READING:
One-year plan: Genesis 41-43
Two-year plan: Ezra 1:1-2:31, Acts 10:9-33
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The problem in today’s reading was a severe—and obvious—one, as evidenced by the repetition of the scriptures:
- “there was famine in every land” (Gen 41:54)
- “the whole land of Egypt was stricken with famine” (Gen 41:55)
- “now the famine had spread across the whole region” (Gen 41:56)
- “the famine was severe in the land of Egypt” (Gen 41:56)
- “the famine was severe in every land” (Gen 41:57)
So great was the famine that only Joseph’s wise stewardship of previous years of harvest provided any food at all. He had kept the food in storehouses, and “every land came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain” (Gen 41:57). Every land, though, apparently didn’t include Jacob’s family, as evidenced in Jacob’s question to his sons: “When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you keep looking at each other?’” (Gen 42:1). It is not clear what the brothers were doing when they could have been finding food for their family, but they were seemingly passive in a growing crisis.
Lest we judge the brothers too harshly, however, I wonder if God might ever want to say to us, “Why do you keep looking at each other?” Does He consider that question when the world is dying lost around us, but we do little about it? When our pastors challenge us to get involved, but we wait for others to take on the tasks? Sometimes, our inactivity in a dark world is inconceivable.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Is there any place in your life where your inactivity makes little sense?
DAILY PRAYER: “Father, give me wisdom to respond appropriately to crisis.”
TOMORROW’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Genesis 44-47
Two-year plan: Ezra 2:32-4:5, Acts 10:34-43
MEMORIZATION VERSE (JAN 1-15):
“A son was born to Seth also, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.” (Gen 4:26)
*portions first published in 2018
