Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
There are a few lessons here. First of all, you need to plan for times when you won’t be earning. You may lose a job, you might want to retire, or you could find yourself wanting to follow a new passion by starting a new business or go on mission. Joseph was wise to set aside in the good years to pay for the lean years. We should always be thinking about that. Living “paycheck to paycheck” if you don’t have to, is not good stewardship. Secondly, if you fail to do this, you end up selling yourself into slavery, usually to the government. When you place the responsibility of taking care of you in the hands of the government, they will take everything you have. That’s what happened in Egypt, and it took Moses, the plagues, several generations, and an act of God to reverse their troubles. Each person is responsible for themselves and their own family, that’s the best way.
