Pharaoh's Dreams 

Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”  Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile.  Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass.  Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt.  And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke.  I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good.  Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.” (Genesis 41: 16 to 24) 

As described in the Bible, Joseph could not only interpret Pharaoh's dreams for him but also provide him solutions as below. 

There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.  (Genesis 41: 29 30) 

Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years.  And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.  That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.” (Genesis 41: 34 to 36) 

Pharaoh was so impressed and convinced, so he responded as below. 

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are.  You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”  And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 41: 39 to 41) 

As a believer, we want to bring people to God. Oftentimes, we wish that we are as convincing as Joseph. Joseph convinced Pharaoh so much that not only Pharaoh believed God had shown Joseph all this but also set Joseph over the land of Egypt. However, Joseph wasn't like that at first. When he told his family about his own dreams, his brothers were so upset that they wanted to kill him. Because he presented himself as the center of the family.  It's all about himself. After a series of betrayals by his brothers, his Egyptian master and the butler, he realized that without God, he had no play at all. It's all controlled by God. God was the center of all things. That gave him faith and made him humble. So, when the butler remembered about him after two full years, he was called out of the prison to stand in front of Pharaoh, he emphasized that it wasn't him but God to give Pharaoh a favorable answer. Since he humbled himself and exalted God, God exalted him through Pharaoh. This is like the example that Christ Jesus set for us to follow as described below. 

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2: 4 to 11) 

Indeed, the reason that we are not able to convince people even for God's sake was because we are all opinionated based on our own knowledge of good and evil, the so-called sin in the Bible. With our sinful nature, people would only see our flesh not God himself. The only way to overcome this is to nail our own desire and pride on the cross and carry the cross to follow Christ Jesus. Eventually, people would see the glory and beauty of Christ through us. Only then people would be convicted and give glory to God. Emmanuel. 

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