Abundance & Scarcity

Joseph: Seeing Abundance

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”

I remember clearly the day I first got my glasses.

That is, undoubtedly, one of the more famous lines from John Milton’s epic poem, “Paradise Lost.” Milton, there, is talking about Satan, and how he found a way to be dissatisfied even with heaven. I think, however, Milton was really making a more general observation that applies not just to Satan, but to humans as well.

This is the classic “glass half full or half empty” dilemma. The glass, to a large degree, is what we make it. Satan, at least in Milton’s poem, would never have been satisfied with Heaven. He was determined to see it as something abhorrent. This really had little to do with Heaven itself, but rather more to do with the Devil’s own way of looking at things. Likewise, the question of the half full or half empty glass is really a statement more about us than it is the glass.

It’s a question that tries to get at the heart of things: how do you really see the world? Are you an optimist? Or a pessimist?

Joseph, it seems, was a “glass half full” kind of guy. This famine has been going on for several years, and it’s still got several more to come. In the midst of such disaster, it would have been very easy for Joseph not to see the good in things. Yet, Joseph seems determined to find abundance in the midst of scarcity.

Notice that each time the people of Egypt approach Joseph, he doesn’t focus on what they lack, but on what already have:

“We don’t have food, Joseph!”

“No, but you’ve got money, and that can buy food.”

“We don’t have money anymore, Joseph!”

“Maybe not, but you’ve got livestock, and we can trade that for food.”

“We don’t have anymore money, animals, or even land.”

“No, but you can work as indentured servants to pay Pharaoh back for your food.”

No matter how empty the glass seems, Joseph seems intent to focus on what little water is there, and because of that, Joseph is able to provide for the whole land of Egypt until the famine finally ends.

Pharaoh: Fear of Scarcity

Perhaps, as we read this story, you’ve had a few moments of Deja Vu. Almost like you’ve heard this somewhere else in the Bible before!

No doubt, this story is leading up to the Exodus. Now, Joseph is over the land, and it is the Egyptians who must sell themselves into slavery. But in just a few pages, we’ll see the table radically turned: It will be the Egyptians over the land, and the Israelites who are turned to slaves.

A few things, however, are very different between these two stories. First, we should probably address the elephant in the room, and note that even Joseph seems to have enslaved people. Joseph’s slavery, however, was very much unlike Pharaoh’s. While Pharaoh worked the people brutally until they cried out to God, slavery under Joseph was actually perceived as a good thing, and the Egyptians thanked him for finding a way they could work for their food.

It may make us uncomfortable now, but slavery was simply an economic reality at this time period. And, it should be noted, that slavery then was very different than how it has since been practiced. While slavery under Pharaoh certainly does sound a lot like what we’re familiar with in American history, slavery under Joseph was closer to indentured servitude. It was likely not meant to be permanent, but only long enough to pay off debts. And it was certainly not as brutal or harsh as the slavery of Pharaoh.

There’s another key difference here as well, however. Joseph suggested the Egyptians sell themselves into slavery because that’s all they had left to pay with. Joseph saw, even in extreme poverty of the people and the land, something they still had, he looked for abundance and good gifts even in the midst of famine.

The Pharaoh of Exodus, however, enslaved the Israelite people out of a fear or scarcity. He saw the abundance of Israel, and feared that their abundance would lead to his scarcity. In other words, Pharaoh adopted the mindset that there wasn’t enough to go around for both him and the Israelites. Only one person could be king, and the growth of Israel frightened him. He feared he wouldn’t have enough if they rose up and rebelled. He feared he wouldn’t have a big enough army, wouldn’t have enough chariots and horses, wouldn’t have enough to protect him.

This truly is a glass half full or half empty situation. Joseph, even in the midst of famine, was determined to see abundance. Pharaoh would see nothing but scarcity.

We can see the fruit of these two approaches quite clearly. Joseph’s insistence on seeing the abundant ways God provides even in the midst of such scarcity, lead to the salvation of all of Egypt. Pharaoh’s fears of scarcity, however, were ultimately realized.

Has God not Provided?

We very often see the same thing at work in our own lives. How we see the world in large part determines how we experience it. If I wake up in the morning and say boldly, “It’s going to be a good day today,” 9 times out of 10 I’ll have a terrific day. But if I wake up in a foul mood and declare “Today will be terrible!”, you can bet money that my prediction will come true.

