“TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST, TOUGH PEOPLE DO”
Read Gen. 45:5-7
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON – by Max Lucado
Key Verse: Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do” (Genesis 41:55).
“Consider the crisis of Joseph’s generation.
Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. — (Genesis 47:13). During the time Joseph was struggling to reconcile with his brothers, he was also navigating a catastrophe. It had been two years since the last drop of rain. The sky was endlessly blue. The sun relentlessly hot. Animal carcasses littered the ground, and no hope appeared on the horizon. The land was a dust bowl. No rain meant no farming. No farming meant no food. When people appealed to Pharaoh for help, he said,
“Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do” (Genesis 41:55). Joseph faced a calamity on a global scale.
Yet contrast the description of the problem with the outcome. Years passed, and the people told Joseph, “You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants” (Genesis 47:25). The people remained calm. A society that was ripe for bedlam actually thanked the government rather than attacked it. Makes a person wonder if Joseph ever taught a course in crisis management. If he did, he included the words he told his brothers:
“God sent me before you to preserve life. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you” (Genesis 45:5-7).
Joseph began and ended his crisis assessment with references to God. God preceded the famine. God would outlive the famine. God was all over the famine. “God… famine… God.”
How would you describe your crisis?
“The economy… the economy… the economy… the economy.”
“The divorce… divorce… divorce… divorce.”
“Cranky spouse… cranky spouse… cranky spouse… cranky spouse.”
Do you recite your woes more naturally than you do heaven’s strength? If so, no wonder life is tough. You’re assuming God isn’t in this crisis. He is. Even a famine was fair game for God’s purpose.”
PRAYER: Father, I have decided to change my confessions from today and to see your hand in everything that happens to me.
