My grandchildren were telling me of the play that was put on in the
opening of their Sunday School. It seems that a man heard of an umbrella
that was guaranteed to keep you dry, but after he bought one he went out in
the rain and got soaked. He brought it back and was informed that he had to
hold it over his head to be of any use. He went off with it over his head and
still got wet. Back again he came and was further informed that he had to
open it up to achieve its purpose.
Without proper information the umbrella was not only useless, but it was a
downright nuisance, for it gave false hope and led the man to getting wetter
than he ever would have without the umbrella. Without it he would not have
been so foolishly traipsing around in the rain. The solution to his problem was
found in information. When you know how to use an umbrella, or any other
tool, you can enjoy the benefit for which it was designed. Ignorance keeps us
in the dark, and in bondage, but information can turn on the light and set us
free to take intelligent action. That is exactly what we see happening in this
family drama of Jacob and his 12 sons. It was by means of information that
God worked out His plan for this special family.
We are not told how Jacob got the information that there was grain in
Egypt. There are traditions that Joseph had the chaff of the grain thrown into
the Nile so that people who lived down stream would know there was grain
available. But this would be of no help to Jacob up in Canaan, which was 250
miles North. More than likely it was a caravan travelling through from Egypt
that spread the word. By some means Jacob got this information and it was by
means of that information that God's will was accomplished in saving the
people of Israel. We tend to think that God guides us in life by some mystical
method, and we forget that all through the Bible the primary way God
providentially leads His people is by just plain old practical down to earth
information.
The unusual is also real of course, but it is unusual. Joseph had to have the
special gift of inspiration to get to the place of authority he had arrived at. He
was given the ability to interpret dreams and this got him to the top. But once
there we never read of Joseph interpreting another dream. It was a unique gift
given for a specific purpose. Once achieved Joseph had to discover the will of
God like everyone else, and that was by seeking information. He was the prime
minister of Egypt by inspiration, but the only way he could know if his father
Jacob was alive, and if his brother Benjamin was alive, is by an elaborate
scheme to get this information through his brothers. God did not give him any
power to discern such information without human help.
Just as Jacob had to learn that grain was available in Egypt, so Joseph had
to learn his father and brother was alive. Most of what we know to be the will
of God will come to all of us through the information we learn. We need to get
God's will the old fashioned way-we learn it. Many will ask, where does God
want me to go to school? You have to get information to know what school
offers what you are aiming for, and what school can you afford. God is not
going to lead you without information, for He guides by means of information.
You have to know something about a school before you can even pray about it.
It is not likely that it is God's will that you just pack up and go off to a school
that you know nothing about. You have to have information, and by means of
information God will give guidance. The same holds true for many others
questions in which you are seeking guidance. You start with information.
The will of God does not just float down from the sky on heavenly
parchment. It is in books, tapes, papers, experience, lectures, sermons, advice,
and every other source of information you can imagine. It may come by word
of mouth as it did to Jacob. It may come by an elaborate dream as it did to
Joseph. It may be a long and laborious process of research, but one way or
another we need information to know and be in God's will.
The only way any of us are in the family of God is because of information.
The Gospel is good news and by some means we heard this good news and
received Jesus as our Savior. The experience of being saved come by means of
wonderful information that gives us the choice to receive God's gift of eternal
life in Jesus. Nobody is ever saved if they have not been informed that Jesus
died for them and rose again to give them eternal life. Without this
information nobody can put their faith in Jesus. The biggest issues of life
revolve around information. Life is full of decisions and the first thing people
look for to help in making wise decisions is information.
Even steps of faith are taken based on information. Some need more
information than others in order to act in faith. Abraham was a great man of
faith, for all he needed to know was that an act was God's will. He did not
need to informed of all the details. He just knew God had called him to leave
his country and people and go to Canaan. He did not know just where, and so
with great gaps in his information he still went out not knowing. He did not
know how God was going to bless the world through his seed if he sacrificed
Isaac. He knew God could raise him from the dead if that was His plan, but he
did not know. All he knew was that it was God's will for him to surrender his
best to God, and with that information he responded in faith.
