their selves and broke free from the bounds of their thoughts. Nevertheless, denying and giving up on one’s self is not something easy to do because Satan had governed and ruled over our hearts for such a long time. Satan makes it so we do not give up on our selves easily by placing the fear that we will die if we give up on our selves. He does this to have us stay within the thoughts he gives us.

There are two broad categories in giving up on one’s self. After Peter denied Jesus three times, his heart crumbled as he realized, “how foolish it was for me to trust my self! I foolishly trusted myself.” Since then, he was led by the Spirit of God, and was greatly used by God as His servant.

Apostle Paul used to believe in his thoughts before he was on his way to Damascus. Thoughts, such as these, would arise in him:
“All the believers of Jesus are liars. They are conmen. How could they lie about Jesus having resurrected? They should all die.”

However, on his way to Damascus, he met Jesus. When Jesus asked him,
“Saul, why do you persecute Me?” Paul asked, “Who are You, Lord?”

Then Jesus replied,
“I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you persecute.”
As Paul heard this, he realized,
“then Jesus is truly alive. I didn’t know this before.”

He then began to change from a person who persecuted Jesus to a person who preached Jesus, being on Jesus’ side. Peter and Paul are cases where they realized their wrongfulness, gave up their selves, and had their hearts crumbled.

In other cases, without they themselves realizing it, God drove them into a difficult situation where they could no longer follow their own thoughts and had them return to Him. This was the case with the prodigal son, the four lepers in Samaria, and Jacob.

“How can I go back like this? If I go to him like this, he will surely hate me. He will kick me out. He will rebuke me saying,
‘why are you coming back like a beggar, having wasted all that money?’”

Since he had these kinds of thoughts, he really didn’t want to return to his father in that image. But God drove the prodigal son into a situation where he could only return to his father. When the prodigal son pondered his situation, he came to the conclusion,
“if I stay here any longer, I will starve to death. In my father’s house, there are many hired servants who have bread enough to spare. Yet I perish with hunger.”

Since he was in a situation where he would only starve to death, there was nothing for him to do but return to his father.

The Reason Why Joseph Wanted Benjamin

It is the same with Jacob’s story in Genesis chapter 43. When Joseph became the governor of Egypt, having piles of food, Jacob’s sons and their families were starving to death. When Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food, Joseph knew that they were his brothers, but couldn’t just come out and say, “I am Joseph.” If he had, his brothers would have recognized Joseph and tried to run away out of fear. “We tried to kill Joseph in the past. Since we sold Joseph, he might kill us and take revenge.”

No matter how fervently Joseph would say that his heart was not that way, if they could not come to know his heart, they would still think, “still, we tried to kill Joseph. Joseph will have hatred towards us. He is a human after all. He will kill us.” So Joseph couldn’t make himself known to his brothers. It was easy to let them know that he was Joseph. But it was difficult to make his brothers understand that he had already forgiven them and didn’t hate them any longer.
Joseph wanted to stay with his brothers in peace until the famine ended. So Joseph demanded his brothers to bring Benjamin because he believed that Benjamin could help him solve the problems between his other brothers and himself since Benjamin was his real brother. So basically, the reason Joseph called for Benjamin was to make his father, Jacob, and his brothers and their families enjoy all the wealth and prosperity in Egypt together with him.

If I Be Bereaved, I Am Bereaved…

However, in spite of all this, Satan put a different thought into Jacob.
“Joseph died, and now Simeon has been taken away. Now they are going to take Benjamin away. No way. I can’t send Benjamin. Not Benjamin! What if something happens to him? What am I to do? No, I can’t send him away.”

So he refused to send Benjamin.
During that time, the food they received from Egypt had run out. The children became poverty-stricken. And one day, Jacob saw his daughter-in-law’s face that had turned pale.
“What happened to your face?”
“Father, I was so hungry that I ate some roots, and I think I got food poisoning.” “Oh, my God.”
A great fear struck Jacob.
“If I go on like this, all my daughters-in-law will die.”
He saw that one of his grandsons couldn’t see well.
“What happened to you?”
“Grandpa, we have been starving for so long. Now I can’t see very well when night falls.”
Jacob thought,
“My grandson is dying of malnutrition. If we go on like this, my daughters-in-law, my sons, and my grandsons will all die. We have to get food from Egypt. There is food in Egypt.”

Joseph told his brothers that they could not see his face unless they brought Benjamin to him. However, Jacob really didn’t want to send Benjamin. Nevertheless, as the famine became more severe, his family could stand it no more. There was no sign of Jacob’s family, sons, or grandchildren getting better. Jacob could only give up Benjamin.

In the end, Jacob made up his mind:
“If I be bereaved of my children, then I am bereaved. Go buy food.”
This was something Jacob wanted to do least of all. To live a spiritual life of receiving God’s blessings, our thoughts and methods must once crumble down, as well as our selves as a whole. Nevertheless, people resist until the end in order to not throw away their thoughts and deny their selves while being deceived by Satan.

God has us throw away our thoughts through two methods. God has us throw away our thoughts by making us realize our wrongdoings and repent like Peter and Apostle Paul. Or, like the four lepers at the gate of Samaria, the prodigal son, and Jacob, God gives us difficult situations where we can only throw away our own hearts.


God’s Blessing That Goes To A Person Who Gave Up On Himself

If Jacob had another way, he would never have sent Benjamin. Then, he would have never met his son, Joseph. And in the end, he would have suffered and died in poverty. God drove him into poverty where he could only give up on his self and throw away his thoughts. Jacob thought,
“if I send Benjamin away, my beloved Benjamin will die. I will suffer and die from the heartbreak of missing him in the rest of my life. Joseph is gone. Simeon is no longer with us. If Benjamin also goes, I cannot live.”

Satan put these kinds of thoughts in Jacob. Nonetheless, God didn’t intend to take Benjamin away from Jacob. But in order for Jacob to receive greater blessings and find his son, Joseph, God allowed these kinds of difficulties.

God wants to give us His unimaginable blessings and the world of God, but we can’t receive these things while in the mold of our thoughts. Therefore, at times, God makes us deny and give up on our selves. So in essence, the grace and blessings of God come upon those who live a life of faith like Jacob of throwing their own thoughts away and giving up on their selves. However, on the contrary, difficulties and sufferings come to those who have not yet denied themselves. After giving up Benjamin, who Jacob did not want to let go of, how many blessings he received. As I see this, I believe there won’t be a greater blessing that you could ever receive other than when you give up on your self.