When Everything is Gone
Finding Purpose in the Broken Places
Genesis 47:13-31
There is a moment most of us have experienced at some point in our lives. The moment when the good times have faded so completely that we can barely remember them. The bank account is empty. The resources are spent. The things we trusted to sustain us have slipped through our fingers one by one. And we find ourselves standing with nothing left to offer except ourselves.
This is exactly where the people of Egypt and Canaan found themselves in Genesis 47. After seven years of abundance, a severe famine had swallowed everything. The land was barren. The food was gone. And one by one, the people came to Joseph with less and less in their hands until they had nothing left at all.
It is a story that feels uncomfortably familiar.
This is exactly where the people of Egypt and Canaan found themselves in Genesis 47. After seven years of abundance, a severe famine had swallowed everything. The land was barren. The food was gone. And one by one, the people came to Joseph with less and less in their hands until they had nothing left at all.
It is a story that feels uncomfortably familiar.
The Famine Was Never Just About One Family
When we read through the book of Genesis, it is easy to keep our eyes fixed on the family of Jacob and Joseph. Their story is dramatic, redemptive, and deeply personal. But Genesis 47 pulls the camera back and forces us to see something we might otherwise miss. The famine was not a private event. It touched every nation, every household, every person in the known world. Names that never appear in the biblical record were affected just as profoundly as the patriarchs whose stories fill the pages.
This is an important reminder about the nature of the biblical story itself. In John 5:39, Jesus tells his listeners that the entire scope of Scripture bears witness to him. The Bible is not a narrow family history. It is the story of a God who is working all things toward the redemption of the world. And the very next verse makes clear that this story includes us. It always has.
The famine was not an accident. It was not the result of poor agricultural planning or bad luck. It was part of a sovereign design that God had revealed to Joseph years earlier in Genesis 41:30, warning that seven years of devastating famine would follow seven years of plenty. God was orchestrating events on a scale far larger than any single family could see from where they stood.
This is an important reminder about the nature of the biblical story itself. In John 5:39, Jesus tells his listeners that the entire scope of Scripture bears witness to him. The Bible is not a narrow family history. It is the story of a God who is working all things toward the redemption of the world. And the very next verse makes clear that this story includes us. It always has.
The famine was not an accident. It was not the result of poor agricultural planning or bad luck. It was part of a sovereign design that God had revealed to Joseph years earlier in Genesis 41:30, warning that seven years of devastating famine would follow seven years of plenty. God was orchestrating events on a scale far larger than any single family could see from where they stood.
The Danger of Forgetting the Plenty
One of the striking details in the Genesis account is that the years of abundance were prophesied to be forgotten. And they were. When the famine came, the people could not remember what it felt like to have enough. All they knew was hunger.
We do this too. When hardship arrives, the memory of God's provision fades with alarming speed. We forget the seasons when he was faithful. We forget the moments when he provided beyond what we expected. All we can see is the emptiness in front of us.
But the emptiness serves a purpose. Romans 5:12 reminds us that sin entered the world through one man, and death spread to all. The brokenness we experience is real, and it is universal. Yet God does not leave us in it. He uses it to bring us to the end of ourselves, which is often exactly where his work begins.
We do this too. When hardship arrives, the memory of God's provision fades with alarming speed. We forget the seasons when he was faithful. We forget the moments when he provided beyond what we expected. All we can see is the emptiness in front of us.
But the emptiness serves a purpose. Romans 5:12 reminds us that sin entered the world through one man, and death spread to all. The brokenness we experience is real, and it is universal. Yet God does not leave us in it. He uses it to bring us to the end of ourselves, which is often exactly where his work begins.
Broken Before the Provider
By the time the people of Egypt had spent their money and surrendered their livestock, they arrived before Joseph with the most vulnerable offer imaginable. Take us, they said. Take our land. We will be your servants. Just let us live.
This is a picture of profound spiritual honesty. They had tried everything else. They had paid with silver. They had paid with animals. And now all that remained was themselves. In their desperation, they made the only offer they had left.
There is something deeply moving about this moment because it mirrors the posture God calls each of us to. We come to him having exhausted our own resources. We come having tried to manage life on our own terms. And eventually, if we are honest, we arrive at the same place. We have nothing left to bring except ourselves.
