Loading... Genesis 47:15 - FOR THE MONEY FAILETH
Thursday, April 30th, 2009Genesis 47:15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? For the money faileth.
The land of Egypt was in the midst of a seven year famine. Before God allowed the Egyptians to suffer for seven years, the Lord had blessed them with seven years of abundant harvests. However, even though everyone prospered for many years, the Egyptians were not prepared to purchase grain for seven years. Joseph had saved enough grain for everyone to purchase, but the Egyptians had spent their money and did not have enough reserves to enable them to survive during the difficult years.
The Egyptians knew that Joseph was building storehouses to prepare for seven years of famine, yet they did not prepare their personal finances to weather the difficult times. The Egyptians apparently enjoyed the times of great harvest and spent the money from the harvest. Now the Egyptians were hungry and did not have the means to purchase any food.
The more one studies history, the more one learns that things do not change. Currently there is a great downturn in the economy. Many people lived very well during the times of great financial prosperity. However, many of those people did not prepare for a financial downturn in the economy even though the financial markets have often had corrections.
Christ taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that we cannot have two masters, either we serve God or we serve the gods of this world. If our focus is upon our desires and how we might obtain them, we will soon lose sight of God and his desires for our lives. If our focus is upon money and the gods of this world, we will live for ourselves and we will fail to properly prepare for the things God has in store for us.
When King Ahab had sinned and God punished him by bringing a drought into the land, we see that Ahab spent his time trying to find Elijah to punish him. Ahab also spent his time trying to find water rather than repenting and getting his heart right with the Lord. The Lord was bringing a great famine upon the nation of Israel and they were so caught up in the fact that they did not have food that they failed to cry out to God for deliverance.
When difficult circumstances occur in your life, you need to cry out to God. God is the only one who can save you. God is the only one who can rescue you from your present distress. You may have sinned and violated the perfect plan of God; nonetheless, HE is faithful and just to forgive you and to save you from all unrighteousness.
Stop focusing upon the gods of this world. When you add temperance to your life, you enable yourself to say no to the things of this world and yes to the things of God. The world has much to offer you, but after you partake of the things of this world, you will find that they do not satisfy and you will find yourself continuing to long for that which does not satisfy. When you seek first the kingdom of God, you find true contentment and peace that passeth all understanding.
The Egyptians had squandered their possessions and found themselves in a very difficult situation. However, even though they were in a difficult situation, they tried to satisfy their problem with their own strength. They refused to learn; they refused to change from their wicked ways and turn to the God of Joseph who had prepared a way to escape.