Sometimes when reading the Bible, something catches your attention that you have never noticed before. That happened to me while doing some reading in Genesis.

Genesis 42:1 (New International Version)
“When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you just keep looking at each other?'”

I had never noticed this verse until now. Jacob (also called Israel) was living during the time of a great famine in the land. He learns that there is grain in Egypt – it was actually stored up by his son Joseph – but he says this pointed line to them. “Why do you keep looking at each other?”

I love it. There is this biting sarcasm of reality. Jacob’s sons know where the solution to their problem lies. God has provided what they need in Egypt, but all they do is sit around talking about what they should do. Or as Jacob says with a sarcastic tone, “They are just looking at each other.”

This verse is a reminder that God often has a solution to our problems, we just need to stop sitting around and do something. We could sit here and look at each other or we could get up and do something. Which one will we chose?