Evening, May 21, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“There is grain in Egypt.” — Genesis 42:2

Famine drained all the nations, and it seemed inevitable that Jacob and his family should suffer great hunger; but the God of foreseeing care, who never forgets the chosen objects of his love, had stored a granary for his people by giving the Egyptians warning of the scarcity, and leading them to treasure up the grain of the years of plenty. Jacob expected little of deliverance from Egypt, but there was the grain in store for him. Believer, though all things are apparently against you, rest assured that God has made a reservation on your behalf; in the listing of your sorrows there is a saving clause. Somehow, he will deliver you, and somewhere he will provide for you. The quarter from which your rescue shall arise may be a very unexpected one, but help will assuredly come at the end of your resources, and you shall magnify the name of the Lord. If men do not feed you, ravens shall; and if earth does not yield wheat, heaven shall drop manna on you. Therefore, be of good courage, and rest quietly in the Lord. God can make the sun rise in the west if he pleases, and make the source of distress the channel of delight. The grain in Egypt was completely in the hands of the beloved Joseph; he opened or closed the granaries at will. And so the riches of divine provision are all in the absolute power of our Lord Jesus, who will dispense them liberally to his people. Joseph was abundantly ready to aid his own family; and Jesus is unceasing in his faithful care for his brethren. Our business is to go after the help which is provided for us: we must not sit still despondently, but stir ourselves up. Prayer will bear us soon into the presence of our royal Brother: once before his throne we have only to ask and have: his stores are not exhausted; there is food still; his heart is not hard, he will give the wheat to us. Lord, forgive our unbelief, and this evening compel us to draw largely from your fulness and receive grace for grace.