An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 41:14-20, 33-37 for Sunday, May 12, 2024, with the title, “Revealed.”

A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: ???Anyone have a favorite “Rags to riches” story???

Charles Dickens would be one of mine. When he was a boy, Dickens’ father went bankrupt, and Charles was sent off to be a worker in a shoe-blacking factory (where they made shoe polish). The work was hard, the building was rat-infested, and he had to work long hours. It left him literally blackened with the polish every day — and it left a mark on his life too.

But it could be said that God used all this in Charles Dickens’ life — because when he grew up he of course became a great writer, and much of what he wrote about dealt with social injustice, the plight of the poor, children who were made to work in factories, etc, — and it had an enormous impact on social conditions in England. And the power and the feeling of Dickens’ writing that was so touching to so many people — came right out of those horrific struggles he endured as a youth. And so Charles Dickens — the child shoe polish factory worker — became a very rich and successful man. His story was literally that of “rags to riches.” 

There are many such “rags to riches” stories in history, and the story of the man we are looking at in our study of Genesis, the patriarch Joseph, has to be one of the very best. Today we see how after all his trials & tribulations he finally rises to the top — this time to stay! And how everything that happened to him was used by God and ultimately fit into God’s sovereign plan. 

CONTEXT

In our “last episode” of the adventures of Joseph, we left off with him being thrown into prison after being falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife. So he’s in prison, but again as we saw “the LORD was with him” — that repeated theme that makes all the difference — and he prospered even in prison, put in charge of everything there. 

(We’ll need to expand some on the “focus passage” to give some context, so I’d give a brief summary of the surrounding passages, something like this:

Genesis 40 tells us that while Joseph is prospering in prison, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker are thrown into prison for offending Pharaoh. (Pharaoh is of course the King of Egypt.)

Both the cupbearer and baker had a dream in prison, and they were sad because they didn’t know what their dreams meant.

SIGNIFICANTLY, Joseph tells them in :8 “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me please.” (We’ll see more about this verse later)  So they each tell him their dream:

— The cupbearer dreamed that there was a vine in front of him that produced grapes, and he squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup. Joseph tells him, this means that in 3 days, Pharaoh will restore you as his cupbearer again.

— This encouraged the baker, who asked him to interpret HIS dream, in which 3 baskets of bread were on his head, and birds were eating out of them. Joseph told him it meant that in 3 days you’ll be hanged, and the birds will eat your flesh! (NOT the interpretation he wanted to hear!)

But :20 says it happened just as Joseph said: the cupbearer was restored, and the baker was hanged. But Joseph had told the cupbearer in :14 “keep me in mind when it goes well with you … mentioning me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house.”

But :23 says the cupbearer “forgot him.” 

(Is there a little lesson here on gratitude? Is there someone you have forgotten to thank for something; or someone you haven’t appreciated? And of course we do that to the Lord all the time! Let’s continually remember what HE has done for us, and give Him thanks. Don’t take what He’s done for granted. This is why the Psalms continually command us: “give thanks, give thanks.”

This brings us to Genesis 41, which is our focus chapter. In it Pharaoh has his famous dream:

He was standing by the Nile (You might show a MAP here; show where Joseph and his family lived in the Promised Land west of the Dead Sea, and where they took him to Egypt. And show the Nile River where Pharaoh was standing in his dream. 

The Nile River is the longest river in Africa; maybe the longest in the world, and is THE most important geographical feature of Egypt; all their crops come from it; its banks are fertile because of its yearly floods. Thus almost all of Egypt’s cities are found along the Nile. It is their source of life and health.

So in his dream 7 fat cows come up out of the Nile. But then :3 says 7 thin ugly cows came out of the Nile, and ate the fat ones up.

Then :5 says Pharaoh had another dream, in which 7 plump ears of grain were similarly eaten up by 7 thin ears of grain. 

Pharoah was troubled by this dream, and no one could interpret it for him. Verse 9 says in this context the chief cupbearer suddenly remembers Joseph, and tells Pharaoh about this guy in prison who can interpret dreams.

