Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world,
Thanks to global communications, in our lifetime we have been able to watch history being made in almost every country of the world. We’ve watched leaders come and go, governments topple and new ones formed. We’ve watched great corporations succeed and others fail into bankruptcy and the same for country economies. We’ve seen great advances made in medical care, business innovation, space travel, and sadly, also military hardware sophistication. I wonder what stands out to you as particularly significant when you consider the great events of your lifetime?
We’re watching the life of Biblical Joseph and yesterday we saw him go from being an unknown Hebrew prisoner, in an Egyptian dungeon, to the Prime Minister of the entire land of Egypt. It was accomplished by the most powerful man in the world, the Pharaoh of Egypt and it took only a matter of a few hours! It happened because Pharaoh had some dreams that deeply troubled him and neither his official nor magicians could explain the dreams. Then they found Joseph down in the prison and heard he had interpreted dreams in prison for one of Pharaoh’s trusted employees, his chief cupbearer. Joseph was found in the prison, cleaned up, and brought before the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams and God enabled Joseph to explain their meaning to the Pharaoh. They were frightening dreams indicating 7 years of great harvest bounty were coming all across the agriculture landscape of Egypt. But they would be followed by 7 years of devastating famine which would be so harsh, every living thing could die for lack of water.
Stunned, the Pharaoh did not shrink in fear, he did not form a committee to study Joseph’s explanation, but rather Pharaoh thought like a good leader thinks when facing a crisis. He was responsible to do something to lead his nation successfully through these 14 years. So he said to the officials in his throne room at that moment: “Can we find anyone like this man, in whom is the spirit of God?” Evidently they shook their heads, and so Pharaoh turned to a man he didn’t even know, Joseph, who only an hour or two before had been a prisoner in his dungeon, and Pharaoh said: “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you… Therefore, I put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” (Gen. 41:39-41)
Do you see what the Pharaoh used as his criteria for selection of the man who would lead this nation-wide strategy to save Egypt from starving to death? It wasn’t education or family pedigree or fame or popularity or past great achievements. It was the anointing of God upon Joseph and the great wisdom and discernment God gave Joseph that was obvious to the Pharaoh. Pharaoh understood, as VERY few leaders do around our world today, that the ability to discern God’s guidance is the most important criteria for any significant leadership role, anywhere in the world. Do you agree?
Now think about that, my friends. That explains WHY you and I have seen such terrible leadership, such great failure in leadership in every aspect of society in almost every country in the world in our lifetime! Very, very few leaders depend on God to lead them. Biblical history tells us the most effective leaders are those who discern when God is guiding them and they implement what God tells them and therefore they lead those they lead in following GOD’s plan for them. Now that fits in a family, a business, a school, a church, or even an entire nation! That is why Joseph was selected and how Joseph was going to lead! He was fully, entirely dependent upon God for the strategic plan to save Egypt, and as Joseph followed God’s plan carefully, we will see that not only Egypt, but the surrounding nations were saved from starvation in the famine. Now, as you look at your country, your city, any organization you are part of, how do you compare their leadership with Joseph’s model for God honoring leadership?
Genesis 41:47-49 tells us during those 7 years of abundance the Egyptian agriculture system produced like never before and Joseph led a country wide plan of ingathering of a large portion of all the harvest across Egypt. We don’t have the details of how many people oversaw this ingathering or what huge storage facilities were built to receive all this grain, but if you’ve ever seen the harvest season in a place where huge amounts of grain are ingathered and stored, it gives you a little idea of the complexity of the plan God gave Joseph. Remember please, Joseph had NO training or experience in administration or politics or large scale leadership. His only critical success skill was his ability to discern and follow God’s instructions. Can you do that my friends? If you can, you are one of the most valuable people in your city and maybe your entire country! Look at the leaders in every segment of the society where you live and even the highest levels of government leadership in your country… can they do what Joseph did?
The record says: “Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea; it was so much that he stopped keeping records because it was beyond measure… The seven years of abundance in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in other lands as well, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the pain of the famine, the people cried out to the Pharaoh for help. Then Pharaoh told all Egypt, ‘Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.’ When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe throughout Egypt. And all the surrounding countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe…” (Gen. 41:49-57)
I wonder what you see here my friends? I see no evidence the surrounding nations had made any plan for the famine. They didn’t have a Joseph or anyone who could tell them what God was showing Joseph! I’m sure the leaders of surrounding nations heard about the great ingathering of harvest year after year, and the huge storage facilities being built all over Egypt, but I’m equally sure they were foolishly self confident in their own leadership to handle whatever might happen. Do you see that kind of leadership all around our world?
I’m assuming Joseph was continually under tremendous pressure from the farmers whose grain Joseph was buying for storage, and from community leaders where huge and perhaps unsightly storage facilities were being built, and from other government leaders frustrated that Joseph’s nationwide plan was consuming so much of the national budget and Pharaoh’s time, as Joseph kept him informed. Have you noticed that leaders who follow God are unpopular and face strong headwinds of opposition? That’s another reason there are so few of them around the world!
But then came the famine! No rain for months, not even dew in the morning. The fields that had been so bountiful turned to dust. The pasturelands that had been lush and green and produced wonderful flocks of all kinds of grazing animals, dried up and became deserts of dust. Watering holes and streams dried up, even rivers became tiny trickles. Wells started to dry up too! Grazing animals started dying. Markets ran out of food. Panic started spreading across Egypt. Have you ever seen anything like what I’ve described? It is reality right now in some parts of Africa where it hasn’t rained in years! Fortunately Pharaoh had been both wise and humble 7 years before, when Joseph had been brought from the prison to explain his dreams. Thanks to God’s continued leading of Joseph, Pharaoh was able to assure Egypt that God had provided both food and wise leadership during the years of bounty! Egypt would not starve, and Joseph opened the storehouses.
You’ve seen the pictures of relief trucks coming into famine stricken areas and panic breaking out as mobs rush the trucks fighting for food. That is NOT what happened in Egypt with Joseph in leadership. Just as the ingathering of food had been orderly, well planned and well executed, so the distribution of food now was well planned and well managed. But there was one problem. The surrounding nations who had NOT planned as Egypt had planned, were starving. The people of those nations who had trusted their proud leaders, now found leadership had failed them. They had no storehouses of grain, yet their fields were dust, their animals were dying, their children crying of hunger. So they came to Egypt and suddenly Pharaoh found God had led Joseph not only to save Egypt from starvation, but to enable Egypt to save other nations from starvation. Can you imagine the influx of refugees, starving refugees, looking for food?
One of those places where the famine was severe was where Joseph’s family lived, yes the brothers that had sold him as a young slave… they and their families were starving! Tomorrow we’ll see what happened. For today would you simply ponder the powerful reality of leadership needing to discern what GOD’s guidance is as they lead their organization or even their nation. And would you consider the great danger to all of us, wherever we live, when we live under the leadership of people who deny God or refuse to submit themselves to God or refuse to seek to know or follow God’s guidance? Let’s pray for leadership right now.
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 41:47-57.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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