“And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.” (Genesis 41:4)
This was the end of Pharaoh’s dream. In those days people put lots of belief in dreams. This dream disturbed Pharaoh. And for good reason. This dream was from God. He wanted an interpretation but none of his wise men could interpret the dream. Joseph, Abraham’s son was imprisoned there because of Potiphar’s wife’s false accusations. But God’s grace had given him favor in prison and he’d had occasion to interpret the dreams of the king’s baker and cupbearer when they were imprisoned with him. Joseph was called to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. Pharaoh was impressed with Joseph’s wisdom and knowledge that he gave Joseph charge over everything next to him.
Now our Scripture has to do with the famine that was coming on the land. There were seven kine which are cows. God gave Joseph wisdom to know that the seven represented years. These cows were beautiful and fat. These seven years would be years of abundance. There are seven ill-favored and leanfleshed kine. They were ugly to look at and skinny. They came and ate up the fat beautiful cows. Joseph interpreted this as seven years of famine and hard years that would consume all the abundance of the previous seven years.
Joseph’s interpretation of the dream is a lesson for us. Many times, we squander the blessings of God. But as I have mentioned many times, we live in this unpredictable world. The only thing we can count on is the faithfulness of God’s Word, His Promises, His Grace and His Mercy. In a split second our world can be turned upside down. We need to see each blessing and store it up for a hard time.
Now I’m not talking about hoarding things. I’m speaking about looking at every blessing and putting it in God’s treasure chest. Prayers for our family when all is going well against those days of sorrow or difficulty that are sure to come. Prayers for our children when they’re small against the coming rebellious teen years. Prayers for our children when they’re small against the wiles of this world that will tug at their hearts, their first Love, their morals and beliefs. Prayers for our jobs when it’s a good provision against the inflation that is sure to come. Thankfulness to the Lord for our health when we’re young and strong against the time when our bodies are ready for rest. Spiritual strength and joy stored up for those days of trial.
Too many of us take God’s blessings for granted. We know that a hard time MIGHT come. But we dismiss those thoughts, not willing to even think on what may happen. But we must fortify ourselves and pray thankfully and specifically address such times. Now, how should we pray? Should we pray that we never will see hard times, sorrow or difficulty? That would be unrealistic. We should pray for wisdom, that we would in spite of whatever is happening that we will hear God’s voice in the clamor of the difficulty. We should pray that we will be strong to follow God and to continue to be faithful in our love, in prayer, in fellowship with the Lord, in worship and in service in spite of our desire to dig a hole and hibernate until all is well again. We should pray for dependance and trust in the Lord for when these difficult times come.
A good illustration of this is the parable of the house built on the rock. Let’s build our house, our lives and our families on the Rock, which is Jesus. “Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27) Great is the fall of those who don’t prepare spiritually, those who enjoy God’s blessings and take them for granted, maybe even demanding them. Yes, the Lord promised us great blessings, and we should be grateful and thankful, offering the abundance to those in need, not hoarding every blessing and joy on ourselves but sharing God’s joy, love, blessings and abundance with others, thereby placing them in God’s treasure chest for the time we will need joy, love, strength and wisdom.
Comments