Times of Plenty & Times of Famine

Genesis 41:17-57 has been one of my favorite passages that I've read so far this year in my daily Bible readings. In this story, Joseph (whose personal struggles and story are pretty amazing all their own up to this point), interprets a dream for Pharaoh. In his dream, Pharaoh encounters seven fat, healthy cows followed by seven ugly, scrawny cows; he also sees seven full, good heads of grain followed byseven withered, thin heads of grain. Joseph tells Pharaoh, 


"The dreams of Pharaoh are on in the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one in the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows thatcame up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine... Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them."

Joseph tells Pharaoh that he should choose a wise man to take control of the situation and lead Egypt through this time of abundance and famine. Pharaoh chooses Joseph, (pretty smart move). Joseph handles the situation in a way that I think teaches a valuable lesson for everyone, especially in today's society:

"And Joseph went out from Pharaoh's presence and traveled throughout Egypt. Duringthe seven years of abundance the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all of the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and stored it in the cities... Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea... The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and seven years of faminebegan, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food."

To me, two valuable lessons stick out at me from this story. Lesson #1: Obvious- get while the gettin's good, but make sure to prepare for the future. This was actually the topic of one of our church sermons a few weeks ago, preparing for the future financially. We try to be good stewards with our money. We pay our bills, we try to save as much as we can, and most importantly we tithe every week. (Therewas a time when tithing, like daily Bible reading, made it to the bottom of my priority list, and I can attest to the fact that tithing makes all the difference.After all, if God can't trust you with what he does give you, why should he give you any more?) Storing up the abundance we are blessed with now is so crucial because we never know when something might change and we are in a worse situation that isn't as abundant. After all, the times we think are times of famine could really be times of abundance, it is just our job to realize it and be good stewards. Which brings me to lesson #2.

Had you asked me 6 months ago I would have probably said that the phase I was in personally in my life at the time was a time of famine, but I would have been completely wrong. Lesson #2: 'Abundance' does not solely mean monetary wealth. Getting married and finishing school, waiting on full-time jobs and learning to balance the rent, insurance, car payment, and all of life's 'necessities' has produced it's fair share of financial challenges along the way- but there is so much more to living an abundant life than having a lot of money. Justin and I are incredibly blessed that we are able to make enough money to pay all of our bills on time, we don't have any debts, and we still have money left over to do things we enjoy, but we are by no means wealthy when it comes to money. The things we arerich in are so much better though: love, joy, happiness, peace. We have great families and friends who care about us. We have each other forever and ever <3 We have Chloe :) Most importantly, we have God in our lives to guide us, to protect us, to provide for us- the way he did for Egypt.