“Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one-fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead and bring it to Pharaoh’s storehouses. Store it away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities. That way there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land.” Joseph’s suggestions were well received by Pharaoh and his officials. So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, clearly no one else is as intelligent or wise as you are. You will be in charge of my court, and all my people will take orders from you. Only I, sitting on my throne, will have a rank higher than yours.” [Genesis 41.33-40]
Joseph's painful, hard-earned maturity reveals itself in this passage.
Instead of just blurting out what Pharaoh's dreams meant and leaving it at that (like he did with his parents and brothers), Joseph had by now gained enough understanding of his gift to work with it instead of against it.
I can imagine all he had been through up to this point certainly made him calculative about what he shared and how he shared it! His experience two years earlier with the cup-bearer and the baker most likely served as a final developmental lesson to this end.
Joseph's increasing maturity was indeed showing itself with the cup-bearer and the baker in the following passage:
And they replied, “We both had dreams last night, but no one can tell us what they mean.” “Interpreting dreams is God’s business,” Joseph replied. “Go ahead and tell me your dreams.” [Genesis 40.8]
This maturity carried forward when Joseph addressed Pharaoh too:
“It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph replied. “But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.” [Genesis 41.16]
However, even though Joseph repeated his humble declaration of it being "God's business" to interpret dreams when addressing Pharaoh's situation, Joseph took it one step further in "owning" his gift and responsibility in "God's business" to say what he said in Genesis 41 starting in verse 33 (above).
By this time, Joseph had some "street smart" to accompany his raw gift of interpreting dreams. The Proverbs reveal this:
A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men. [Proverbs 18.16 NKJV]
How does this apply to us today? Many of us have gifts and many of us have blown it with our gifts. However, if we will learn from our mistakes (rather than giving up on our particular gifts) we will become "street smart" making our gifts beneficial to all. As with Joseph, we will be taken care of in the meantime!
But the matter of "street smart" is tricky. As seen in Joseph, there is the potential for enormous discomfort and hardship in the acquisition of this street smart trait. Joseph could have become bitter and hesitant in interpreting dreams - because it was, after all, his interpretation of dreams that got him in trouble with his brothers in the first place. But Joseph remained true to his gift and evidently continued to develop it - he learned to work with it as seen in his orchestrating of a role for himself with Pharaoh.
Joseph's story is indeed a great lesson for us all.
Father, I know You have given me gifts and I know I have blundered with those gifts far too often. Help me to use the pain and suffering I have caused myself to grown into maturity instead of digressing into mediocrity.
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