ONE TRUE THING

Genesis 41:17-42:17; Matthew 13:24-46; Psalm 18:1-15; Proverbs 4:1-6

“At last the seven years of bumper crops… came to an end. Then the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. The famine also struck all the surrounding countries….”

“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls.  When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!”

Joseph’s true story has a current relevance hard to imagine.  It encourages me to own some tough facts.  First, what is happening today has nothing to do with God abandoning us.  We cannot honestly say we weren’t warned.  For years, a courageous few wisely counseled that we could not continue to break the basic laws of economics without dire consequences.  More than once, I heard God warn me; I just did not want to listen.  Neither did the world.

Second, as many of us look in vain for our “Joseph,” to bail us out, and wonder where God is in all this, we run a real risk of missing a deeper truth.  Joseph’s biography is not just about proactive planning and preparation (though it does speak volumes on the subject!).   At the core, it’s an illustration of how very important it is to put God first. 

It sounds naïve to say that putting God first will help in a recession, but the Bible is proof that it does.  Joseph was not just a smart man, he was an inspired one.  He was always clear that his inspiration, his ability to interpret dreams, was a gift straight from heaven.  It was that inspiration, coupled with Joseph’s own response - hard work and a willingness to swim against the tide of popular opinion – which saved his adopted country and his world.  (Don’t you know those farmers were just delighted to give the government all that grain for its already full-to-bursting storehouses?)  The real point, though, is that for years before, and despite family abandonment, abject poverty (even having his clothes stripped off his back) and imprisonment on a false charge of rape, Joseph had been learning the value of reliance upon God, and never once turned his back on his faith.  It was his “one true thing,” the only thing that kept Joseph afloat through it all.  And it was that “one true thing” that kept the door open to the inspiration that saved the world.

Is it even possible to prepare for seven years of “famine” in this day and age?  Had we asked Joseph the same question as he sat at the bottom of the cistern or in that dank prison, he, too, might have laughed.  But it’s kinda like this.  Years ago, as I was grousing (again!) about our Church’s annual giving campaign, my wife asked, “Who’s to say our investment in Jesus does not pave the way for Him to bless us more?”  I don’t know what would happen if I did not click on “Pay Church” first thing every month.  But I do know this: it has proven to be a far better investment, with far greater returns, that anything the stock market’s done for me lately.