joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of pharaoh king of egypt. and joseph went out from the presence of pharaoh and went through all the land of egypt. during the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of egypt, and put the food in the cities. he put in every city the food from the fields around it. and joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured. [genesis 41:46-49]
what God says will happen – happens.
the truths of the gospel, found all the through God’s word, require: faith to believe, faith to live in, and faith when we share them with others.
romans 1:16 tells us the gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (believe – to faith or entrust onself to the person and work of Jesus) the Spirit follows up this powerful truth of the gospel in verse 16 with this equally powerful truth of the gospel in verse 17,
for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “the righteous shall live by faith.”
the promise: rescue from God’s judgment only comes by faith. desperate trust that Christ alone can rescue us from God’s judgment and bring us to God is the good news of the gospel.
the call: our whole life is to be lived in faith in this gospel. what saves and reconciles us to God (faith in Jesus) is the same thing that sanctifies and restores us to the very image of God (faith in Jesus). this is our life in Christ. faith.
faith
what does this have to do with joseph? great question …
joseph interpreted pharoh’s dreams and told him – by faith – that there would be 7 years of plenty and then 7 years of famine. based on this interpretation and joseph’s wisdom to battle the famine, joseph was made second in command in egpyt to administer the next 14 years. all of this was done on faith.
i can only imagine that, the first years of these 14, joseph was having to deeply and desperately trust – faith – that the plenty would come and last all seven years. joseph could not know with absolute certainty what would happen or what it would look like. what he did know, God had said it would happen, and he faithed that it would happen.
so each day, he lived by faith that what God said would happen would happen.
and it did.
question.
when you read God’s word and God says ________ will happen – do you by faith – desperately trust in the Lord that it will?
this is the life you were called to live. trusting that because of Jesus, every promise in his word is “yes!” [2 cor 1:20]
Lord,
increase our faith. Increase our desperate and deep trust in the person of Jesus and how his work makes every promise of your word a YES! today increase our faith and help us to live in a desperate trust of the care and power of your presence.
in Jesus powerful name we faith,
amen!