Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder what the most surprising, shocking, wonderful thing is… that has ever happened in your life?
We’ve been following the remarkable account of Joseph in Genesis, seeking to learn important life lessons that will help us live life well. Yesterday I left you in the throne room of the most powerful man in the world, the Pharaoh of Egypt. He’d had two dreams which had deeply troubled him and he sought their interpretation from his wise counselors and even magicians, but no one could explain the dreams. But then Joseph was brought up out prison, cleaned up, and brought to the Pharaoh for the purpose of explaining the dreams. He told the Pharaoh “I cannot do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” (Gen. 41:16) I notice the record gives us no indication that Pharaoh had any interest in knowing anything about this God of whom Joseph spoke. He wanted his dreams interpreted immediately, and so he explained the dreams to Joseph and waited for his answer. Now think about that a moment. The most powerful man in the world is telling his dreams to a prisoner he’d never met and expecting to get an answer that will help him? Really? We do desperate things when we are desperate, don’t we my friends?
Joseph did give the Pharaoh an interpretation for the dreams, but he also made it clear “God has shown Pharaoh what HE is about to do… the reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God and God will do it soon.” (Gen. 41:28,32) Pharaoh was stunned! He now faced two important decisions… what to do about the warnings of 7 bountiful harvest years to be followed by 7 dreadful famine years; and what do do about the news that this prisoner Joseph has a relationship with the Almighty God, who can both produce great, bountiful harvests in Egypt, but also can smite the land with a devastating drought that could starve to death every animal and person! Pharaoh’s wise response shows me he tried to walk down both paths at the same time…dealing with the dream news and dealing with Joseph and his God! Look at Gen. 41:38 “So Pharaoh asked his officials, ‘Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?’ The Pharaoh said to Joseph [the prisoner], “Since God has made all this known to YOU, there is no one so discerning as you. You shall therefore be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.” (Gen. 41:38-40)
No one in the world would believe what had just happened in this Egyptian throne room if they were told. It is beyond imagination, it’s beyond ridiculous… but it did happen, just as the record says. The world changed in that moment, because Pharaoh next said “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’ Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his royal finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed Joseph in royal robes of fine line and put a gold chain around his neck. He made Joseph ride in a chariot as his second in command!” (Gen. 41:41-44)
In our lifetime there is perhaps one other modern day story which is similar and that is Mr. Nelson Mandela’s rise from prison to the presidency. Mr. Mandela served 27 years in prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure and fears of racial civil war, South Africa President F. W. de Klerk released Mr Mandela from prison in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and he became president of South Africa, serving as president until 1999. (Wikipedia) Mr. Mandela’s dramatic change from prisoner to President, was however a political process over several years. Joseph’s dramatic change happened in a few hours and was God led! The Pharaoh had no other explanation for Joseph’s wisdom other than he was “…one in whom is the spirit of God. God has made all this known to you.”
Now my friends this is remarkable and it is a picture of what it should be like in EVERY modern day follower of Jesus Christ. Why? Because it was the Holy Spirit of God who was giving Joseph the dream interpretations and the wisdom to give the Pharaoh a strategic plan for both abundance and famine management all across Egypt. Yes, the very same Holy Spirit of God who works in the salvation of a person as they trust in Jesus Christ to be their Savior according to John 3:3-7. The very same Holy Spirit who Jesus said resides inside those born again by the Holy Spirit. (John 14:16,17) The very same Holy Spirit who guides Christ followers every day, in their attitudes, words, choices and behavior. (Romans 8:5-17) That means if YOU are someone who has trusted Jesus Christ to save you from your sin condemnation, and God has placed His Holy Spirit within you, then you should anticipate that this same Holy Spirit will give YOU wisdom and discernment to know what is best in the everyday decisions of your life, no matter where you live in the world! (Phil. 1:10) Now let’s ponder that a moment!
The Genesis record tells us after the Pharaoh commissioned Joseph to this remarkable responsibility and gave him ultimate royal authority, even though Joseph had never done anything like this in his life, and was totally unfamiliar with the political hierarchy of Egypt, Joseph went to work immediately, as led by the Spirit of God. There was no time to waste. An entire nation’s survival now depended on Joseph very quickly assembling a leadership team, developing a nation wide strategic plan, and putting in place key leaders to accomplish the strategic plan, very carefully. Lives depended on the success of Joseph’s strategy! Many lives, perhaps the ultimate survival of the entire nation of Egypt, now lay in the hands of one man. A man who had only hours before had been a Hebrew prisoner in an Egyptian dungeon!! The record says “Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout Egypt.” (Gen. 41:46)
Did you notice Joseph’s age my friends? And do you remember how old he was when his brothers grabbed him out in the fields one day and sold him to a traveling caravan? He was then 17 (Gen. 37:2) and now he is 30, as Pharaoh elevates him to Prime Minister of all Egypt! 13 years had passed. 10 of which was spent as a slave being dragged to Egypt, sold in Egypt to Potiphar and then working for Potiphar, and about 3 years in prison before suddenly being brought to stand before the Pharaoh. Now think about that my friends. How many times in those 13 years did Joseph have every reason to assume his life had no purpose, no value except being a slave to an Egyptian official? How often did Joseph have every reason to assume God had forgotten him when sold by his brothers, when wrongly accused by his boss’ wife, when forgotten in prison by the chief cupbearer whom he had helped?
Have you experienced this great Biblical truth found in Romans 5:3-5 “We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character, and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given to us.” That was written by the apostle Paul who spent so much time in various prisons, for speaking God’s truth. Sometimes he was healing from severe beatings in those prisons. Yet, Paul found those times of great suffering produced a remarkable, God honoring result in his life!
The apostle Peter also suffered great persecution and he wrote: “…for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6,7) My “Walking with Jesus” friends around the world, do you see all three great men of history call us to recognize that God can accomplish GREAT things IN us in our times of suffering, especially when we are suffering injustice! But we must realize those times can also awaken bitterness, resentment, anger, hatred in us and those emotions squelch the great character work God is trying to accomplish in us.
For 13 years Joseph pondered his childhood dreams as he suffered slavery and imprisonment. But it seems clear he, like Daniel many years later, “…resolved NOT to defile himself” (Daniel 1:8) and Joseph worked hard to protect his integrity and develop God-honoring character. He had no idea what the result might someday be, but when the moment of crisis came, the most powerful man in the world selected Joseph because “there is no one like this man in whom is the spirit of God. Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.” (Gen. 41:38,39) I’m deeply challenged my friends how about you?
I’m challenged to consider how I have used or wasted times in my life when I felt I was suffering an injustice or times I felt God had abandoned me out in the wilderness, or times I saw no positive future. Did I use those time to work on refining and growing my God honoring character or allowing my heart to turn hard, sour, even angry? These times of suffering will come into all our lives, my friends, so let’s use Joseph, Paul and Peter’s examples and words to call us to make good use of our suffering… never wasting it! Let’s stop right here and ponder this deeply today with this song of worship:
Today’s Scripture is Genesis 41:37-46.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
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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