In the fire

DEVOTION

GENESIS

IN THE FIRE

Gen 41:1-14

41:1 When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile, 2 when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. 3 After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the riverbank. 4 And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up. 5 He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk. 6 After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted — thin and scorched by the east wind. 7 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream. 8 In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him. 9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. 10 Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. 11 Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. 12 Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. 13 And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged." 14 So Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.

NIV

This is a rather lengthy narrative which includes a short recap of preceding events. It does seem strange all the magicians and wise men could not interpret his dreams. Even without already reading Joseph’s interpretation numerous times throughout the years reading and rereading the scriptures, it seems pretty obvious what his dreams meant. Of course we have the Spirit which is the same as the Lord being with Joseph. The magicians and wise men did not have the Lord with them, in fact, the Lord might have caused or blocked the truth of Pharaohs dreams from them, so that Joseph would be called out of prison. There is quite a parallel here to our world today. It is not with the interpretation of dreams, but with the understanding of scripture. It matters not how much a person knows scripture. Someone can have read it all and even studied it for years, but without the Spirit that person has no clue what the truth is, in fact, God might well keep that truth from them until they are receptive to the Spirit. His truth is so plain and available, as plain as the seven fat cows being eaten up by the seven ugly and gaunt cows. Yet the magicians and wise men did not have a clue as to what the dreams meant. God reveals his truth through the Spirit to those the Spirit is with or rather within.

 1 Cor 2:14

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit , expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.   14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

NIV

 This, of course, leads to the question why do so many Christians have differing views of the truth? Could it be possible some Christians are not being led by the Spirit, but rather by they own intellect? But then who is to say which of us has the truth as revealed by the Spirit, if we all have differing ideas of what the truth is? Does God give one truth to one person and another truth to someone else? It would seem rather clear that in order for us to be saved from the wrath of God, we need to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. It would seem straight forward that if we ever intend to see or enter the kingdom of God, we must be born again. It would seem obvious that Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. We know many people around the world cannot see those truths. But it also seems some who call themselves Christian do not see those truths either. Their vision or understanding is clouded by the ideologies of the world, they may have quenched the Spirit.

1 Thess 5:19

19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire;   NIV   19 Do not quench the Spirit   NKJV

Is it possible with the human mind, the wisdom of man, we may indeed be putting out the Spirit’s fire. In the early 1900’s we had many revelation knowledge preachers. There were not many bible colleges, but there was the Spirit revealing to unlearned men without degrees the truth of scripture. Have we replaced those revelations with denominational bias instructors? Have we replaced the Spirit of wisdom with the wisdom of man? Joseph had no formal training. He was not a rabbinical scholar. He was simply a young man who the Lord was with and the truth of Pharaoh’s dreams were revealed to him by the Lord. The wisdom of man is foolishness to God. We are not told when Joseph heard the dreams he went and sought a place of prayer and asked God what did those dreams mean? We are not told he went to the library and studied the newest book on interpretation of dreams. We are not told he said that first he must attend a bible college to learn how to understand the truth. We are simply told God revealed the truth of those dreams directly and right at the needed time. This is the work of the Spirit in our lives today.

John 14:25-27

25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

NIV

Without the Spirit we live in the dark, no matter how much we attempt to learn. But with the Spirit we will be taught all things and live in the light of the truth. It is not what men say, but it is what the Spirit says. We should not put out the fire, listening to the wisdom of men, but let us live in the fire of the Spirit.