Faith always has to have some information to act. It is presumption to
have faith without information. To say that you will eat this wild mushroom
in faith believing God will spare you is presumption. The odds are good that
you will get sick or die. There is no basis for such blind faith in the Bible. If
someone who is an authority on these things says it is a safe kind of
mushroom, then you have a basis for acting in faith that they are giving you
true information.
Thomas Edison was having pain in his legs. His doctor felt it was the
result of a secondary infection from abscessed teeth. The only way to prove
this was to take x-rays of his teeth. Edison did not want to have x-rays
because in his early days he had experimented before they knew how to
protect people, and his men had suffered damage to their hands, and had
other injuries. So he told them just to pull out all his teeth. The doctor was
shocked and reluctant, but he did do it. Five of the teeth were abscessed, and
were pouring infection into Edison system. After the extraction of his teeth
the pain in his legs cleared up.
It was an act of faith for both the doctor and Edison, but it was an
informed act of faith. They may not always be right, but informed guesses do
give a basis for action. For some the information can be ever so slight, and
they are ready to move in that direction. For others, like Jacob, who was a
pessimist, the information had to be overwhelming to get him to move. In
chapter 45 when the 10 sons came back from Egypt knowing Joseph is alive
we read in verse 26 that Jacob was stunned and did not believe them. It goes
on to say that they had to give him all the information about what was said,
and show him all that Joseph had sent back with them. They had to
overwhelm him with evidence before he believed. He finally came around and
was convinced, but it took a lot of information.
What we need to see is that this whole selection of the Bible is information
oriented rather than faith oriented. Faith is here, but it is weak. It mustard
size faith which only acts when there is a great deal of information. This is
how life usually is, and so we have a portrayal of typical life in these chapters
where life revolves around the search for adequate information. We see from
these chapters that people have always lives in a information society. The
Pharaoh needed information on what his dream meant. Joseph was able to
give him the information he needed, and based on that information the
economy was altered. For the next 14 years Joseph was managing a project
that saved the world and the people of God. Without the privileged
information he was given there is no way to know the extent of the damage
that would have been. It was a case of salvation by information.
Then Joseph had to learn if his father and brother were still alive and well.
That search for this vital information becomes the basis for several chapters of
Genesis. That is the purpose behind his act as a stranger to his brothers. He
had to get this information before he could be himself. God's will was being
accomplished, but each step was only taken when adequate information for
that step was gained. Nobody was taking leaps of faith, but each character in
this drama is taking only the steps that are based on information. It was the
primary means of God's will be achieved then, and it is still the primary means
for us to achieve God's will. The reason we study the Bible is because it is the
key source of information on the mind of God. To know how God feels about
anything we need the information we can get only in the Bible. We cannot
please God and achieve the highest goals of life without this information.
Noah would not have spent 120 years building an ark if he had not been
informed by God that a flood was coming. None of the prophets would have
had the audacity to proclaim what they did if they had not been first informed
as to what God was going to do in the future. All that Jesus did for our
salvation He did with the knowledge that it would lead to eternal life for those
who trust Him. He was not just taking a leap of faith. He was fully informed
of the consequences of the incarnation and crucifixion before He came into the
world.
These closing chapters of Genesis are part of the whole salvation plan for
the world, and step by step the plan unfolded by each person acting on their
information. This is how God works in history. We sometimes get the
mistaken idea that God works through miracles to get His will done in history,
but the fact is that miracles are rare. The primary tool by which God works is
information.
