“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 first dream of two that Pharoah had. Jospeh interpreted the dreams as one. The fat kine represented Egypt which prospered and had plenty. The number seven represented years. The ill-favored and lean fleshed kine represented the famine that was coming in seven years that would deplete the prosperity of Egypt. Pharoah recognized the Spirit of God in Joseph and set him over all of Egypt to fill the storehouses for the lean years. (Genesis 41)
God was in control of everything from the beginning of Joseph’s life. His dreams depicting he would be Lord over his brothers angered them to the point of getting rid of him. Everything that happened to Joseph was God’s providence in order that the children of Israel would survive. Although Joseph didn’t know God’s Will, his devotion to the Lord and his integrity brought him favor and promotion in every situation leading to his promotion as the second in command in Egypt and in charge of the food supply not only for Egypt but for people of many nations including his family from Canaan. (Genesis 37,39-49) Joseph then understood all that happened to him when he was able to save his family from the famine. He told his brothers, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.” (Genesis 45:5)
And this is how it’s with us. Something hard may happen to us and we don’t understand why. But especially because we belong to the Lord, nothing that happens to us good or bad is just happenstance. Our lives belong to the Lord and He will always place us in the best place for us, even if at the time it may seem like the worse time or the worst thing that has happened to us. As I have said many times in many lessons, God knows the end from the beginning. “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:” (Isaiah 46:9-10). Our integrity comes from our devotion to the Lord and our born-again spirit from God, which trusts the Lord in every circumstance and situation. Instead of sulking, cursing or dreaming of a better time, if we belong to the Lord, the hard circumstance or situation we find ourselves is God’s best for us at the time. Praise God and thank Him that He will bring us through and that this time will prove beneficial in the future.
If we allow a difficult situation to unhinge us, to sin or to give up, it can swallow up all our former blessings, just like a famine can annihilate all the prosperity of a nation. When things are going wrong, it’s hard not to sulk, not to curse or not to give up. It’s hard to continue to walk in love. But Paul in his letter to the Romans writes how walking in love fulfills the Law. We don’t know when Jesus is coming, but biblically there is nothing that would hinder His coming any time. We do not want to find ourselves like the five foolish virgins who were unprepared to meet the groom. Not to get side-tracked, but in ancient Hebrew tradition, the bridesmaids would wait for the groom and accompany him to the wedding reception. The foolish virgins were not ready and were left out of the reception. (Matthew 25:1-13)
Paul explains how living a life of love regardless of our circumstances as Jesus commands, fulfills all the Law. “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:8-14) No matter our circumstance, we can walk in the love of the Lord, in the light of the Lord and in the blessing of the Lord. We can prevent the lean fleshed kine from consuming our blessings and destroying our relationship with the Lord by continuing to walk in love no matter the circumstances.
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