BIAY Day 16 - Dreamer becomes Interpreter
Genesis 40-42, Psalm 14
Welcome to the Bible in a Year for 2025. Intro to this series and resource links available here, plus here’s how I’m approaching this year.
Scriptures for Today:
Reflection:
The Joseph story is heating up.
Here’s what I’m noticing today.
An Honest Interpreter - Joseph has shifted from being a dreamer of dreams (about his family bowing down to his authority) to an interpreter of dreams for the cupbearer and the baker. I appreciate that he reports the interpretation of the dreams as they are, not as the hearer would like it to be. The cupbearer receives good news because that’s what the dream meant. Sadly for the baker, his dream was bad news and that’s what Jospeh told him. Unfortunately for Joseph, the cupbearer didn’t remember him once his fortunes changed for the better (verses 14-15, 23).
Conduit for God - Joseph acknowledges, both to the cupbearer and baker in chapter 40 and to Pharaoh in chapter 41, that God is the one who knows the meaning of dreams. It is only by God’s gift to Joseph and his willingness to share that gift that others are able to discern these messages from God through their dreams.
Obedient in small things, trusted for big things - Joseph’s obedience in sharing his gift for hearing God on the meaning of dreams begins by trusting his own dreams enough to share them. Later, he stewards his gift with his fellow prisoners, which leads two years(!) later to share it with Pharaoh, which leads to being appointed to oversee management of grain resources for the duration of the famine! Joseph’s obedience in smaller settings prepares him to be trusted with a big assignment. (Genesis 41:41-57)
Testing for character - In chapter 42, we finally have a reunion between Joseph and his brothers, many years since they faked his death and sold him to traders en route to Egypt. One can only imagine the impact on Joseph as he watched his brothers live out his dream in which they bowed down to him! Why is Joseph so harsh? I always wonder about this. It seems to me that parsing out their character and who they are now is not an easy thing to do. Joseph needs to figure out who he is dealing with in order to know how to proceed.
Questions:
When have you been tempted to tell a comforting lie instead of a difficult truth?
What difference does it make to imagine being a conduit for God rather than a worker for God?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the gifts you’ve given me. Help me steward them faithfully for your purposes. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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