His Humble Servant

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

HIS HUMBLE SERVANT

Gen 41:17-40

17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile, 18 when out of the river there came up seven cows, fat and sleek, and they grazed among the reeds. 19 After them, seven other cows came up — scrawny and very ugly and lean. I had never seen such ugly cows in all the land of Egypt. 20 The lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows that came up first. 21 But even after they ate them, no one could tell that they had done so; they looked just as ugly as before. Then I woke up. 22 "In my dreams I also saw seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on a single stalk. 23 After them, seven other heads sprouted — withered and thin and scorched by the east wind. 24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads. I told this to the magicians, but none could explain it to me." 25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. 27 The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine. 28 "It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, 30 but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. 31 The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. 32 The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon. 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."

NIV

Once more Joseph remains the humble servant of the Most High God. Although the dreams of Pharaoh were revealed to Joseph he was sure to tell Pharaoh that it was God who gave Pharoah the two dreams with the same meaning to ensure he would know this was a done deal, exacted on the land of Egypt by the hand of God. Joseph remaining the humble servant simply told Pharoah he needed to find someone to put in charge of collecting all the grain for the next seven years. Interestingly, number seven appears at least three hundred times within the Old and New Testaments. Seven represents completeness, with the first example when God created, seven days are recorded. However, our story is about the humble servant of God who always gave God the credit for the spiritual knowledge given to Joseph. We do notice that Pharoah still does not understand that is the Almighty God who created all things. However, the recorded word used throughout this narrative is Elohiym, Pharoah had many gods, and we cannot be certain, that he understood the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Nevertheless, Elohiym makes sure the Pharoah decided to put Joseph in charge of all of Egypt with the exception of his throne. Here we have seen Joseph go through many ups and downs in his life, recently spending two-plus years in prison, although the warden put him in charge, and now he is the second in command of all of Egypt. All this is by the hand of God, or we could say by the will of God. Is that enough evidence to prove the sovereignty of God or the providence of God? Would that mean, Joseph was simply a pawn used by God to accomplish His plan for the House of Israel? We would have to believe this is not the case, as Joseph was a man who had been given the freedom to choose his path in life, and he chose to follow God, to always be humble before his God, and to serve and always be a witness of and for God. If God was totally in charge of all things, with man not having free will, then why would God make Joseph go through so many bad circumstances unless it was a test of Joseph’s resolve to never stop being the humble servant. This is our story. All through our lives we may have gone through difficult times, some even horrible times, almost disastrous times, as well as times when we were on top of the world, or having the best years of our lives. The secret to contentment is knowing our God, and having our faith never shaken, by any circumstances we face, as Joseph was always ready to testify it was his God who did it to prove He is the Almighty God. We should never take credit for any of our success in life, or lose hope in any of those hardships, but always testify to the greatness of our God. We cannot even say we are a humble servant, for that would be testifying about ourselves, insinuating our humility is why God has worked through us in some way. However, that is who we should be, like Joseph, His humble servant.