Obedience Blesses You
“I can’t do it,” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” Genesis 41:16
We have seen 13 years of Joseph’s life lived in slavery and prison. Joseph has been mistreated by his brothers, falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, and forgotten by the cupbearer, but none of these things broke Joseph. He stayed strong and remained obedient to God. It is easy to allow bad situations and misfortunes to break your spirit and fall into a landslide of sorrow and disappointment. A broken spirit means “to be overwhelmed with sorrow.” What is in our spirit is the same thing that is in our heart. If our heart and spirit are not right, our motivations will not be right. Our motives must be clean and right if the conduct that is produced is going to be beneficial. Joseph had the right motives. He kept his heart pure, without anger, resentment, and self-centeredness. He kept his focus on God which led to obedience with God.
Have there been situations in your life that led to a broken spirit?
How do you get your focus back on God?
Joseph has been in prison for 2 years since he asked the cupbearer to remember him when he went back to Pharaoh. For 2 years Joseph had been forgotten by the cupbearer, but he was not forgotten by God. Joseph was right where God wanted him to be. God was working on Joseph those 2 years. When you feel like your life is just standing still and you don’t see anything good coming out of your waiting, rest in the fact that God is working amongst your waiting. God never stops working even though we may be taking a time for rest or we are in a period of waiting for the next big thing. Things always happen in God’s perfect timing. The perfect time for Joseph to be brought before the Pharaoh is quickly approaching and God will be sure that Joseph is ready for it.
Are you in a period of waiting? What are you waiting on?
Ask God to give you the patience to continue waiting on His perfect timing and for understanding of what He has for you to learn through this waiting time.
Pharaoh has two dreams. In the first dream he is standing by the Nile, and out of the river come seven cows; they are described as sleek and fat. Then, seven more cows, who are described as ugly and gaunt come out of the Nile. The ugly and gaunt cows eat up the sleek and fat cows. In the Pharaoh’s next dream, there are seven heads of grain, healthy and good. Then seven other heads of grain sprouted up that were thin and scorched. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the healthy heads. Pharaoh did not know what these dreams meant, and they troubled him. In the Old Testament, dreams were considered prophetic signs, and it was very important to interpret them correctly. Dreams that came to people two times were extremely important. Pharaoh could not find anyone to interpret these dreams. Then, the cupbearer remembers Joseph. Let’s not forget that the cupbearer at this point is having to remind himself and Pharaoh of his time in prison. This could always bring up a sore subject in Pharaoh’s presence, but the cupbearer was courageous and brought it up anyways. He tells of Joseph and how he interpreted the dreams that he and the baker had. Once again, with God’s perfect timing, was Joseph remembered by the cupbearer. Not a day too soon or a day too late. Pharaoh sends for Joseph and tells him about his dreams. Joseph immediately admits that he cannot interpret the Pharaoh’s dream, but God can. Once again, Joseph gives credit where credit is due. Not only does he give the glory to God but he introduces God to an Egyptian Pharaoh that worships many gods. We should be very careful to not take God’s credit for ourselves. When we do so, we are robbing God of His honor. When you know you should give the honor to God, do not be silent about it.
Joseph tells Pharaoh that there are seven years coming when they will live in abundance. There will be abundant crops which means wealth for the land. But following the seven years of abundance will be seven years of famine. Joseph tells the Pharaoh how severe the famine will be and how it will reach the entire land.
If that wasn’t hard enough for Joseph to say to Pharaoh, now he has to tell him how to prepare for and handle the situation. Joseph tells Pharaoh to find one man that could be put in charge of the land of Egypt. He tells him that the profits made from the good seven years should be stored up for the bad seven years and one man should be in charge of doing this. He implies that this is the only way for the people to survive the severe famine that is coming. Let’s sit in this for a moment. Look at the position that Joseph is put in. It takes a lot of confidence and courage to say this to the Pharaoh. If Joseph was not confident in his obedience to God, he could have wavered on giving this clear interpretation and direction. He could have been scared that the Pharaoh would have laughed at him and rejected this information. He could have been shy and thought that he could not speak so boldly; what if Pharaoh thought Joseph wanted the position all for himself and how dare a prisoner think such a thing. Joseph’s head could have been filled with doubt which leads to fear and cowardliness. But Joseph was ready for this moment. God had trained Joseph for this exact moment in his life and Joseph was obedient to God’s calling. We can sit in our waiting, learn from our past experiences, train for the exciting opportunity that is to come; but if we don’t answer “yes” to God’s calling when it comes, all our efforts were for nothing. Obedience is everything, it is what shows we have matured and are ready for anything God puts in our path. And let me assure you, if God puts it in your path, it is going to be more amazing that anything you have dreamed of.
What scares you about saying “yes” to God?
How is God asking you to boldly step out in faith and be obedient to Him?
Genesis 41:41 says, “So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” Wow! This puts tears in my eyes. We haven’t even seen the whole story of Joseph yet, but we are already seeing how God’s work in Joseph’s struggles are being revealed. How long have you waited to get a glimpse of what God is doing through your difficulties? You beg and plead each day for God to reveal something to you. Just one sign to show that what you are going through is for nothing. My friend, tears stream down my face as I type this; all your anguish, sadness, loneliness, and confusion is for something. God’s timing means everything. He is never early, He is never late, He is never wrong, and He is always good. Ingrain this in your mind, “He is never wrong, He is never wrong, He is never wrong!”
Joseph was 30 years old when he went into service for Pharaoh. He worked for Pharaoh and stored up all the extra grain and food grown in the fields through the seven years of abundance. Before the famine came, he married an Egyptian woman and had two sons. His firstborn son was named Manasseh, and he said “It is because God has made me forget all my troubles and all my father’s household.” His second son was named Ephraim and Joseph said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” Joseph is blessed beyond his wildest dreams. He went from thinking his life was destroyed and over to living a life of thankfulness and abundance.
The chapter ends with the famine beginning and people from all over are being sent to Joseph to buy their food and grain. I wonder who will come and buy food from Joseph?