Genesis 47:25-26
And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.
This is such an important response.
The people do not say, Joseph took too much. They do not say, This is unfair. They do not grumble over the fifth part. They say, Thou hast saved our lives. That is the key. Once a person realizes he has been saved, surrender no longer feels severe. It feels right.
That is always the difference.
When grace is merely a doctrine, people argue about percentages. But when grace becomes personal, when a man knows he has been rescued, preserved, and kept alive, his heart changes. The issue is no longer, How little can I give? The issue becomes, How could I not gladly give to the one who saved me?
That is exactly what you see here. Joseph had carried them through famine, fed them when they were starving, given them seed for the future, and established them in a way they could live. So when the fifth part belonged to Pharaoh, they did not resent it. They recognized the kindness behind it all.
And that opens into a needed word for us.
Zacchaeus, once grace reached his house, said:
Luke 19:8
Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
He was not forced into that. Grace made him glad.
And the widow with two mites gave all she had.
Mark 12:43-44
Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
For all they did cast in of their abundance but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.
That is the point. When the heart has really been touched, giving stops being a burden and starts becoming a response.
So yes, it does search us a bit, does it not?
These Egyptians gladly gave twenty percent to the king because they knew Joseph had saved their lives.
Zacchaeus gladly gave fifty percent because grace had come to his house.
The widow gave one hundred percent because her heart belonged wholly to the Lord.
And we struggle over ten.
That says more about our hearts than our wallets.
The real issue is never money alone. It is whether I understand what has been done for me. Because once I know I have been saved, once I know I have been shown grace, once I know I have been redeemed by One greater than Joseph, then giving is no longer just a duty on a chart. It becomes worship. It becomes gratitude. It becomes a glad confession that everything I have came from His hand anyway.
Beloved, stinginess and grace do not walk together very well. A man who is amazed that he has been saved will not spend his life bargaining with God. He will want to pour out what he can, because the Lord has done far more for him than he could ever repay.
Joseph’s people said, Thou hast saved our lives.
Would to God that stayed fresh in our hearts. Because when it does, the conversation changes. We stop asking, What is the minimum? And we start saying, Lord, You saved my life. What would You have me do?