Science, in fact, has shown that people who have a more optimistic outlook on life tend to do better. They’re happier, they tend to be more successful, they go farther in life.

There is, of course, the need to be wise though. Even those who look at the glass as half full shouldn’t do so in a naive way. In other words, we can’t simply dismiss with the problems of life. At some point, we do have to recognize that we have needs, that there is trouble, and not everything is running smoothly. The wisdom in seeing the glass half full isn’t to pretend that no water is missing, after all, it is simply to focus on what’s there rather than on what isn’t. Joseph, no doubt, realized that the land was in a time of famine. But rather than bemoaning his ill fate, he instead chose to look for the blessings and abundance still to be found.

Put another way: if you want to build house you need to

This is a lesson we would do well to learn from. Michael Mather, a pastor in Indianapolis, recounts his own experience working in the church:

“At almost every meeting of the congregation…the topic, ‘How can we grow?’ took up all the energy in the room. And the question, ‘In what way are we as a congregation alive?’ didn’t occur to us.

When the church focuses only on what we lack, what we’re really doing is ignoring the work of God among us. When we mourn about how few members we have, what we’re saying, in effect, is that the people here aren’t enough for God to work with. When we cry out about how little money we have, we’re really expressing our doubt that God can truly provide for us.

The danger of this pessimistic attitude is the way it deceives us into thinking that “just a little more” would make us happy. “If we could just get two or three more members, it’d make me feel a lot better.” “If we just had a few hundred dollars more in our bank account, I’d be satisfied.” This is a trick from the Devil himself! This is a Satanic perspective on life! The truth is that no amount will ever satisfy. He who drinks from that fountain will always return thirsty!

And this insipid philosophy of scarcity and cynical pessimism lies at the heart of worldly economics. This Satanic mindset is what drives every economic system of the world. We like to argue about whether Jesus would be a capitalist, or a socialist, or a libertarian, a Republican, or a Democrat. Christ denounces all of these world views. Because, at the heart of each one, the unspoken assumption is that material possessions can satisfy. Whether capitalist or socialist, the world declares that if you only have enough things in your life, you’ll finally be content.

And Christians have fallen for these worldly philosophies hook line and sinker! The result is that we are always looking for what we lack, and never for what God has so graciously provided. The result is that we are convinced we do not have enough, and fail to see the abundance of powerful gifts God has bestowed on his church through the Holy Spirit.

When the Egyptians had no food, they knew to turn to Joseph, God’s own man. When Joseph was imprisoned, or sold into slavery, or facing a seven year famine, he knew to turn to God for wisdom. Yet the church turns to all manner of business models. We keep our eyes set on our lack of material possessions, and become like worldly corporations, black holes of greed whose desires are never satisfied.

A church concerned

But there is only one who can satisfy. There is only one who can fulfill every need and desire. The Devil delights when we look only at the famished land around us. He shouts for joy when we become caught up in our lack of money, or more members, or a flashy big Church building. Satan wants nothing more than for us to stay focused on the parched and dying land, until we waste away.

In the midst of famine, God provided Joseph to feed the hungry, all they had to do was go to him. Likewise, God has provided all the bread the Church will ever need in Jesus Christ, we need only go to him.

And when we get our bread from Jesus and not the world, the Church will find that they’re never hungry again. Not only that, but that we actually have far more than we need!

Bread from Heaven

In the midst of famine, God provided Joseph to feed the hungry, all they had to do was go to him. Likewise, God has provided all the bread the Church will ever need in Jesus Christ, we need only go to him.

And when we get our bread from Jesus and not the world, the Church will find that they’re never hungry again. Not only that, but that we actually have far more than we need!

We don’t have....

But we do have.....

“He who truly loves wisdom is like this: He has nothing, yet has everything; he has everything, yet has nothing…

A- Joseph: Seeing Abundance

B- Pharaoh: Fear of Scarcity

C- Has God not Provided?

D- Widow’s Mite (Mark 12:41-44)

D- Bread from Heaven

D- Looking for the Abundance of God

E- The Church and the Poor

E- Abundance Bears Fruit ()