It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do. “Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt; and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the land. “So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe. “Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about. “Now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. “Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance. “Then let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and let them guard it. “Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.”Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. Genesis 41:28-37 (NAS)
So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered. Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones.Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone.” Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands. “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.” So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s. As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other. Genesis 47:11-21 (NAS)
A lot of times we tend of overlook and ignore principles and overt warnings that are staring us plainly in the face from the precious Word of God. It is so important that we approach what we read each day with the faith that we have been given and the spiritual eyes to understand things (by faith we understand things [Hebrews 11:3]). We’re to be expectant of the fact that our loving heavenly Father will let revelation information leap from those pages and become very, very alive to us.
Considering the verses from Genesis 41 and Genesis 47, I would like to point out that while all was going well for all of us during the years of plenty, a cataract seems to have grown over the eyes of many, which has shrouded and dimmed the near future in our society. Behind the shroud, things are always developing, and suddenly there comes an imminent and virtually unexpected change.
We have enjoyed so many prosperous years here in North America; especially from the 1950’s to the present day. However, please note that in the last several years, while we were being massaged by our overflowing prosperity in every area of our lives, slowly, deceptively and surely, the standard of living that we had been accustomed to has eroded away for many people. Since change seems to be the only constant throughout the universe, we must be careful not to be caught unaware of developing changes in material, economic and social climates.
Information as in Genesis 47:11-21 and Genesis 41:28-37 was placed there as an example to us; a schoolmaster; a teacher (Galatians 3:23,24) – so that we could come to a better place and position than those who did not have such wonderful examples to follow and learn from.
Joseph prepared in the time of prosperity and plenty for the changes to come in the future and he also had a God-given plan to implement. Meanwhile, all the people of the land of Egypt were caught unaware when change appeared out in the open. They did not prepare individually during the time of plenty. If they had done so, each prepared one would have had the same type of provisions as Joseph, his family and the elite rulers of the land when the lean times arrived. They would have been able to draw from their own wisely prepared well guarded storehouses, and not have had to sell off their lands, livestock and their own lives into slavery. Instead they forfeited all; due to lack of preparation.
Some questions that come to mind as I transfer the example into today’s time frame: Will the heaped up savings and finances that are accumulated and entrusted into various institutions eventually be taken for court ordered ‘bail ins’? Will the purchasing power of the currencies be so deteriorated by the Zero Interest Rate Policies while inflation runs rampant though not acknowledged due to over creative accounting practices to hide the truths of the reality of the economic state? What about the equities that some may still hold in higher and higher reaching overextended stock markets? When the bubbles bursts, how severe will the losses be? Are there houses, lands and other wealth that stand to be lost – a life’s hard work confiscated by the lean cows eating up the well favoured cows (Genesis 41:1-7).
Each one of us must make our own plans and decisions to not be caught by surprise by the things that lie in wait. We are meant to be only spectators without access to the secret place of the Most High as we can read in verses 8, 9, 10 of Psalm 91. That is God’s part, which he will do for us. Individually, each one of us has our part alongside with God’s part in this particular scenario. Our part is to wisely prepare, set things into motion, so that He can, according to His unfailing promises, bless the works of our hands and keep us from falling.
Ephesians 5:15-17 sums it up and encourages us onward to live purposefully and wisely, redeem (make good use of) the time, use every opportunity, understand firmly and grasp what the will of the Lord is for us – to continue to walk in blessing and be a blessing.
