He did it his way

DEVOTION

GENESIS

HE DID IT HIS WAY

Gen 41:33-45

33 "And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. 35 They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. 36 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." 37 The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. 38 So Pharaoh asked them, "Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?" 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. 40 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." 41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, "Make way!" Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. 44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt." 45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.

NIV

We see Joseph go from prisoner to second in command of all of Egypt in but a moment, this is all God. Again we should note the act of storing up for seven years to have food during the second seven years does not establish a principle to live by, but rather is solely for the purpose of God to bring Israel to Egypt reuniting them with Joseph as well as fulfilling the dreams he gave to Joseph. They did in fact bow down to him. What we see here is that God changed the circumstances of Joseph in a heartbeat, so to speak. From the narrative we know Pharaoh knew Joseph to be in prison. What we do not know is if Pharaoh knew for what reason. Even though Joseph was an innocent man, he was a Hebrew slave of a prominent Egyptian. We are not told if Pharaoh was aware of this whole story, but we are told he was extremely impressed by Joseph. He does ask or perhaps being Pharaoh simply states, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God” We should note the original word used here can denote gods. This is Pharaoh who is polytheistic as well as considered as a god incarnate himself. It might be better put that Pharaoh concluded there was no one like Joseph in whom the spirit of the gods rested on or blessed, Pharaoh being one of those gods. This was not a profession by Pharaoh in the God of Joseph although Joseph had informed him God was the giver of interpretations of dreams. What we are seeing is the affirmation of God in the life of Joseph. He did indeed cause this to happen. He used people to bring about what he had planned for Joseph. He used people who, as far as we know, had no knowledge of him at all, with the exception of his brothers, who all his journey started with. God will always accomplished his will considering his people. This is what we learn over and over again throughout all the scriptures. There are times when God uses unbelievers for the benefit of his people so that his purpose will be fulfilled. We can expect this type of action in our lives as well. There will be times when God will use someone who has yet to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior to bless us. These individuals may even be polytheists or flat out refuse to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Yet God will use whatever or whoever he needs to in order to accomplish his purpose for and in our lives. We would do well not to put him in a box, so to speak, dictating the only methods by which he works in our lives. Examining the life of Joseph to this point it was the “believers” who sold him into slavery. Then it has been the unbelievers who have lifted him to high positions, blessing his life. Sure he had to spend a couple of years at the bottom, but then back on top, second in command of all of Egypt. Just think, Potiphar who was his master, and had him send to jail after being falsely accused, now has to answer to Joseph. Surely God can do that in our lives as well if that is his will concerning us. The point being that we should be aware God has it all under control and he will do what he will do when he wants to do it. Can we change the mind of God? It seems Abraham is proof of that. That would be one of the reasons for prayer. Yet it was God who initiated the prayer time with Abraham. He said: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” Prayer is more about God talking to us then us talking to him. It is about aligning ourselves with his will. Joseph was always ready to hear from God and then speak what he knew was the truth. We should spend more time listening, less time trying to convince God to do things our way.