Genesis is almost over. Wheeeeeee.

Genesis 40-41: Joseph meets a cupbearer and baker who offended Pharoah, the king of Egypt, and were thrown into prison too. They each had a dream on the same night told Joseph about those dreams. Joseph interpreted the cupbearer’s dream to mean that the cupbearer would be restored to his position in three days. Joseph asked the cupbearer to put in a good word for him to the king. The baker’s dream wasn’t as good, but Joseph was bold and honest enough to give a true interpretation, rather than comfort the baker and offer him false hope. Joseph said that in three days, the baker would be beheaded by Pharoah. Joseph obviously didn’t ask this guy to help him get out of prison.

All of this happened as Joseph said, but the cupbearer forgot Joseph for two full years. This probably seemed like a real bummer to Joseph, but it turned out to be God’s perfect timing. The cupbearer remembered to mention Joseph after Pharaoh had two dreams that all his wise men and magicians couldn’t interpret. Pharaoh summoned Joseph after hearing the cupbearer’s story about him. Joseph said he couldn’t interpret the dreams, but God could. Joseph is going to give a right answer, but he’s not going to take the credit for it. Years ago, Joseph sought to lift himself up by telling his brothers about his dreams where he was glorified. He remembered that fall, and he’s not going through that again.

After hearing the dreams, Joseph told Pharaoh that God was revealing that there would be seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine, so Pharaoh would have to store up food in order to get through the coming bad times. Pharaoh recognized that Joseph had the “Spirit of God” in him. This is the first mention of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Pharaoh made Joseph his second-in-command and put him in charge of saving 20% of everything that came in the next seven years. Pharaoh gave Joseph a ring, robes, a chariot, and a wife. Joseph had two sons, and gave them Hebrew names meaning “forgetfulness” and “fruitfulness.” This shows that he was determined to forget the pain, grudges, and cruelty in his past, because his life has moved into a phase of blessing.

During the famine, all the surrounding lands came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph. And so everyone was saved! This seems like a complicated way to save people from famine. God was trying to speak to Pharaoh so he would act, but wouldn’t it have been easier for God to, you know, just stop the famine? There’s more to it. This whole story is also about getting the Jewish people into Egypt so that lots of other, very important things can happen to this group. Also, many have pointed out that Joseph is a lot like Jesus. I'm not going to go through all the similarities, partly because some are real stretches, but one I thought was pretty random is the how the baker and cupbearer represent bread and wine, which kind of "foreshadows" communion. Then again, it could be just a coincidence. 

On dreams: I don’t know whether God still communicates this way, or if it’s vain to make too much out of your dreams. Maybe it’s an important resource Christians haven’t been tapping. Maybe it’s best left to the more colorful, reaching religious people. Crazy or not? How do you know if a dream is from God? Surely we’re not supposed to be reaching for the Dream Interpretation Books they sell at Barnes and Noble to divine messages from God. Those are only for delving into the subconscious brain, right?

Is it only the dreams that really bother you or stay with you that you should pay attention to? I’m inclined to think most of my dreams are just silly, not messages from God, but maybe others have had different experiences. It’s something we don’t think about a lot. I think these chapters show that God CAN communicate urgent messages through dreams, but whoever interprets them must have the Holy Spirit, or there’s no chance of getting anything useful. These aren’t the sorts of things you can rely on your own power and intellect for. 

Waiting and Working

Genesis 39: I'm still waiting on my background check to come through from the Florida bar, and I'm anxious to start my career. In the meantime, I'm doing other things that I (and others) never saw myself doing. I'm letting you know this because I think it's going to influence this post. We return to Joseph, who is now a slave in Egypt. His owner is Potiphar, one of Pharoah’s officials. Potiphar was in charge of protecting the king/head of security. Because God was with Joseph, Joseph prospered. His master recognized the supernatural hand giving Joseph success, so he put Joseph in charge of everything he owned. Obviously, Joseph was a hard worker and aimed to do his best even as a slave. Because of this, God blessed the entire household.

Sometimes we have to take jobs or undertake tasks that we find beneath us. Sometimes we have to do work we’d rather not do. I think this story is a good example of how God can still bless people and give them success in these jobs. In these jobs, we can refine our character, humility, and gain a reputation for being upstanding that will follow us all of our lives. Sometimes these jobs are stepping stones to “better” or more influential work later. We don’t know the future. Joseph certainly had no real hope to advance in society as much as he does in the end (he was a slave), but it happened. 

