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“When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you just keep looking at each other?’ ² He continued, ‘I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.’³ Then ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.”NIV

“When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt…” (1).

People know they want and need food, and if they lack it they will go where they can find it. This same principle applies spiritually.

Clearing out some old papers the other day, I came across a prophetic word, given in our church by a visiting speaker on 6^th December1992. Someone in the congregation, who happened to know shorthand, wrote it down and afterwards gave me a copy. It included these words:

‘I am your God who will uphold you and strengthen you and carry you through. There are days coming in the Church in this nation, and the signs are already being seen, when there will be a famine of the Word of God. I have been moving amongst my people, and preparing an oasis in the wilderness. I have been preparing for that time, so there may still be food in my house for my children.’

Jacob sent his sons to where the food was.

There is so much about today’s culture that is trite and superficial and empty. People are ‘discipled’ by this crass material all day long; they are shaped by it. They are fed on this diet of junk food, and it does not satisfy their gnawing inner hunger. When the church tries to ape the world in its approach, placing style over substance, it is not doing ‘the starving’ any favours. It is in fact failing in its core mission.

One of the main features of the first Christian church in Jerusalem was their devotion to Scripture (see Acts 2:42-47). It wasn’t just about the Bible teaching. There were other key elements such as a close-knit fellowship and prayer. But the leaders spent lots of time in the kitchen preparing tasty, nutritious ‘meals’, and the people happily gathered around the table to ‘eat’.

I have long believed that the hungry will go to where they will find food.

Of course, it is not simply the Bible we need – it is rather the Christ who is at the heart of Scripture. He is the true Bread from heaven.

PRAYER: Lord, may your churches be places where the hungry find food.

“And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world.”

Matthew Henry makes the excellent point that while Joseph was doing all this, his father thought he was dead and was grieving accordingly (see 42:36,38). He writes these words:

‘What a large portion of our troubles would be done away if we knew the whole truth!’

That is worth thinking through. We can cause ourselves great unhappiness because we believe certain things to be true when they are untrue (or only partially true).

I was also thinking that we Christians are capable of acting like Jesus is dead when He really is alive.

PRAYER: Lord, please lead us out of darkness into the full brilliant glare of your shining truth.

^“53 The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. ⁵⁵ When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.’⁵⁶ When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. ⁵⁷ And all the world came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.” NIV

“Go to Joseph and do what he tells you” (55)

If things seem to be going wrong in your life this does not necessarily mean God is not with you; that His Hand is not on you. Consider Joseph. So much ‘went wrong’ in his story on the way to everything being set ‘right’. But we know that God was with him in the valleys as surely as He was on the mountain. God was working out His great, mysterious purposes in all things.

On the summit of the mountain is where we now find Joseph. He was raised to extraordinarily high office (41-44), but it was not for his own sake. He was there for others; placed there to ‘feed them world’.

There are so many similarities between the Joseph account and that of the life of Christ. Joseph stands, in Scripture, as one of the great types of Christ. As I look at verse 55, I feel I hear God saying, ‘Go to Jesus and do what He tells you.’ Jesus is “…the bread of life” (John 6:35). He is so much more than Joseph. We don’t simply come to Him for bread – He is the bread we come for. Those who come to Him will never go hungry, and those who believe in Him will never be thirsty.

The bread Joseph provided was not just for the Egyptians (55), but for “the world” (57). Similarly, Jesus said:

“This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

‘There is a famine of the bread of life throughout the whole earth. Go to Jesus, and what he bids you, do. Attend to His voice, apply to him; he will open his treasures, and satisfy with goodness the hungry soul of every age and nation, without money and without price. But those who slight this provision must starve, and his enemies will be destroyed.’ Matthew Henry.

Prayer: ‘Bread of heaven…feed me now and evermore.’

The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

Yesterday I quoted Selwyn Hughes’ words about how its not our circumstances that matter so much as our inner-stances. Joseph exemplifies this principle, and here are, I believe, a number of his inner-stances. Doing these things helped him to co-operate with God in the process of becoming fruitful in his ‘land of suffering’:

• He held on tight to his dreams. By which I mean to say he gripped hold of the promises of God. Joseph’s dreams were revelatory. They were the word of God to him;
• He patiently waited for what God had said to come to pass. He did not lose heart or hope;
• He faithfully served wherever he found himself. In Potiphar’s home and the prison house; in favourable circumstances and in unfavourable, he took the opportunity to bless others;
• He considered not only his own interests but also the interests of others (See Philippians 2:1-5);
• He lived with a strong consciousness of God. This is even reflected in the naming of his sons;
• He resisted temptation when it came his way. In times of stress we can be savagely and surprisingly assaulted by all manner of temptations. Joseph found strength in God to walk away – indeed, to run!

PRAYER: Lord God, I do not know what may come my way in life, but my prayer is that I will be so inwardly strong in you that I will glorify you in whatever circumstances I may find myself