Grace 4: Grace Looks Forward—Gen. 41: 17-36; Rom. 8: 19-25
The other day I was watching a show on food history from the Depression and World War II Era. They were talking about how people learned to make something out of nothing in so many different ways. For example, there was a recipe for meatloaf. Now, because food was rationed, the family could only get ¼ pound of meat. They interviewed this elderly woman who had invented many of these “desperation recipes.” She took that one-quarter of ground beef and added some potatoes, vegetables from the garden, bread, rice, and the Lord only knows what else, and turned it into a whole meatloaf which fed a family of 6.
Two things stuck out. First, I think Jesus must have worked with a Southern grandma when he fed 5,000 off of some fish and bread. Second, the elderly lady talked a lot about looking forward. She said you really had only a couple of choices—you looked around and got as depressed as the economy or you looked forward to when times would be good again and made the best of what you had. There’s a resounding truth there. God walks with us through years of fullness and years of struggle, but in all seasons, God calls us, in grace, to look forward to where we are called to go. Three things stand out from our scripture: grace plans ahead, grace doesn’t stop when times are tough, and grace looks towards tomorrow with hope and not despair.
First, grace plans ahead. In our Genesis reading, we see the story of Joseph where he interprets the dream of Pharaoh. The leader of Egypt sees seven strong cows followed by seven skinny cows which eat the strong ones and never gain weight. The same is true for grain. Joseph is then brought up out of prison where he has sat for years because Pharaoh needs God’s wisdom instead of the failures of his sorcerers. And Joseph gives an answer. There will be seven strong years of harvest followed by seven lean years, so prepare for the lean years. The moral was for Egypt to plan ahead for years of famine.
I think this is a good metaphor for the state of the church right now. We’ve seen an ebb and flow of church strength over the years. Every so often there are times church attendance and giving boom. Then there are times when everything falls off. I did a little research on historical church membership across the United States. As one might expect, the 1930s to 1960s saw the highest rate of church membership in the US hovering at 60 to 70%. But if we travel back in time, in 1776 roughly 17% of the populace maintained a church membership.[1]
Just as there are high times and low times in the economy, the same is true in lives of faith and the practice of faith. For example, this year, Georgia’s peach harvest died out, and the peaches had to be sought out from elsewhere, and last year we had peaches galore. When we see times of scarcity with faith and the church, it’s not a time for despair; instead, it’s an opportunity to plan ahead and prepare for the lean years. It’s also the same in our lives. We spend all our youth, middle age, and moving into elder years learning and growing in faith for when we need it most. We store up the wisdom and faith for when we encounter the crises of life. If we don’t tap into those storehouses of grace, we will be utterly helpless when we come to a tough part of life’s adventure.
But even as we plan ahead, grace doesn’t stop with tough times. Joseph not only interpreted the dream for Pharaoh, he also provided the solution. He advised Pharaoh to find a smart person and put that person in charge of saving up in the good years to prepare for the famine years. The rest of the story, as you may know, is that Joseph becomes this powerful leader he is recommending. Now I have a friend who says that Pharaoh tells his dreams and gets them interpreted. I tell my dreams, and my trusted friends get the holy water because they think I’m crazy.
This wasn’t just a dream Pharaoh had. It was a vision from God. Sometimes when we face the famine, God will speak and give us wisdom and insight—guiding us along. And sometimes, we have to tap into our spiritual storehouses. The same is true in life. If my laptop breaks, I have to pray there’s enough in savings to buy a new one. If the church is experiencing a season of struggle, they will hopefully have an endowment to bear them through.
The good news of the story is that the famine was seven years and not for all of time. When we experience loss, struggle, the famine of life, it often feels like it takes over and becomes the never-ending story. But there’s a whole history where God was with us, and there’s a future where the famine will be over. In every struggle, every famine, every trial, God makes a way through. The journey may be hard. The endurance may wear us to the very core, but God makes a way in the desolate places for hope and grace to spring forth. It takes a wilderness to get to the Promised Land.
And lastly, in thinking on that Promised Land, grace will look forward with hope and never despair. In Romans 8, Paul writes, “But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” One of the most beautiful parts of the Christian faith is this idea that everything is rooted in hope. Despite the wildernesses, the famines, the down times, the rough places, we continue to look forward with hope.
Paul had a very keen sense of this hope. His life as an evangelist was, at times, horrendous with imprisonment, beatings, rejection, hard labor, poverty. But in every dark place he continued to believe that to live here gives glory to Christ and in death we gain the heavenly reward we’ve waited for. He writes these very words of encouragement to the Romans, saying, “We were given this hope when we were saved,” then he reminds them to wait patiently and confidently for that holy reward.
But there’s also a gentle reminder that hope isn’t just about waiting for Heaven. I read a quote one of my minister friends posted the other day. It said, “I’m not a Christian just because I want the reward of Heaven. I’m not a Christian just to be running from Hell. I’m a Christian because the character of Jesus Christ is so compelling to me that I want to spend my life chasing it, embodying it, and sharing it every day.” Hope doesn’t present itself as a ticket to Magic Kingdom. Hope is a way of life that has us living our lives in the way Christ would live because we are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a proclamation and covenant to live this faith we believe in this world every day. When we live our lives for Christ, that is hope in this world.
In the 1940s, this church was filled to capacity at a Sunday night service. They took in enough offering to pay off the building note in just a few years. It’s easy to look back and become convinced that the famine and lean years have overtaken us. But just as I watched that elderly lady take a quarter pound of beef and feed a whole family, there is always a reason to look forward with hope. We have the ability to live stream services where all can watch. We have FaceTime on phones so that in seconds we can see and encourage family members thousands of miles away. I can text to find out updates on folks seconds after a doctor visit or emergency. Even in life’s famines there are opportunities for amazing ways of bringing hope and bright, Christ-filled future.
Sometimes we get stuck dreading what tomorrow might bring. But faith always looks forward to where God is going to take us next. The road might not be easy, but God is with us. It’s like the words of our last hymn say, “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone, because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because he lives.” Amen, and amen.
[1] Morin, Richard. “The Way We Weren’t: Religion in Colonial America,” Washington Post., 1995.
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