Do you know that experience when ordinary life has to take a back seat? The rules change. Yesterday’s security has gone, and today we need new rules.
The famine has gripped the land, and the people, stripped of resources, are left with few options; they have only one thing on their minds: survival. They come to Joseph.
“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.” (Genesis 47 v 15-17)
Livestock is the currency in a famine, not money.
But in a moment like this, when our world is completely upside down and what we relied on isn’t there anymore, what do we do?
What do we cling to when everything else fails?
What are we willing to trade just to make it through another day?
Survival often demands sacrifice.
Around the world, people still trade long-term security for short-term survival. They sell land, possessions, even their dignity, just to eat.
In this famine, we are reading that these people do not perish; provision comes, at a cost, but it comes.
I wonder what you think of this story. Preserving life is what Joseph did, but it came at a cost, maybe of their dignity and future hope.
These verses bring us to the point where we ask ourselves the kind of stewards we want to become when resources and compassion are both in our hands.
What do we cling to when everything else fails? What are we willing to trade just to make it through another day? When we are the ones with food in our hands and people at our door, what kind of stewards will we be?
I am posting this link for a few weeks to ask you to contribute to a cause that is so important and to spur me up a hill in June!
Missions Paul 