When Presented With Challenging Tasks - Genesis 41:1-57

NOTE: It is Saturday, April 12, 2008, 10:45 AM, and this lesson for April 27 is the last early posting. All of the lab work and preliminary papers were completed last Thursday and my surgery is set for April 15, at 6:30 AM. Dr. McCoy says that I should be able to return home in three or four days at most. God willing, I will take up my blanket and walk again. I covet your prayers!

I have found from my study of the Bible that it is dangerous when we condemn any person for their deeds, actions or reactions. We also need to be careful about condemning those that are in authority for the way they judge the accused that come before them. It doesn’t matter how we think men in the Bible should have conducted their affairs; we must always remember that God was involved, and the situation is as it is because God has a plan and a purpose for each of his creation. Let us review the background that leads to today’s lesson.

God’s plan included the birth of Joseph into a family with eleven brothers that hated him so much that they kidnapped him when he was seventeen and sold him to Egyptian traders that in turn sold him to Potiphar, chief officer of the Pharaoh in Egypt. Joseph was trustworthy and became Potiphar’s most trusted servant. Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph and he was cast into prison. He befriended a cupbearer that was in the same prison and it led to a pardon for the cupbearer who should have returned the favor, but he forgot Joseph. Add now the years of service and jail time and Joseph must be about twenty four years old.

Consider each person and event at the time it happened and it seems fair and natural to condemn several people. We may have condemned Jacob for his failure as a father in disciplining his sons. We could say that Joseph should have declined to brag about his future domination over his brothers. His brothers were far from Christians in their treatment of their brother. Anyone in the slave trade is in the wrong business. Potiphar’s wife committed lust and lied. And Potiphar should have been a better judge of people. These statements all seem to be the truth; however if any one of them had failed to do what they did, Joseph would not have grown into the strong man that he is today with an abiding faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The last one that failed to help Joseph was the cupbearer, and that was about two years before Pharaoh’s dreams in this lesson.

You should read the first part of chapter forty-one that describes the two dreams of Pharaoh regarding the seven fat and seven lean cows and the seven stalks with withered heads and seven stalks loaded with grain. He was troubled about the meaning of these dreams and he called in his wise men and magicians to interpret the dreams. In Egypt this was an accepted source of unknown information. Pharaoh’s wise men were not able to find the meaning of his two dreams.

The Bible confirms that there were wise men and magicians in those days that could perform miracles. They had surprising powers but they were demonic in nature and therefore always subject to the greater power of God. In Exodus 7: 11, a well known incident is recorded where the magicians were able to perform the same kinds of magic as the servants of God…but God’s works were more powerful and prevailed. These men could read the stars, predict the future, interpret dreams and do other magic.

Admittedly, I have misjudged people when I should not. I castigated the cupbearer for not helping Joseph two years ago when he helped the prisoner gain his release. It now seems evident that the cupbearer really did simply forget to tell the king about Joseph—because now he is reminded of that situation, and he immediately told the king that he knew a man that could interpret his dreams for him. Indications are that he told the king that the young Hebrew with this power was Joseph because the king called for him to be brought to the palace to help him understand his dreams.

Allow me to depart from the story to remind all of us that two years have passed. Joseph had been incarcerated in a dungeon with the usual inhuman surroundings all this time with no visible hopes of release. His faith had not failed him. Some-times we find ourselves entrapped by circumstances over which we have no control and we must depend totally upon our faith and prayers and God’s promises. It is not unusual for us to find the way out of our dilemma at a time or for a reason that is unexpected. That is the way God works in the lives of his people. It is our responsibility to be constantly ready to do that which is required of us in order to receive God’s help. This is known as being in the will of God. Do you daily seek the will of God for your life?

Was Joseph ready when the call came? Not physically, because he had to shave, shower and dress appropriately to meet the king. However, and more important, he was ready spiritually. He realized that he did not have the power to interpret a dream and was ready to depend upon God to do it for him. Said another way, he did not know how to interpret a dream but he knew a God that could do it. Hang on to this thought. It is not enough for you and me to know about God—but we must know God. Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ who will walk into your jail with you and sustain you while you are there WHEN YOU ARE PRESENTED WITH A CHALLENGING TASK of working your way out of your bad situation?

