More on corn...

There is corn in Egypt. (Gen 42:1)

These words were such a comfort to me last night. On the surface...to us modern folk... those words don't seem all that comforting. There is corn in Egypt...ok? There is corn at the Winn-Dixie and the convenience store across the street, too. Taken at face value, there is no great consolation in this word...or even this passage. We don't know famine. We don't know real hunger in the sense that Jacob and his family did. But, if we put it into our frame of reference, substitute actual physical famine and hunger with our own brand of it...it becomes a bit more real and a lot more comforting.

We all know what it is to want something...to long for it...to ache over it very much like these people wanted and longed for ached for food. We each have situations which cause us to long for resolution, answers we hunger to hear, ends we ache to see as reality. To each thing, no matter what it is, the Lord says "There is corn in Egypt!" Not that corn is the solution to all the problems and all the dilemas and all the ills of the world. For Jacob and his family, corn meant they wouldn't starve to death. What is your thing...your corn? Whatever it is, God has it...is preparing it and storing it up and waiting to give it. It might not be where we want it or exactly what we think we need and it might not come from the direction we expect, but, regardless, our needs will be met and satisfied and fulfilled. The corn we get will be more than enough.

Though we can't see any way clear from where we are...our Lord has corn for us in Egypt! He can and will bring help, healing, whatever we need from wherever it needs to come. May we not limit God to the resources WE see. He has cattle on a thousand hills, holds sway over the hearts of pagan kings, and10,000 legions of angels to come our aid...AND He has corn in Egypt!

Now think on this...the sweetest bit of providence in this verse is not just the corn...the hunger met...the prayer answered...but the fact that the Lord took the sin of these men to bring about their blessing and rescue! Jacob's sons sold Joseph into slavery...left him for dead; that is how he wound up in Egypt over Pharoah's house. Through the sins of the brothers, the Lord was making a way to deliver them and meet their needs! What a kind and merciful and longsuffering God we serve! And, He is unchanging...so we can know that what He did for Jacob and his sons...He can and will do for us. He will work in and through even our sin and failings and those of others to bring about our good. Nothing...nothing...nothing can hinder His purposes. And everything...everything...e v e r y t h i n g...that touches us must pass by His hand first. Let us be thankful for today...for the rough and the smooth...let us rejoice knowing that no matter how difficult the path He appoints for us today...He has corn in Egypt! Help is there...on the way...if only we wait on our God!