This brings us to our focus passage for today, starting in 41:14:

OUTLINE

I.  Point people to God (God’s Sovereignty) (40:8, 41:16)

II. Let Him Use You Personally (Man’s Responsibility) (40:8, 41:16)

III. And God’s Providential Purpose Will Be Fulfilled (41:37+) 

TEXT

I. Point people to God! (God’s Sovereignty)

:14 says after the cupbearer told Pharaoh about Joseph, “Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon … and he came to Pharaoh.”

NOTICE :15 “Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it; and I have heard it said about YOU, that when YOU hear a dream, YOU can interpret it.”

DO YOU SEE A WORD THAT IS REPEATED THERE? 

(“YOU … YOU … YOU …”.  Judging from Pharaoh, it appeared that he thought this was all about Joseph, and what HE could do in this situation. 

??? But what was Joseph’s response in :16???

“Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, ‘It is not in me; GOD will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.’”

Do you see how important Joseph’s answer was? Pharaoh thought it was all about this man. Joseph corrected him: it’s not about ME as a man; it’s about GOD. HE is the One you need to be looking to.

This is such a key thing: always point people to God, not ourselves. 

Can God use us? YES

But is the ultimate power or answer in us? NO! 

It’s all Him! 

We need to remember that ourselves, AND we need to point that out to other people too. It’s not us; it’s God. 

??? What are some situations where we may be tempted, like Pharaoh, to depend on a MAN too much???

(— The choice of President or other leader. Sometimes we think, if only we get this guy as President, all our problems will be solved. But rarely is that the case. It is not all about that one man. We need GOD as a country more than any one man, Democrat or Republican! This is true for president and any other office as well.

— Churches often depend on pastors this way too, as if it all depended on him. Someone has said pastors get too much credit when things are going well, and too much blame when things aren’t. Like coaches, they often get too much praise and blame. Our focus needs to be on seeking GOD to bless our church!

— Medical problems: we often put so much trust in a doctor, or specialist. They can help, but GOD is the ultimate physician!

You/your class can think of others, and discuss those times where we put too much trust in men, instead of God. Psalm 146:3 says “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. (:4) His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. (:5) How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob; whose hope is in the LORD his God, (:6) who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them …”

Point people to GOD, not to ourselves, not merely to other men as the solution to our problems; like Joseph here, point them to HIM! But also:

II.  Let Him Use You Personally (Man’s Responsibility)

AGAIN: there is a Biblical balance we need to strike here:  We don’t want to put our ultimate trust in man, but can God USE us/other people? YES He can! And we need to put ourselves in position to be used by Him. But make sure that YOU are depending on God, not yourself, and make sure that you point people to God, and not yourself, for the credit and glory for what is done. 

I’d point out that in fact, in this passage we see how JOSEPH had this perfect balance.

We see it in Chapter 40, when he was in prison, and the cupbearer and the baker were telling him about their dreams. What was Joseph’s response? Notice the 2 elements to it in 40:8:

— “Do not interpretations belong to God?”

— “Tell it to me please.”

Do you see both aspects of this?

First, Joseph totally points them to God. Only GOD has the answer you are seeking. He’s all about pointing them to God.

But then second, he also puts HIMSELF in the position of being used by God, saying, “Tell it to ME.” 

So Joseph has the perfect balance of God’s Sovereignty and Man’s responsibility here:

— GOD has the answer, He’s Sovereign

— but in His sovereignty, He can use ME! I’m not sitting back doing nothing; I’m going to let Him use me in this situation.

You could show this slide/poster. You might ask your group: ???Can you see this fits into this part of our lesson today??? 

“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.”

(Funnily enough, Augustine of Hippo, North Africa, said this about 300 A.D. But I have seen it attributed to Martin Luther — and even to Dave Ramsey! A lot of people have quoted it, but to the best of our knowledge, Augustine said it first.) 

— But do you see how this is like Joseph here. He says only GOD has the answer; but He can give it to ME, and He will use me to help you. Trust in God, but do what you can to be used by Him.

There is another illustration of this same balanced attitude. Have you ever heard the expression:  “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition”? Here’s the story behind that:

During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, American ships were under attack. One of our ships in the harbor was the cruiser, U.S.S. New Orleans. Some of the electrical power on the New Orleans was out, so the ammunition lift wouldn’t work, and the men had to form line and pass the cases of ammunition shells up to the anti-aircraft guns by hand. On the ship was Navy Chaplain Howell Forgy, who at one point slapped some of the men on the back encouragingly, and said, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.”

