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by GLENN PEASE
01/22/18
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Based on Gen. 42:1-17

     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.

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