Christopher Columbus did not want to sail off into the unknown on a
whim. He had reason to believe that the world was round and that he could
sail West and find the lands to the East. He was a map maker and had the
information of the ancients at his disposal. Eratosthenes was the Greek
geographer 2000 years before him. He had calculated the circumference of the
earth to within 10 per cent of its actual dimensions. He knew about the Dutch
expedition that had discovered the islands of Labrador 8 years before. He
knew about the craved drift wood that had washed up on shore in the Azores.
Columbus was no crackpot dreamer. He was an informed geographer.
His dream was based on solid information that said his dream could come true
if he acted on it. He also believed strongly that God was calling him to take
the light of Christ to the ends of the world. Christopher means Christ-bearer.
God did not call a candle maker or saddle maker, or anyone of hundreds of
other professions. He called a map maker, for he had information about the
very subject that was at issue. Only a man with his information could have
had the faith to stick it out when all the rest of the crew was ready to throw in
the towel and abandon the effort.
The dream of Columbus was threatened by storms, mutiny, and hardships
galore. The misinformed could not take the pressure, and his partners, the
Pinzon brothers, forced him into an agreement to turn back if land was not
sighted in 3 more days. On the 12th they were to end the mission and head
home. On the 11th God gave them all what they needed to press on. Those on
board the Pinta found a piece of wood obvious craved by a man. On the Nina
they found a small twig with roses on it. This evidence was the information
they all needed for faith. The whole atmosphere was changed, and now
everyone had the faith of Columbus.
They were so excited that no one wanted to take in the sails for the night.
They just went plugging into the darkness knowing that land had to be near.
On that 12th day land was found, and they were all laughing, dancing and
rejoicing. Columbus was the first to set foot on the dry land. He carried a
huge white banner with a green cross. He christened the island San
Salvador-Holy Savior. All his men knelt with tears in their eyes and he
prayed, "O Lord, almighty and everlasting God, by thy holy Word thou hast
created the heaven and the earth, and the sea; blessed be thy name, and praise
be thy majesty, which hath deigned to use us, thy humble servants, that thy
holy name may be proclaimed in this 2nd part of the earth."
I share this fascinating history because of the parallel with our text. God's
goal was to get the whole family of Jacob down to Egypt where they could
survive the famine and become a great nation. Joseph was like Columbus. He
was informed, and he knew the plan of God and how God was guiding in his
life to make this happen. Jacob, on the other hand, was like the skeptical
sailors who needed to be pushed and pulled, and finally overwhelmed with
evidence to get him to pack up and head for Egypt. Had God not given
information just in time the voyage of Columbus would have been aborted,
and all would have been lost. If God had not given Jacob the information he
needed, the plan to get them to Egypt would have failed.
God works in history and in our lives by means of information. What you
know is the key to the way you go. The other side of this is, when you don't
know you tend to make mistakes. Ignorance is not bliss, but it is misery, and
we see it so clearly in the life of Jacob and Joseph. Jacob was a persistent
pessimist always feeling like life was against him. It was because he was
uninformed of the facts. Joseph was alive, but because Jacob did not know
that he spent years in grief at his loss. Most of the suffering of his life was due
to his ignorance of the facts.
Joseph went through much emotional turmoil also because of what he did
not know. If he knew his father and brother were alive, he could have
forgiven all the play acting and the battle hold back the tears. He had to pay a
high price to get the information he needed to relax and enjoy the pleasure of
being reunited with his brothers. Ignorance reverses the Midas touch so that
all we touch in ignorance, no matter how wonderful and golden, turns to clay
and we loose the joy of possessing the best. Jacob and Joseph had this in
common: When they did not know all was going perfect just as God had
planned, they had to suffer until they got that information. Only when they
were fully informed did they have the joy and peace of being in God's perfect
will.
When we worry and are full of anxiety, and we feel no peace, what is the
problem? It is the problem of lack of information. We don't know what God
is doing, and we don't know what men are doing. In our ignorance we cannot
help but feel anxious. The solution that brought all of God's people in Genesis
to peace and joy is the same solution that we need today. The solution that
brought Columbus and all his crew out of the pit to a place of rejoicing is the
same solution we need today. The prescription for perplexity is information.
