““Then my father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife had two sons, and one of them went away and never returned. Doubtless he was torn to pieces by some wild animal. I have never seen him since. Now if you take his brother away from me, and any harm comes to him, you will send this grieving, white-haired man to his grave. ’ “And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my father without the boy. OUR FATHER’S LIFE IS BOUND UP in the boy’s life. If he sees that the boy is not with us, our father will die. We, your servants, will indeed be responsible for sending that grieving, white-haired man to his grave. My lord, I guaranteed to my father that I would take care of the boy. I told him, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, I will bear the blame forever.’ “So please, my lord, let me stay here as a slave instead of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. For how can I return to my father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear to see the anguish this would cause my father!”” (Genesis 44:27-34 NLT)

After the loss of Joseph, Israel became overly attached and protective of Joseph’s full brother, Benjamin. We know from other things said by Israel that he loves his other children and grandchildren, but his grief over Joseph has hindered his affections for them and lead to his becoming all “bound up” in Benjamin; just as the death of Rachel lead to him being bound up in Joseph, thus causing the jealous out-lashing of the others that sent Joseph into captivity.

Two thoughts come as I consider this highlighted passage. First, like was Israel’s need, we need to be careful to not be all bound up. When that happens to a person, we chance putting too much into one child, friend, object, to the neglect of others. We also chance that person or object slipping into the position of an idol that gets lifted up above our God in our desires and affections. Thus we must take care to watch what is binding us up.

The other thought that came to heart is this: with Father God, being bound up in His child is totally different and doable. God is all in all, without limits. While He gives His all to you, He can still give His all to me simultaneously. He can and, I believe, IS all bound up in each of us who truly and wholeheartedly seek after and look to Him as Father.

While we must watch against being detrimentally bound up, Father gives His all to all. We never have to feel neglected by Him or jealous of other’s relationship with Him. We simply need to seek Him for ourselves with the assurance that we will find Him as we search for Him with our all bound up in Him. When we are bound up in Him Who is all, in all, He will equip us to rightly bind with others.