The Christian Worker's Spiritual Food: Surviving Tragedy.

Surviving Tragedy. Genesis 47:13-26.

Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. And Joseph gathered up 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. So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed." Genesis 47:13-15(NKJV)

Proceeding this time of famine was a time of plenty; is that not the way it goes in life? There was plenty of grain in the fields and their livestock had room to graze. People were buying land, and fighting to take land; now there had come a famine and all they valued disappeared, it became worthless.

The freest of person, no matter how rich they are, is a slave to their mortality. A person needs food to survive and our source for foods depends on the actions of others. Food must be harvested, transported, cleaned, and packaged, before it makes it to our tables and our world has placed their future in hopes that these chains of commerce to not breakdown.

All we see around us can disappear in moments. Should power grids fail and satellite transmitting end, it would cause a modern day famine. Natural disasters also contribute to desperate times. People are not beyond ruin and their reality is not beyond crashing in around them.

Should our electronics systems fail, ATMs would no longer be able to dispense the money most survive on. Stores would have to rely on a cash system until their supplies were gone. Chaos and looting would ensue and marshal law would have to go into effect and the military would have to replace the departmental police.

Certain collapse of the banking system would occur and the cash in your hand would be worthless. The coins you have saved would be only metal.

In Egypt, the famine had done just that. The money was worthless and the people were worried for their existence. Joseph had become the most trusted man in Egypt and he relied on God for wisdom on what to do.

With Joseph, it all began with a dream of Pharaoh. Joseph was given the interpretation and the dream was a warning from God that famine would occur. Yet though Joseph understood the warning, now he had to see the terrible realities come to pass. Joseph had to continue in faith to trust God for how to react to the circumstances.

Then Joseph said, "Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone." So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year. Genesis 47:16-17(NKJV)

When knowing the famine was eminent, Joseph stored up food in the storehouses of Egypt. Vast quantities he compiled and guarded as precious commodity. He was working for the Pharaoh and as a good workman he used those resources to buy up all the livestock, for that was the only thing of value.

Joseph looked at the future, as reveal by God, and took control of the circumstances. Looking at what was truly valuable; Joseph gathered grain for bread and seed for replanting. When others might stockpile their futures in land, gold, silver, and money; Joseph was able to see what was needed to sustain life.

His situation is not so different from ours. It has been revealed by prophesy and written in our Bibles that when the world reaches the end of days, there will be famine, sickness, and trials of great magnitude. Yet we live in a society that will not even prepare for surviving a minor earthquake. The smallest of tragedies rock our lives and in no way are we ready to survive end times.

When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate." Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands. Genesis 47:18-22(NKJV)

Many people put faith in the land they own; however, as you can see, land loses its value quickly when tragedy strikes. In Canaan and Egypt the fallacy that people owned their own land was most people's conception; however, Governments control our lands and through a deed may hold our name, the ownership of land defaults quickly.

It is also interesting that Joseph used the conception of selling their land for rite of passage into their cities. Some governments have gone out and rounded people up and forces people to become slaves. Yet the finesse of Joseph kept peace amongst the people and made Pharaoh's popularity high.