What God Desires for His Own In Famine

Good evening, everyone. I mean to keep this post brief, but I do wish to make good on what I said I would post on earlier about 'God's providence even in earthly things'.

Some people believe that the faithful should have little. Personally, I believe that our Heavenly Father desires that we should prosper, that we should have abundance. Why would He want this? For multiple reasons. He wants us to be happy (simple reason, that!); however, sometimes we let material goods get in the way of that, and in the way of our faithfulness and grace, in the way of our relationship with Him; in these cases, He will allow us to be humbled (I believe this may have been what happened to Israel in Egypt, in Exodus). More importantly, though, He wants us to minister unto those in need, to be a blessing to them, that we may help bring them to Him. Further, He wants His people to not only be blessed and to be a blessing to others, but He wants us to LOOK blessed, that people can see Him and His ways in us along with the blessings that go with them, and choose His ways for themselves.

As far as the Scripture references for tonight, I have only two: one from the Psalms, and one from Genesis.


First, Psalms 37 tells us about God upholding His people and doing away with evil and wickedness. The verses in particular I want to point out are Psalms 37:18-19:

The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.
They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

Next, let's look at what the word 'satisfied' really means here:
Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament):

• saba' (the word used for satisfied here; a primitive root meaning 'to sate', 'to fill to satisfaction').

This is hardly saying that His people will only be sustained! But do we have an example of what is being described here?


I believe that we do, in Genesis 45:16-20. For backstory, read Genesis 41, which describes the events leading up to the famine; or Genesis 37 on, which shows how Joseph was sold into slavery, which ultimately led to his rising to authority in Egypt (in 41).

After Joseph reunites with his brothers, Genesis 45:16-20 writes:

And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.

This sounds very similar to the idea of being 'filled to satisfaction' to me, and it is certainly in the context of a famine.


One could argue that this ultimately led to the bondage of Israel in Egypt described in Exodus; however, I would tend to disagree, and would believe that an insufficiency in teaching their children to be faithful is a more likely culprit, especially when considered in the context of the troubles the people gave Moses and Aaron after their exodus.


As always, intelligent and/or non-negative feedback is welcome, in agreement or otherwise.