YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Have you ever dreamed a dream that you really wanted to come true? And have you dreamed a dream that there was no way that you wanted to come true? Or maybe you dreamed a dream and just wished you could understand its significance, if any, or that the dream would continue until it was truly complete. But life is very much that way; we have the good mixed with the bad.

One night Pharaoh dreamed one good dream. After he understood its meaning, he wanted it to come true. Then he dreamed another one he really didn't want to happen. In the first dream he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. Seven sleek, fat cows suddenly came up out of the river and started eating grass. But then seven cows, so skinny that you could see their ribs, came up out of the river. Then the skinny cows ate the fat cows. As so often happens when we dream, Pharaoh woke up. He fell asleep again very rapidly, so he must not have been too concerned with this dream.

It wasn't long before Pharaoh began dreaming again. This time his dream was about seven heads of grain, on one stalk, with every kernel well-formed and plump. All of a sudden, seven more heads appeared on the stalk. But the east wind had taken its toll on this grain and it was all withered and shriveled. The same thing happened to the well-formed, plump kernels that happened to the seven sleek, fat cows. The withered and shriveled grain swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads. Have you ever had a dream like that? I don't think Pharaoh had either. So he woke up again.

The next morning Pharaoh started thinking about the two crazy dreams he had the night before and became so concerned about the meaning of the dreams that he called for the magicians and sages of Egypt. He went over his dreams with them. No one had a clue what they were all about.

The wine taster spoke up. "Some time ago when you were angry with a couple of us and put me and the chief baker in jail in the castle of the captain of the guard, the chief baker and I each had a dream one night. We told the dreams to a young Hebrew fellow there who was a slave of the captain of the guard, and he told us what our dreams meant. And every thing happened just as he said: I was restored to my position of wine taster, and the chief baker was executed, and impaled on a pole.”

Well, this young Hebrew fellow just happened to be Joseph. So Pharaoh sent to the dungeon to get him out. Joseph hastily shaved, put on clean clothes and appeared before Pharaoh to see what was troubling him. Pharaoh wanted Joseph to interpret his dreams. Joseph explained that he couldn't do it himself, "but God will tell you what it is.”

Pharaoh repeated both of the dreams to Joseph in detail. Joseph explained that both dreams mean the same thing and that God was showing him what He was about to do. The next seven years will be a time of great prosperity throughout all of Egypt, but there will be a famine so great the next seven years that all of that prosperity will be forgotten and wiped out. It will be so bad that even the memory of the good years will be erased. "The double dream gives double impact, showing that what I have told you is certainly going to happen, for God has decreed it, and it is going to happen soon.”

Getting ready for seven years of wonderful prosperity may not seem like such a challenge. But a prudent person would know better than to fritter away that time with no plan for the famine ahead. Joseph began to advise Pharaoh to find the wisest man in Egypt and put him in charge of administering a nation-wide farm program where the land was divided into five administrative districts. The officials would gather all the excess crops of the next seven years into the royal storehouses so there would be enough to eat when the famine comes. Joseph warned, "Otherwise, disaster will surely strike.”

Pharaoh took to heart what this young Hebrew advised and discussed who should head up this national farm program with his assistants. It became absolutely obvious that Joseph was the man for that job. They recognized that no one could do it better "For he is a man who is obviously filled with the Spirit of God.”

Pharaoh turned to Joseph and said: "Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, you are the wisest man in the country! I am hereby appointing you to be in charge of this entire project. What you say goes, throughout all the land of Egypt. I alone will outrank you." Wow! What a promotion from Prisoner to Administrator!” (All above scriptures taken from TLB). With this promotion came a signet ring for Joseph's finger to show his authority, beautiful clothing, a royal chain for his neck, and the chariot of Pharaoh's second-in-command.

The next year, the bumper crop came right on schedule. Joseph saw to it that all of this excess grain was properly stored in nearby cities for the famine to come. At the end of seven years, the granaries were full to overflowing. Prudent planning by a wise man prepared Egypt for a horrible famine they were about to experience.

Amos 8:11 says, "The days are coming, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I will send a famine through the land - not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD" (NIV). You've been warned. What can you do to be prepared for that famine?