FROM DOWN AND OUT TO LARGE AND IN CHARGE

PROCLAMATION

“Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled; only in the throne will I be greater than thou.  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, ‘See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.’ ”  Genesis 41:40-41 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were revealed to and written by Moses under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  Two years after the chief of the butlers and the chief of the bakers, who were imprisoned with Joseph, had dreams which Joseph interpreted for them and things came to pass as he said, (Genesis 40:1-23) the Pharaoh had a dream which none of his wise men or magicians could interpret. (Genesis 41:1-8)  Then the chief butler remembered that Joseph had interpreted his dream correctly and he told this to Pharaoh. (Genesis 41:9-13)  Hearing this, Pharaoh sent for Joseph and told him the dream.  Joseph told Pharaoh that God had revealed to him that there would be seven good years in Egypt which would be followed by seven years of famine. (Genesis 41:14-32)  Pharaoh said because God had showed this to him, he placed Joseph in charge of his house, the people, and all the land, and made him second in command in all of Egypt. (Genesis 41:39-41)  Joseph had them gather up and store corn for seven years (Genesis 41:48-49) and he sold it to the people when the famine came. (Genesis 41:55-57)

 

APPLICATION

Joseph went from being down and out to large and in charge.  He went from the bottom of a pit, (Genesis 37:23-24) to being a slave, (Genesis 37:28 and 37:36) and to prison, (Genesis 39:19-20) but rose up to be in charge of the entire country because The Lord God was with him. (Genesis 39:2 and 39:21)  As believers we need to learn to praise God in good times and in bad times. (Philippians 4:12)  He said that He would always be with us. (Hebrews 13:5)  It is The Lord God who gives us the strength to make it through the storms of life. (Philippians 4:13)  It is His strength which manifests itself during our periods of weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)  We should really count all of our trials and tribulations as joy because we are just being perfected. (James 1:2)  Our trials are opportunities for God to “show up and show out” in our life.  We need to remember to give God the credit for the things that He has done.  “In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)