City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

1Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’ ” 6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” 7 They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”

Genesis 43:1-10

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Matthew 7:24-27

Reflection

“Now the famine was severe in the land.” The Lord saw the famine was going to happen, and instead of preventing it, He revealed it through Joseph to Pharaoh, which resulted in the story we are still reading and talking about today.

There is an old saying that nothing is certain in life except death and taxes. But I think you add adversity to that as well. Jesus said the same thing by implication when He told a parable about two people who built their homes on different foundations and encouraged people to build their lives on obedience to His words. In both examples Jesus gave, the storm came. See Matthew 7:24-27. In a fallen world, adversity is a given.

Application

The story of Joseph is a reminder that God is present even in times of great adversity and suffering. Sometimes He stills the storm, and other times He warns of it, but in all times He is present through it.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for being near in the time of adversity. Amen.