Genesis 41 records a very similar situation that we are facing today and so, there is wisdom we can take from it to apply to what we are facing now.
“Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”” Genesis 41:33-36 ESV
This time of restricted movement has caused us to take measures that are unique but necessary. Storing up food is one of them, which was what Joseph advised Pharaoh to do. The proportion of grain to store for a nation to last for 7 years must be immense!
However we must also understand the deeper lesson of the narrative and how it ties into what Christians going through this Covid-19 crises ought to do.
Within a span of a few verses, Joseph gives a supernatural interpretation of a dream and a human strategy in response to what the interpretation revealed. In today’s terminology, Joseph exercised something we refer to as a spiritual gifting.
Joseph, however, also gave Pharaoh some practical advice, something we would understand as human strategy, involving government measures, economic planning and society cooperation. In effect, he implemented a 20% “taxation” on ancient Egypt’s GDP. If you read on in chapter 41, the 20% collected of the 7 years resulted in an abundance so much so there was enough to sell to even sell to foreign nations.
However the Bible also recognises administration as a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:28) and I have reason to think that God also bestowed this gifting to Joseph. Genesis 39:2-3 records that, “The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.” Does this not sound like a gift of administration? Although 1 Corinthians mentions this gifting in context of church edification, so are working of miracles which are found all over the Old Testament.
As Christians, let us not only think about having faith and miraculous works to happen. In this time of battling the virus, we also need good planning and foresight. We need to understand what strategies are taken in order to help everyone in our communities and beyond. We need to have discernment of what God is doing and what tangible and practical actions He wants us to take. These are also proof of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
We all need to exercise the “obvious” spiritual giftings together with the “less prominent” ones in times like these. They go hand in hand. Miracles with administration. Faith with helps. Above all, all these giftings need to be accompanied with love.
“And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 ESV
Despite social distancing being in force, think of ways we can show love to people around us, without having to be within 1m of them! I won’t be surprised if the Holy Spirit starts to work through us with His gifting and bring about fruit and salvation in people around us.
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