This next passage is really long. I moved it to the end so it doesn’t distract those who aren’t in the mood don’t have time to read that much.
Today . . . FINALLY . . . Joseph gets the big opportunity he’s been waiting for. He’s been pulled out of prison for an audience with Pharaoh. He’s cleaned himself up and shaved and put on clean clothes.
But that’s just the “outside.” God has been preparing Joseph “inside” for this moment since he was born. He’s been having dreams and interpreting dreams and learning to maneuver the minefields of politics and family dynamics his entire life.
He has known for years that God’s plan for his life was bigger than anything he’d seen so far. And it looks like today’s opportunity is finally a step in the right direction.
If you’re not familiar with this part of the story or if you want to refresh your memory, you can read today’s passage a little further down. If not, here are the truths and application questions I saw in these verses.
Truths:
– We need to give God credit for how He works through us–even when someone in authority blatantly gives us the credit.
– God sometimes gives prophetic dreams to people who don’t even know Him.
– There are times when God’s plans can be changed by people’s repentance (Jonah’s story), but sometimes His plans are firmly decided and we just need to prepare.
Application Questions:
– When have I allowed someone to give me credit for something God did through me?
– What dreams has God given me about my future?
– What am I doing to prepare for what God has shown me He’s going to do? What else do I need to do to prepare?
===========
Genesis 41:15-32 / Amplified Bible (AMP)
15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; and I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream and interpret it.
16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, It is not in me; God [not I] will give Pharaoh a [favorable] answer of peace.
17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank of the river [Nile];
18 And behold, there came up out of the river [Nile] seven fat, sleek, and handsome cows, and they grazed in the reed grass [of a marshy pasture].
19 And behold, seven other cows came up after them, undernourished, gaunt, and ugly [just skin and bones; such emaciated animals] as I have never seen in all of Egypt.
20 And the lean and ill favored cows ate up the seven fat cows that had come first.
21 And when they had eaten them up, it could not be detected and known that they had eaten them, for they were still as thin and emaciated as at the beginning. Then I awoke. [But again I fell asleep and dreamed.]
22 And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears [of grain] growing on one stalk, plump and good.
23 And behold, seven [other] ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them.
24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. Now I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could tell me what it meant.
25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, The [two] dreams are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.
26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears [of grain] are seven years; the [two] dreams are one [in their meaning].
27 And the seven thin and ill favored cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears [of grain], blighted and shriveled by the east wind; they are seven years of hunger and famine.
28 This is the message just as I have told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.
29 Take note! Seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt are coming.
30 Then there will come seven years of hunger and famine, and [there will be so much want that] all the great abundance of the previous years will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and hunger (destitution, starvation) will exhaust (consume, finish) the land.
31 And the plenty will become quite unknown in the land because of that following famine, for it will be very woefully severe.
32 That the dream was sent twice to Pharaoh and in two forms indicates that this thing which God will very soon bring to pass is fully prepared and established by God.