13 There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 14 Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. 15 When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”

16 “Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.

“And he brought them through that year…” (17a).

There are certain years (or days, or weeks, or months) when you wonder if you’ll make it through. You’re hanging on by your finger-nails. Maybe, like Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:8, you feel “under great pressure, far beyond” your “ability to endure.” Perhaps you can also say, like him, that you despair “even of life.” Paul goes on to say, “Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (verse 9). Then looking back, some time later, you can say, ‘I trusted the Lord and He brought me through that year.’

We are continuing to think of Joseph as a ‘type’ of Christ. Times were desperate in “both Egypt and Canaan” (13). Eventually, when the people had no money, they came to Joseph and said, “Give us food” (15). In the crisis they looked to him, not to themselves. All their hopes were fixed on him. They trusted in him. They were total believers in his wisdom, ability and resourcefulness. They cast themselves upon his mercy, and he did not fail them:

“…he brought them through that year with food…”

So it is with Jesus. If we trust in Him, He will carry us through.

I believe the missionary, Hudson Taylor, was once asked, ‘Is pressure good for you?’ His reply was, ‘Yes, so long as it presses you nearer the heart of God.’

PRAYER: Lord, help me to understand that no problem I face is too big to handle, so long as I look to you for the answer.