The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 19 July 2016 - “Joseph…you shall be my number two”
Daily Scripture: Genesis 41:(S: ii) 17 Pharaoh said to Yosef, “In my dream, I stood at the edge of the river; 18 and there came up out of the river seven cows, fat and sleek; and they began feeding in the swamp grass. 19 After them, there came up out of the river seven more cows, poor, miserable-looking and lean — I’ve never seen such bad-looking cows in all the land of Egypt! 20 Then the lean and miserable-looking cows ate up the first seven fat cows. 21 But after they had eaten them up, one couldn’t tell that they had eaten them; because they were as miserable-looking as before. At this point I woke up. 22 But I dreamed again and saw seven full, ripe ears of grain growing out of a single stalk. 23 After them, seven ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, sprang up. 24 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven ripe ears. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”
25 Yosef said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are the same: God has told 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 dreams are the same. 27 Likewise the seven lean and miserable-looking cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted by the east wind — there will be seven years of famine. 28 This is what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Here it is: there will be seven years of abundance throughout the whole land of Egypt; 30 but afterwards, there will come seven years of famine; and Egypt will forget all the abundance. The famine will consume the land, 31 and the abundance will not be known in the land because of the famine that will follow, because it will be truly terrible. 32 Why was the dream doubled for Pharaoh? Because the matter has been fixed by God, and God will shortly cause it to happen.
33 “Therefore, Pharaoh should look for a man both discreet and wise to put in charge of the land of Egypt. 34 Pharaoh should do this, and he should appoint supervisors over the land to receive a twenty percent tax on the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. 35 They should gather all the food produced during these good years coming up and set aside grain under the supervision of Pharaoh to be used for food in the cities, and they should store it. 36 This will be the land’s food supply for the seven years of famine that will come over the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish as a result of the famine.”
37 The proposal seemed good both to Pharaoh and to all his officials. 38 Pharaoh said to his officials, “Can we find anyone else like him? The Spirit of God lives in him!”
(iii) 39 So Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Since God has shown you all this — there is no one as discerning and wise as you — 40 you will be in charge of my household; all my people will be ruled by what you say. Only when I rule from my throne will I be greater than you.” 41 Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Here, I place you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”
45 Pharaoh called Yosef by the name Tzafnat-Pa‘neach and gave him as his wife Osnat the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On. Then Yosef went out through all the land of Egypt.
50 Two sons were born to Yosef before the year of famine came; Osnat the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On bore them to him.
-------Reflection Questions:
Through Joseph, God warned Pharaoh that his two bizarre dreams (corn eating corn?) were a deadly serious warning of a coming famine. Pharaoh was so impressed by Joseph’s wisdom and discernment that he made an unexpected (and no doubt shocking to ambitious Egyptian officers in his court) announcement. He was freeing the imprisoned Hebrew, and promoting him to be his chief deputy, with power over all of Egypt!
- When Pharaoh “put [his signet ring] on Joseph’s hand, dressed him in linen clothes, and put a gold necklace around his neck,” he was replacing Joseph’s prison clothes! History is full of stories of rulers who selfishly abused their power. Instead of self-seeking, Joseph chose to live to honor God. How are you and the Holy Spirit doing at developing the inner qualities and spiritual disciplines needed for you to use whatever power you have in positive, unselfish ways—God’s ways?
- It’s so tucked away in the story that it almost feels like a footnote to us. But one part of Joseph’s elevation was marrying the daughter of an Egyptian priest—and she bore him at least two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. The founders of two of Israel’s twelve tribes had an Egyptian mother! In what ways did this seemingly small detail already begin to show God’s love for all people on Earth, not just the members of one ethnicity or nation?
Lord, your guiding hand is at work in my life each day. Help me not to overlook or fail to value that just because you do not always produce reversals in my fortunes as dramatic as you did for Joseph. Amen.
-------Insights from Brandon Gregory
Brandon Gregory is a volunteer for the worship and missions teams at Church of the Resurrection. He helps lead worship at the Vibe, West, and Downtown services, and is involved with the Malawi missions team at home.In college, I majored in English, so I’m always on the lookout for things like symbolism and parallels–repeated patterns that carry great meaning. Joseph’s story is a perfect example of that. He starts in a great spot: he’s born into a successful family, favored highly by his father, and probably set to inherit most of the family business. And he also has a rather unique God-given talent for discerning dreams.
But Joseph isn’t the most responsible with his gifts. He flaunts them in front of his brothers, even gloating to them that he would one day rule over them. I get the impression from the events of the story that Joseph telling his brothers about his prophetic dream was just the last in a long line of him reminding them that he was better off than them. At that point in the story, Joseph’s gifts were all about Joseph. So, in return for misusing his gifts, Joseph loses his freedom, his success, and his family when he is sold into slavery.
After slavery, false accusations, and wrongful imprisonment, Joseph finds himself at rock bottom. I wonder how many times he looked back on those days with his brothers and bitterly regretted squandering his gifts for his own benefit. That prophetic dream and his interpretation of it must have seemed like a curse. I think it would be well within Joseph’s right to never want to interpret a dream again.
When the pharaoh calls Joseph up to his chambers and asks him to interpret his dream, he is faced with the same choice that got him into that place to begin with. He could have used his dream-interpreting gift to promote himself, to bargain for his freedom; he could have used it to push himself into the limelight and ask for a position of power; he could have chosen to make that moment all about Joseph again.
But this situation also presented a much different opportunity: a chance to help the people who had imprisoned him. There was definitely no Joseph in that decision. But, perhaps with the lesson learned from his experience with his brothers, this is the decision Joseph chooses to make. Joseph chooses to use his gift to help the nation of Egypt and ask for nothing in return. Even when describing the position which would be his in a few short minutes, Joseph makes no ploy for power.
And notice what happens. Joseph gets back everything he lost: his freedom, success, and even a new family. In fact, it’s this restoration that brings about the fulfillment of his original dream about his brothers–he actually gets a chance to rule over them. And it’s all because he chose to use his gifts to help others selflessly.
I don’t see this scenario as a promise from God, so much as an important lesson in using our gifts, whether those are attributes, temperaments, or even just the situations we were born into. The temptation is to use our gifts to promote ourselves, much like Joseph did. This can come off as abrasive, condescending, or even insulting to others who don’t have the same gifts that we do, and, much like Joseph’s brothers, it can really lead to some resentment. If we use those God-given gifts to help others without expecting anything in return, that’s where we see the most fulfillment. I’ll be honest: there will be times when you really get nothing in return from the people you’re helping. But making that mindset into a lifestyle will lead to fulfillment and success over the long run, much like it did for Joseph. Let’s hope we can learn that lesson without losing everything first.
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