It took Pharaoh's chief cupbearer two years to remember his promise to bring Joseph to the attention of the king. He never would have remembered his promise if the Lord hadn't given Pharaoh two dreams that no one in the kingdom could interpret. On an ordinary day, while he's going about his duties in the prison, when he least expects it, Joseph is going to be called out of the dungeon to the palace.
"So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he appeared before Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have said it heard of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.'" (Genesis 41:14-15) This is Joseph's big chance---perhaps his only chance---at freedom. We might expect him to make much of himself, saying, "That's right, if you need a dream interpreted, I'm your guy!" But no, Joseph gives all the credit to the One who gifted him with this unusual talent. He gives the praise to the One who has been with him day and night through all his troubles. "'I cannot do it,' Joseph replied to Pharaoh, 'but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.'" (Genesis 41:16)
"Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows came up---scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up.'" (Genesis 41:17-21) We can see why this dream was odd and disturbing to the king. To emphasize that this dream actually means something, the Lord sends him a second dream in the same night so Pharaoh will understand this is an urgent matter.
Pharaoh tells Joseph about the second dream. "'In my dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. After them, seven other heads sprouted---withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.'" (Genesis 41:22-24)
The Lord supplies Joseph with the answer. "Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, 'The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine. It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. 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.'" (Genesis 41:25-32)
Joseph is saying, "The years of famine will be so bad that no one will be able to recall that there were ever good times in Egypt. The Lord has graciously revealed this coming disaster to you so you can prepare for it and save your people." Joseph can not only interpret dreams, but he also has the managerial skills to provide good advice for handling the coming crisis. He tells Pharaoh what needs to be done to keep the citizens of Egypt alive. "'And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.'" (Genesis 41:33-36)
Joseph is not suggesting that Pharaoh put him in charge. He's not trying to promote himself here, for no Hebrew slave-turned-prisoner would expect the king of Egypt to put him in charge of any project, much less a project as important as this. But God intends to put Joseph in charge. And Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph that he doesn't even want to post an advertisement for the job or take any applications. Pharaoh knows the right man for the job is standing in front of him. "The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, 'Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?'" (Genesis 41:37-38)
A literal translation of Pharaoh's words, as presented in Hebrew, would be something like, "Can we find anyone else like this man, in whom is the spirit of the gods?" Pharaoh doesn't know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He doesn't know the God whom Joseph credits with his gift of interpretation. Egypt has more gods than you can shake a stick at, so to speak, and Pharaoh likely considers Joseph's God one of many. Still, he knows this God (or gods) is with Joseph and has given him insight and wisdom. In just a few minutes, Joseph solved Pharaoh's problem with the dreams and has told him how to prevent the fall of the nation and the death of thousands of its citizens. Pharaoh probably feels like the promotion of Joseph is ordained by "the gods" and that he is the man who has been chosen to steer the country through the dark stormy waters ahead. He and his officials agree that they need look no further for the "discerning and wise man" to put in charge of the situation.
"Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall 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.'" (Genesis 41:39-40) The most Joseph expected from this meeting was to leave it with a pardon from prison in exchange for helping the king. Now he's second-in-command to the man who is possibly the most powerful ruler in the world at that time. Who but God could turn Joseph's circumstances around so dramatically in one day?
There have been times when God has turned circumstances around for me or my loved ones quite dramatically and in a very short period of time. The circumstances already looked impossible to fix (and they were, by man's standards), but even had they seemed possible, we would have expected it to take months or years for things to smooth out into any real sense of normalcy. But the God who created everything that exists in only six days is more than able to turn around your circumstances or mine in only one day---or even in a matter of minutes. This is why we have to keep holding on. This is why we have to do what Joseph did: keep on serving the Lord day after day, keep on fulfilling our responsibilities honorably, and keep on letting God develop our character so that when our breakthrough comes we will be ready for it.
Long before Joseph was ever born, God knew what He intended to do with his life. He sent Joseph prophetic dreams of his own so that he knew he was destined for greatness, but many years and many hardships had to occur first to humble his pride and to cause him to rely on the Lord in everything. He had to build strength of faith and strength of character before he was ready to become Pharaoh's right hand man. If his brothers had never been jealous of him and sold him into slavery, he wouldn't be standing where he is right now. If he hadn't ended up in Potiphar's house where he was falsely accused of sexual assault, he wouldn't have been thrown in prison where he interpreted dreams for two of Pharaoh's officials. He wouldn't have encountered these officials anywhere else, most likely, for he was never going to receive an invitation to the king's house under ordinary circumstances, so his meeting with these men was a divine appointment arranged by God so that at the right time the cupbearer would recommend his services to Pharaoh. He is now in a position to save the lives of the people of Egypt and to save the lives of his own family, though he doesn't know it yet. His family will bow to him just as they did in his prophetic dreams. They will come to Egypt for help during the very widespread famine that's coming, and who will be the man in charge of that help? Joseph.
Every circumstance of Joseph's life has been leading up to this one moment, but it had to occur in God's timing and in God's way. A moment sooner would have been far too soon. Oh, but it's so hard for us to wait, isn't it? There's something I've been waiting almost twenty-three years to see happen and it hasn't happened yet. I don't know if it will happen or if God has a different plan, but I feel like the Lord is telling me to wait it out a while longer. Things may turn out to my advantage or things may turn out in such a way that they send me in a different direction, but I'm waiting and the waiting is hard. Joseph is an inspiration to me while I wait. His long wait has been harder than mine; it involved false accusations and the loss of his freedom. His long wait involved having his hopes dashed when the cupbearer whom he helped forgot about him for two years. I wonder how many times Joseph felt despair in the night and thought about giving up on his hopes of regaining his freedom someday. But it one day, everything changed. What if he'd given up before that day arrived? What if he'd allowed his emotional and mental state to reach a low point where he'd have been no help to Pharaoh? What if he'd become so depressed he'd taken his life? I think during his long wait he learned to live one day at a time. I think he learned to focus on the moment instead of entertaining dark thoughts about the future.
After all, we only have to get through this day, don't we? We don't need to torture ourselves with thoughts like, "What if my situation goes on for years and years? What if things never get better?" All we really need is to make it through this day, because there's no use tormenting ourselves with fear that things will always be exactly like they are right now. Our circumstances could turn around suddenly, in only one day, like Joseph's did. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ tells us not to worry about tomorrow. He knows what a toll our fears and wild imaginations will take on us. So He wisely and lovingly says to us, "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?...Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." (Matthew 6:27, 34a)
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