A job is a job. Even if it’s school, we all have something we’re getting up every day to complete. Maybe we don’t want to do it forever. But it’s important to have integrity and try your best in everything you do. This isn’t for our glory, but God’s. When you do good work and you are openly Christian, it is going to reflect on your God. Everything good that happens gives glory to God. If your main goal in life is your own advancement or how you are being perceived, you’re missing the point. A Christian isn’t his own person anymore. He’s the living embodiment of Christ on Earth at this particular time. 

If you’re diligent, the Potiphars will notice, and credit will go where credit is due (to God). Of course, we can’t forget that when scripture mentions Joseph’s hard work and success, it first mentions that God was with him. In America, we are enamored with personal attributes, degrees, and will power, and we forget that without God’s power, we will always fail to achieve what someone relying on the Holy Spirit can do. You think you can achieve success at work and bring glory to God simply through your own efforts? It’s a stupid mistake to forego that help. Anyone who has read the book of Acts knows how fast God can move through regular people.

Joseph was hot, so Potiphars wife asked him to sleep with her. Joseph resisted the temptation, citing Potiphar’s trust in him and his obedience to God. Potiphar’s wife solicited him for sex daily for a long time. Joseph refused to go to bed with her or “even be with her.” This is what impresses me. It’s important to not be alone with an object of lust, especially when he or she is married. Even if you think, “It’s alright because we are just friends and neither of us would ever do anything/are thinking that,” hanging out or working one-on-one with a married person of the opposite sex is nearly always a bad idea. At the very least, it can raise eyebrows or jealousy in the spouse, which isn’t something you want to do to a person. 

One day Joseph allowed himself to be in the house alone with her (she probably sent everyone else out of the house), and she caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” He ran out of the house, leaving his cloak in her hand. So Joseph still has a thing for distinguishing clothes, eh? Potiphar’s wife cried rape. Joseph was thrown into prison, which was probably a mercy because an Egyptian official would surely have the power and right to put Joseph to death for this. Maybe Potiphar did this because of the good work Joseph did for him. Maybe he feared the wrath of Joseph’s God. Maybe he suspected that his wife might have been making it up. God was with Joseph in prison too, so Joseph found favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 

The warden put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners and prison operations. That’s right: Even in prison, God can bless a man, give him important work, and make him the best inmate possible. There are many prison inmates who just become animals, go with the flow of the new crowd, or see their lives as “over.” They give up. But as long as you are alive, there’s a purpose and a promise. There are people in prison (few, but some) who keep creating or adding to the world in some way, like the inmates who yell at the delinquent teens in “Beyond Scared Straight” or the inmates who write, speak, or work hard at the jobs given to them in prison. 

There’s no place or position in life where God can’t work, whether you’re trapped by walls or the physical prison of sickness. It’s not over until it’s over. There’s no place where you are “wasting time.” Not only can you do good things where you are right now, you might be in training for something else. In this part of Joseph’s story, he’s becoming competent, responsible, and able to lead a large number of people. When he becomes Pharoah’s right-hand man, he’s going to have the skills he developed while he might have thought he was in limbo, wasting time. I think this story proves that you can go from any low to any high. You can go from working at Dairy Queen to becoming President of the United States (Obama). 

I doubt there are inmates reading this blog, but if there are, you have just as much opportunity to bring glory to God than any other Christian, if not more. God delights in taking the so-called lost cases and using them. It shows off his power all the more. And that’s the point. Joseph’s success and blessings were not for Joseph. They were for God’s bigger purpose. They were to save the family so that the Jewish people could bring about Jesus. That way, Jesus could save the world, reconcile all things to God, and…bring glory to God. Even when God is loving us, He’s still the point. 

That’s why whenever I read a Bible story, I don’t look for the heroes and villains or the “moral.” I first try to ask, “What does this story tell us about God and how he operates?” This supposedly depressing chapter encourages me a lot. One of my biggest worries used to be that God could never use me because I didn't have the same talents as other women in the church. I used to be concerned that I would always be bored, waste my life, and never be challenged. In light of the big picture, this story tells us not to sweat our current circumstances in life. This story tells us that God could have a plan for life's dead periods. I don't know if anyone else has felt this way or can relate, but we all want to be part of the big adventure, right?