Suddenly life in Egypt had become insecure, uncertain, and people wanted to know what God was saying. It’s interesting—if life in Egypt contained no tragedy or threat of it, I wonder how often we would be willing to hear from God. Right after 9/11, I remember people who had shown no appetite for spiritual truth in decades suddenly leaning in. They asked, “Was this predicted in Revelation?” “Is God punishing our country?” “Is there more coming?” But to really understand the impact of 9/11, you must talk to the people who lived it. When I moved to New York City in 2005, four years after the attacks, the contrast was even more striking. In our church I met people who survived that day. Some were near or even inside the World Trade Center complex. Many had to walk across the bridge back to Long Island. Others lost friends and family—victims and first responders alike. They told me how every church in the city and suburbs was full in the weeks that followed. And many shared how that tragedy permanently reshaped their values, how it transformed the way they saw life on earth. As horrible as that day was, they would tell you they are still reaping spiritual benefits from the lessons God taught them through it. Crisis has a way of opening ears that comfort keeps closed. This week we look at the day God spoke to Pharaoh through Joseph—a moment when Egypt was shaken, when human wisdom failed, and when the world’s most powerful man suddenly wanted to hear from the God he had long ignored.
