A Little Present

And 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. Genesis 43:11

A gift, the little comes from the balm and honey, but the gift itself was no small matter. Israel and his family were in trouble and they wanted some help from the man. So, Israel told his sons to take a gift to the man to open a second round of negotiations. They were hoping for much more in return, so they grabbed up some nice things from a land in famine. I wonder if salvation could work the same way?

Hardly. When we come to the Lord Jesus and offer up all that we have, we only offer the famine. No sweet honey, no soothing balm, just the contents of an empty cupboard do we offer our Lord in exchange for eternal life. We offer up no righteousness for Him to build on and no justice for Him to share. We might try to promise things that will be, such as what a great missionary we will be after He does the saving bit, but that is offering Him the future which only He can give. Pistachio nuts and almonds are quite tasty, what we offer our Lord to save is vile and repugnant. Yet, there is our Lord Jesus saving all who come to Him and call on His name. No best fruits do we have to offer, only the worst of sinners, and still the lovingkindness of the Lord saves all those who come to Him. What an amazing Lord we serve!

Thank you for all the kind birthday wishes yesterday!
Bucky