Who’s ready for some spiritual actionism? We’ve been studying the story of Joseph from the Old Testament in Sunday School the last couple of weeks. Today’s lesson was, among other things, a great lesson in planning ahead and managing resources. The text was Genesis 41:1-7 and the lesson emphasized saving up when times are good to sustain you during those times when things aren’t going so great. You’ll want to read chapters 39, 40 and 41 in their entirety to get proper context and background but here’s the gist of it.
After having been betrayed by his jealous stepbrothers and sold into slavery, Joseph landed in prison, after a series of events including being put in charge of the home of the captain of the king’s guard. He was falsely accused of a sexual crime by that man’s wife. The accusation led to his being imprisoned and to the opportunity to witness to his fellow prisoners by interpreting their dreams. Joseph eventually found himself in the court of the Pharaoh of that time (scholars aren’t definite on his identity) because of this God given gift of dream interpretation. How did he go from jail cell to throne room?
Pharaoh had two bad dreams which had awakened him and his court wize men and magicians couldn’t interpret what troubled him. Joseph’s reputation for handling such situations got him released from prison and ushered into the ruler’s presence. After Joseph told him the meaning of and impending manifestation of the dreams - seven years of “plenty” followed by seven years of “famine” - the king realized that Joseph was just the guy to handle getting Egypt thru this period.
After being place second in command of the country, subordinate to Pharaoh only, Joseph had the country save 20% of grain resources during each of the seven bountiful years. This would serve to cushion the blow of seven years of famine that would follow.
It’s an easy lesson to apply to our lives. Are you living in financially blissful ignorance or are you preparing for the tough times that will come from time to time? The Egyptian Pharaoh was fortunate enough to have fair warning and a specific 14 year timeline to follow. He was smart enough to acknowledge it and save his country from ruin. We’re typically not going to get such a direct word from God but we have great scriptural examples like this and others to guide us and it behooves us to follow them.
Tomorrow I’ll share the perfect sermon follow up to Sunday school. Our pastor preached on “The Gambling Craze”. In the mean time though, how’s your pre-emptive planning coming along?
