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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?” 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.”

The famous ‘serenity prayer’ was composed by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. It was adopted and popularised by ‘Alcoholics Anonymous.’ You may know it in this form:

‘God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.’

Apparently, when Niebuhr first wrote it he expressed it like this:

‘Father, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other.’

When something obviously has to be done we must get on and do it – even though the doing may be risky, uncomfortable, even unpleasant. It is not enough to only pray about it. Prayer must be combined with action. We are comfortable at home with father. It is pleasant to be in our familiar surroundings. But the bread we need is in Egypt. It is not going to make its way to us on foot. However, we can see our walking boots by the door. So let’s put them on and move. Sitting around looking at each other won’t get the shopping done. It will just bring starvation one day nearer.

PRAYER: Lord God, may we truly have the insight to see what needs to be done, and the courage to do it.

“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

^“41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’ ⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain round his neck. ⁴³ He made him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, ‘Make way!’ Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.⁴⁴ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.’ ⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and travelled throughout Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. ⁴⁸ Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. ⁴⁹ Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure.⁵⁰ Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ⁵¹ Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh^[d] and said, ‘It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.’ ⁵² The second son he named Ephraim and said, ‘It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.’NIV

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28)

Selwyn Hughes wrote that in all of our lives, it is not the circumstances that matter so much as the inner-stances. It is not what happens to us that counts, but how we react, how we respond.

Joseph’s elevation to high office is remarkable. What a reversal of someone’s fortunes! In a sense, he went through years of ‘famine’ before the abundance came into his life. When he was finally ‘successful’, he did not boast, but spoke about God. His testimony was written into the names of his children, proclaiming what God had done for him (50-52).

It is not inevitable that a person will be made fruitful in their land of suffering. While some get better in their troubles, others become bitter. It could go either way. A lot depends on those inner-stances.

Tomorrow we will consider some of Joseph’s inner-stances; we’ll look at a number of his attitudes and actions which I believe contributed to his fruitful life.

^“33 ‘And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. ³⁶ This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.’³⁷ The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. ³⁸ So Pharaoh asked them, ‘Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?’³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.’ ‘ NIV

“Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?” (38).

When Pharaoh spoke these words, he surely had little idea of their full implication? He wasn’t saying what a believer might be expressing in using similar words. He was a pagan king, and he did not have a working knowledge of Biblical theology. But this he did know: there was something different about Joseph. He felt it; sensed it; heard it; saw it. He was different and it had something to do with his God.

So it is that by the Spirit of God any Christian may have an influence on their world: in government, politics, education, in the office or on the shop floor – wherever the will of God may take them.

‘To me, ‘twas not the truth you taught, to you so clear, to me so dim

But when you came to me you brought a sense of Him.

And from your eyes He beckons me,

And from your heart His love is shed,

Till I lose sight of you, and see the Christ instead.’

Prayer: Lord Jesus, may our light so shine before people that, seeing our good deeds, they will glorify the Father in heaven

^“17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, ¹⁸ when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. ¹⁹ After them, seven other cows came up – scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰ The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. ²¹ But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.²² ‘In my dream I saw seven ears of corn, full and good, growing on a single stalk. ²³ After them, seven other ears sprouted – withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. ²⁴ The thin ears of corn swallowed up the seven good ears. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.’²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, ‘The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of corn are seven years; it is one and the same dream. ²⁷ The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterwards are seven years, and so are the seven worthless ears of corn scorched by the east wind: they are seven years of famine.²⁸ ‘It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, ³⁰ but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. ³¹ The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. ³² The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.”NIV

“Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them’’ (29, 30a).

As the chapter unfolds we continue to hear Joseph speaking naturally and easily about God. We saw yesterday that there is nothing manipulative or contrived about his witness. But it is a real and clear witness all the same. He says, it seems to me, as much as is required by the circumstances. He doesn’t try to squeeze into the conversation everything he knows about God, but he says enough. Powerful king that he is, Pharaoh is left in no doubt that he is not in control.

‘Our light must so shine that men may turn from us to Him from whom we have derived it.’ F.B.Meyer.

Life can change in a moment. Let us not take for granted the blessings we enjoy today.

‘See to what changes the comforts of this life are subject. We cannot be sure that to-morrow shall be as this day, or next year as this. We must learn how to want, as well as how to abound. Mark the goodness of God in sending the seven years of plenty before those of famine, that provision might be made.’

If/when ‘famine’ comes, may we be given grace to say:

“Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

    he enables me to tread on the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

“When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing by the Nile, ² when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. ³ After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the river-bank. ⁴ And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.⁵ He fell asleep again and had a second dream: seven ears of corn, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. ⁶ After them, seven other ears of corn sprouted – thin and scorched by the east wind. ⁷ The thin ears of corn swallowed up the seven healthy, full ears. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.⁸ In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, ‘Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. ¹⁰ Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. ¹¹ Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. ¹² Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. ¹³ And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.’¹⁴ So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.’¹⁶ ‘I cannot do it,’ Joseph replied to Pharaoh, ‘but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.’ NIV

‘ ‘I cannot do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires” ‘ (16).

Someone wrote, ‘If the Lord’s going to raise you up let Him raise you up, but whatever you do, don’t raise yourself up.’

That is a very important message. As Pete Scazzero points out in his work on ‘Emotionally healthy spirituality’, there is a tendency in the church to measure success by worldly standards. So we think ‘bigger is better’. But the truth is there are many unknown people, leading small ministries, who are successes in the eyes of God.

Nevertheless, Joseph was one of those who was raised to great authority, responsibility and prominence. He was no longer serving quietly, anonymously in a prison. He now occupied a large stage.

But on the way to getting there he took the opportunity to speak about God in the most natural, easy way. Remember he was speaking to such a powerful man. He was ‘witnessing’ in a pagan (even occultic ) atmosphere. But when the opportunity came his way, he didn’t go into hiding; he didn’t side-step it. He took it with faith, courage and honesty. I’ve often thought about John White’s words that witnessing is primarily about honesty: “This is who I am. I am a believer. I will seek to act and speak accordingly in every circumstance.’

F.B.Meyer wrote: ‘When the heart is full of God, the tongue will be almost obliged to speak of Him…’

Personally, I don’t think we should contrive or manipulate conversations in order to ‘get a word in.’ What I do believe is this: we should live honestly as Christians in the world, and when the open goal- mouth appears (as it surely will) make sure we don’t miss.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ…” (Col.4:2,3).