When Joseph appeared before the Pharaoh, the king said, “I have heard that you can interpret dreams.” Note Joseph’s answer. “I can not but I know the Holy God who can and will give you the answer HE desires.” It is important that we understand what Joseph said. God will always give us an answer for our problems, but it may not be the answer we want…it will be whatever God desires it to be in our lives. There is another very important concept here that we can not afford to overlook. Joseph was careful not to take credit for this super-natural power. The first thing he did was…give all the credit to God. We have some very successful business men in our class who have a great number of special talents that have sustained you. Do you constantly give God the credit for the successes you have enjoyed?

Pharaoh must have been impressed with Joseph because he told him about the two dreams and waited for the interpretation. As the saying goes, there was some good news and some bad news. Both dreams were the same and were only repeated to emphasize that God had already made up his mind and there would be reprieve. The seven fat cows and seven good heads of grain meant that there would be seven years of plenty in the land. The seven lean cows and seven withered heads of grain told him that there would be a seven year famine that would follow the good years. He then warned the king that he must use the good years to store up enough food and supplies to last the nation through the famine that would follow.

Joseph did not stop there. He gave the king a fourteen year survival plan by spelling out step by step what he must do. The only way the nation would survive was through this careful planning, which included one man to be the Commissioner of Agriculture who could supervise and increase the crops to be raised and plan and implement a storage system large enough to house the food that would be needed to feed the nation for seven years of growth.

And now, for the rest of the story! What happened is a well known Bible story that most of us have read about since we were in children’s church. I only hope we can find out more details about why things happened as they did and who was really responsible for the outcome. Pharaoh and his officials thought that they had heard the truth from a man that had a spiritual connection with a God that they had never known existed. They were not a converted people, but they became a convinced people; and they exercised a great amount of faith in Joseph, but also in God. The new assignment for Joseph made him the number one man in authority in all of Egypt—over the land and resources and the people, over everything but the king and his throne. I am no authority on the educational system of that day, but I have read no where that Joseph has been to school one day. Surely there was some kind of home schooling, or even organized programs to teach the elite and those who were in leadership roles. The one thing I do know: this was the day WHEN JOSEPH WAS PRESENTED WITH HIS MOST CHALLENGING TASK. He had demonstrated his abilities to get things done right and with integrity; but other than that why was he chosen?

What was the overriding circumstance that caused Pharaoh to choose Joseph? Let him tell us. “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.” Then he gave Joseph his signet ring which was the official stamp of authority that sealed any document that Joseph approved. He was second in command in Egypt with only the king as his superior. He was given the robe of fine linen and the king’s chariot—a Cadillac Stretch with an experienced chauffeur.

In the 46th verse we finally know for sure how old Joseph is; he was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh the King of Egypt. He went from prison walls to the palace; from a prisoner to second in command in the nation within a matter of days, maybe even a few hours. In seven years he saved Egypt from a famine that might have completely destroyed the nation. There had been famines before in that part of the world and it did not take seven years to make one catastrophic. It is difficult for us to imagine what the results could have been. There was no refrigeration so only dry storage could be made available. They had been living from year to year, and now enough storage for seven years was needed. Grain was most important for the people to eat and food for animals that would furnish milk and meat.

Joseph and Egypt were successful beyond anyone’s fondest dreams. The famine came, over Egypt and all surrounding nations. Joseph was able to sell food from the storage houses and keep the nation going. He even had excess that was sold to surrounding countries that came to him to buy food that kept others from perishing.

****One last thought is that world wars cause famine in many of the same ways that drought does. It robs us of our resources, able bodied men and women, and puts survival in jeopardy. The only way we can evade a third world war is for us to find a Joseph that is led by God, who will call on God to intervene in our behalf. And he can not do it alone…unless…and until…our people turn from their wicked ways and submit to the will of our Lord.