God Will Do This

Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it; and I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” (Genesis 41: 14-16)

How often are we asked to perform with very little preparation? When this happens, it’s not unusual to lose one’s cool or to experience a case of “the nerves.” I experienced this over and over as a substitute teacher, setting foot into a strange classroom, with very little time to read the instructions the teacher had left for me. All too often I was still absorbing it all when the first students began to enter.

When Joseph was brought out of the dungeon, he was given little preparation before he found himself in front of Pharaoh, the king of all Egypt. With little preamble, Pharaoh asked Joseph to interpret a dream for him. Joseph was on the spot. The Bible doesn’t reveal whether Joseph experienced a case of “the nerves.” What it does tell us is that his response was one of faith and trust in God.

It doesn’t really matter whether Joseph was nervous. He interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and Pharaoh was pleased. Joseph was able to succeed not because he was given time to freshen up and prepare himself mentally, or because he’d practiced interpreting dreams over and over again and he was an expert at it. He was able to succeed because he was right with God and because he trusted God to lead him.

Joseph handled the task Pharaoh gave him by resting in his relationship with God and trusting in His promises. We can accomplish so much when we trust in the promises of God that are ours through Jesus Christ. As a full-time teacher now, I have discovered that there are still days when the unexpected occurs and I don’t have much time to prepare myself before I’m “on the spot.” But during these times it helps me to remember Joseph’s response to Pharaoh. As my daughter’s International Children’s Bible translation puts it: “God will do this.”