The good news is that God receives that offering.
This is a picture of profound spiritual honesty. They had tried everything else. They had paid with silver. They had paid with animals. And now all that remained was themselves. In their desperation, they made the only offer they had left.
There is something deeply moving about this moment because it mirrors the posture God calls each of us to. We come to him having exhausted our own resources. We come having tried to manage life on our own terms. And eventually, if we are honest, we arrive at the same place. We have nothing left to bring except ourselves.
The good news is that God receives that offering.
Purpose Given Back to the Broken
What Joseph did next is one of the most instructive moments in the passage. He did not simply absorb the people into servitude and leave them there. He gave them seed. He gave them land to work. He gave them a fifth of the harvest to bring back, and four fifths to keep for themselves and their families.
He gave them a purpose.
This is not a small thing. During the Great Depression in the United States, one of the most powerful responses to widespread despair was not simply handing out resources. It was putting people back to work. The New Deal programs of the 1930s were built on the conviction that human beings need more than food. They need a reason to get up in the morning. They need to be part of something.
Joseph understood this. And more importantly, God understands this.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that he prepared beforehand for us to walk in. When God redeems us, he does not simply rescue us and leave us idle. He invites us into his work. He gives us seed to plant. He gives us a role in the story he is telling.
He gave them a purpose.
This is not a small thing. During the Great Depression in the United States, one of the most powerful responses to widespread despair was not simply handing out resources. It was putting people back to work. The New Deal programs of the 1930s were built on the conviction that human beings need more than food. They need a reason to get up in the morning. They need to be part of something.
Joseph understood this. And more importantly, God understands this.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that he prepared beforehand for us to walk in. When God redeems us, he does not simply rescue us and leave us idle. He invites us into his work. He gives us seed to plant. He gives us a role in the story he is telling.
Holding Onto What Is Real
The chapter closes with an aging Jacob making one final request of his son Joseph. As his days drew near their end, he asked not to be buried in Egypt. Carry me home, he said. Back to the place where my fathers are buried.
It was a simple request, but it carried enormous weight. Jacob had watched God do extraordinary things in Egypt. He had seen provision and restoration and reunion. But he never forgot that this world was not his final home. In words that echo what Jesus himself would later say in John 17:16, Jacob lived as someone who did not ultimately belong to the world around him.
That is the invitation extended to all of us. To serve faithfully. To plant the seed God gives us. To be his workmanship in the place where he has put us. And to hold loosely to this world, keeping our eyes fixed on the one who bought us, not with silver or livestock, but with his own life.
The famine strips away everything we thought would sustain us. And in the emptiness, we find the one who was always enough.
It was a simple request, but it carried enormous weight. Jacob had watched God do extraordinary things in Egypt. He had seen provision and restoration and reunion. But he never forgot that this world was not his final home. In words that echo what Jesus himself would later say in John 17:16, Jacob lived as someone who did not ultimately belong to the world around him.
That is the invitation extended to all of us. To serve faithfully. To plant the seed God gives us. To be his workmanship in the place where he has put us. And to hold loosely to this world, keeping our eyes fixed on the one who bought us, not with silver or livestock, but with his own life.
The famine strips away everything we thought would sustain us. And in the emptiness, we find the one who was always enough.
Practical Applications
Choose one or more of the following to put into practice this week:
- Examine your brokenness. Spend time in honest prayer this week, coming before God with nothing held back. Lay down whatever you have been trusting in -- your money, your abilities, your reputation -- and tell God plainly that you have nothing apart from him.
- Identify your seed. Joseph gave the Egyptians seed so they could participate in their own restoration. Ask God to show you one specific area of service or good work he is calling you into right now. Take one concrete step toward it before the group meets again.
- Practice eternal perspective. Jacob never lost sight of where he was going. Write down one area of your life where you have been treating this world as your permanent home. Pray over it and ask God to help you hold it loosely.
- Encourage someone who is serving. The sermon mentioned the men and women who gather to pray and serve every Sunday. This week, go out of your way to genuinely thank someone in your church who is faithfully doing work that often goes unnoticed.
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