THINK TOGETHER.
What was your favorite present from this past Christmas?
READ TOGETHER.
Genesis 41:38-40. 38So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man [Joseph] so obviously filled with the spirit of God?” 39Then 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. 40You 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.”
Joseph. The great-grandson of Abraham. The youngest of eleven brothers. Loved by his father Jacob. Given a coat of many colors. Hated by his brothers. Sold by his brothers as a slave to Egypt. Accused of being bad when he wasn’t. Thrown in prison. Interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
Stop. That’s where today’s verses come in.
While Joseph was in prison, he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker. Later, when Pharaoh had a dream, his butler remembered Joseph from prison. “Joseph can interpret your dream,” he told Pharaoh. Do you remember Pharaoh’s dream? It was really weird. Seven skinny cows ate seven fat cows. When Joseph hear this dream he was able to tell Pharaoh what it meant – there will be seven years of great prosperity with lots of food to eat, followed by seven years of terrible famine with no food to eat.
Joseph told Pharaoh that he should put someone in charge of all the food in Egypt. All the extra food needs to be collected so that when there is no more food being grown we will all still survive.
Pharaoh didn’t just think it was a good idea; he thought it was a godly idea. Pharaoh said that Joseph is filled with the Spirit of God.
Wow. Don’t you wish you could be filled with the Spirit of God too?
Well, you can. In fact, if you have trusted in Jesus to save you then you have been filled with the Holy Spirit who is giving you God’s wisdom just like he did for Joseph in Egypt. Just like God gave Joseph wisdom through the Spirit to know how to save people from the great famine, God has given everyone who is a Christian the wisdom of Jesus, through the Spirit, to know how to be saved from our sins.
If the Holy Spirit has shown you how to trust in Jesus to save you from your sins by trusting his death for us on the cross, and if you are still trusting Jesus every day to show you how to love others like Joseph did, and like he did, then you are wise indeed.
Because of the Holy Spirit we can trust in Jesus to save us.
With the Holy Spirit we can keep trusting Jesus day by day.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Joseph helped people avoid starvation. Do you know anyone who may be hungry for food? What about hungry for kindness and love? Make a plan together as a family to be wise and help someone in need.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, you have given me your Spirit to make me wise with the wisdom of trusting Jesus to save me from sin. Help me, Holy Spirit, to be wise today with the love of Jesus so that I can help others who are starving for love and kindness. Amen.
TLICfamily 