Genesis 47:15
“And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.”
One of the things God gives to people is the right to choose; this is nothing more than freedom and liberty. When you live in a nation that believes in liberty, then you have a privilege that many nations do not have. Yet, with privilege comes responsibility. The responsibility of those who have freedom and liberty is to keep these freedoms and liberties alive for the next generation. We learn from the story in the verse above, the enemy of liberty and freedom.
Egypt was in a time of bad famine. Because of Joseph's wisdom, the government had set aside to take care of the people when the people did not set aside to take care of themselves. When the famine came, and the resources of the people ran out, they ran to the government to take care of them. Because of this action, they lost their rights to do what they wanted to do as we can see in verse 21.
When people begin to depend on government to take care of them, they lose their freedom, liberty and rights. Normally this happens during a national crisis, because the people think they have nowhere else to go to survive. This is how Hitler won power in Germany. After World War 1, the economy of Germany was devastated. Hitler ran on a ticket to improve the economy and he won. As he set up programs to take care of people, he was personally gaining more rights and power to the point that he took over the nation, and the rest is a terrible history.
We must realize that the more that government takes control of caring for its citizens, then the less rights its citizens will have. The only purpose of government is to protect its citizens from outside enemies, and to protect the liberty of its citizens and their rights to their properties so that these people can pursue happiness. In a nutshell, the purpose of government is to protect our freedom, liberty and rights.
Yet, when hard times come, the easy way out is for people to depend on government to take care of them. This only destroys the rights of those people. When government starts providing social needs for the people, then those people cease to have liberty. The greatest enemy of freedom is when people depend on government to take care of their every need.
What is the answer to this problem? The answer is to depend on God and not on the government. One of the reasons those in government try to remove God from everything is because they don't want people to believe that God can take care of them. Instead, they want people to believe that the government can take care of them and this only empowers those is government with more power.
I write this for the purpose that all might realize that God is the One Who we are to trust to take care of us through hard times. He promised He would take care of our needs. For people to trust government instead of God is nothing more than idolatry; which is sin according to the Scriptures.
As a citizen of any nation, we should realize the two God-given rights we have as humans are liberty and freedom. Let's be careful not to give up those rights by giving them to the government through social programs. Remember, the more that government takes control of the care of its citizens, the less right the people will have. Freedom's enemy is a powerful government and a powerless people!
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