The answer for anxiety is information. The solution for sadness is
information. The panacea for pessimism is information.
Look at the words of Jacob to his 10 oldest sons: "Why do you just keep
looking at each other? Go down to Egypt and buy food so we don't all die of
starvation." Commentators are mystified by these words. Why would the 10
be staring at each other instead of doing something more practical to save the
family from starvation? Staring has never been known to cure starvation.
And yet these guys in a crisis are walking around, standing around, and
setting around just looking at one another. Jacob is getting frustrated with
them. He says in essence: "Knock off this nonsense, and get going to buy food
in Egypt."
The implication is that these brothers are procrastinating and are looking
at each other because they share a common secret they have never revealed in
20 years. Not one of these 10 brothers let the cat out of the bag and became a
stool pigeon telling their father of their awful crime of selling Joseph into
slavery. Now after 20 years they are being forced to go to Egypt by
circumstances beyond their control. They never dreamed it would ever be
necessary to go there, and so they knew they would never have to confront
Joseph again. But now they face that possibility and their sin is coming back
to them. They are nervous about going to Egypt, and they are somewhat
paralyzed by fear.
Jacob finally gets disgusted with their non-action and scolds them for their
delaying moves. Egypt was sort of like that umbrella we talked about. It was
there, and it was the answer to a problem, but it didn't solve anything until
you use it. God best provisions for our needs do not help if we do not use
them. The food is there but you have to go get it. The education is there, but
you have to go get it. The job is there, but you have to go get it. The problem
is not that God has not made provision for our needs. The problem is, like the
Jacob boys, we set and stare at each other and don't go get it.
Information must be followed by action or provisions will not meet our
needs. They could have died with the best information on the planet at their
fingertips if Jacob had not gotten them to move in spite of their fears. Hearing
the Gospel is a vital step to salvation, but by itself it saves no one. You have to
act on what you hear. If you do not receive Christ, the information that he
saves only makes you more guilty, for now you sin in the light and not in the
dark as before. If these boys had not gone down to Egypt they would have
starved, and justly so. If you do not respond to saving information you will not
be saved. All of their fears were based on inadequate information. Had they
been fully informed they could have gone gladly. Where there is complete
information there is peace and joy. This whole account illustrates clearly the
importance of information.
God does not give all His children the same information. Joseph knew there
were 7 years of famine coming. This was privileged information. Jacob and his
boys did not know this and so made no provision for it. God did not give them
this advanced information. It led to a serious problem for them, but God used
their problem to get them to Egypt, and back into fellowship with Joseph. God
uses even ignorance to accomplish His purposes. When we are ignorant we
need to seek for information that God has given to others. No one can have all
the information they need for every need. We need to depend upon what God
has given to others.
There are endless variations on this theme of information. Sometimes you
get information you don't want to hear. Like the pastor who thought it would
be cute to have a child pray in church. He asked little Bonnie to come and pray.
She closed her brief prayer with, "Be with our pastor and help him to
preach a better sermon next Sunday." The world is full of information that
may not be good news.
The world is also full of misunderstood information. Five year old Billy
who had gone to Sunday School with a quarter for the offering announced
when he came home that he had a lot of money. Sure enough when he dug in
his pocket he pulled out several quarters, dimes and nickels. His father
demanded to know where that money came from. He said, "I got it in Sunday
School. The teacher said let's take the offering, and so I did."
Information has to be interpreted rightly for it to be an asset in knowing
the will of God. This can often be a major task for adults as well as children.
But the fact remains, in spite of the pitfalls, the only road to fulfilling God's
will for our lives is the road where we are constantly aware of the importance
of information. What does this mean practically? It means that the wise
Christian is a reader, a listener, and a viewer. A Christian is to be a student of
all of life, and ever open to receive from any source information that helps
them make wise choices pleasing to Christ.