Again this shows that needed balance: “Praise the Lord” — call on Him; depend on Him — but also balance that with “Pass the ammunition” — don’t just sit there and wait for God to win the battle, do all you personally can to let Him use YOU to help win it — “pass the ammunition”! 

This is the attitude, the balance WE need to keep in situations that we face today too: 

— Point people to God, only HE has the ultimate answer.

— But don’t just point people to God and sit back and do nothing! Let the God who has the answer USE YOU to be part of the solution! Get involved; help; serve; believe in God enough to let Him use YOU to help!

??? You might ask your group to help you think about how you can apply this: What are some practical situations where we need to remember to “pray like it all depends on God/but work like all depends on us”/“praise the Lord & pass the ammunition”???

(— God’s work in the church. Pray for Sunday like it all depends on God: but then DO what you should do to get ready for it: prepare the best lesson you can if you’re a teacher; rehearse well if you’re a choir or band member; contact a friend who needs to be there and invite them to come. Pray for God to move, but also do all that you should do! 

— This also applies to someone’s salvation. Only God can touch a heart; pray like it all depends on Him. But then minister and witness to that person like it all depends on you! 

— Someone in need: if someone has a physical/emotional need, pray for them like only God can help them — but then do what YOU can: give to meet the need; encourage/counsel them if you can help do that.

And so on … you/your group can think of others …) 

Maybe you/some of your class members have a situation in their life today, where you are tempted to say: Only God can help them/this. This is true. But is there also a sense in which God wants to use YOU to help bring His power and grace into that situation?  

This is a good reminder/challenge to us here:

— Point people to God like Joseph did

— But also be willing to be USED by Him to minister to people and be part of the solution!  

As we trust in God and point people to Him; and let Him use us personally, then:

III. God’s Providential Purpose Will Be Fulfilled

So in :17-24 Pharaoh tells Joseph his two dreams, and then in :25 and following Joseph gives him the interpretation:

— In :25 he says “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same; God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do. 

(God does this over & over in scripture. He predicts in advance what He is going to do; this is what separates Him from false gods/religions. Isaiah 46:9-10 says “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me (:10) declaring the end from the beginning …”. Only God can do this, as we see all through His word.)

— So Joseph says in :29 “seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt (:30) and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten …”.

— Then he says in :33, “Now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.”

— Then he gives him a plan: :34 “Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance.”

— In :36 he says, “Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.”

— :37 “Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.”

— AND DON’T LEAVE OUT :38+, where Pharaoh says JOSEPH is that “discerning and wise” man that he needs to put over Egypt in this crucial time. 

— He says in :39 “there is none so discerning and wise as you are.” (:40) “You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” (:41) “See I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 

So what’s happened? “Rags to riches”! Joseph has gone from being hated by his family, almost murdered, sold into slavery, falsely accused, forgotten in prison — to being the virtual King of the most powerful nation in the world at that time, the Kingdom of Egypt!  How did this happen? Joseph would be the first to tell you: it wasn’t ME, it was GOD!

And he would be right. In this whole story, God’s Providential purpose was being fulfilled. We’ve said this for about three weeks now — and we’ll hear it again as we finish Genesis — but maybe it will really get ingrained in our minds! — “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) “He works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11)

Just as the scripture says, God used “all things” — even Joseph’s time in prison — for His good purposes.

As as illustration, you could share about several people in history had some very good things come out of their time in prison:

— John Bunyan’s famous Pilgrim’s Progress (which we have mentioned in here before; the second most widely read book in all history behind the Bible) was written while he was in prison in England!

— Sir Walter Raleigh was thrown into prison in the Tower of London for 12 years — and during that time he wrote his famous History of the World.

— Cervantes was very poor author — he had written one book but it was a colossal failure — but he was cast into prison, and while in prison he wrote his masterpiece: Don Quixote de la Mancha!

Isn’t it striking that all of these classic works (and many others) were written IN PRISON! It just reminds us that God can use some of the worst times in our lives, for some of His greatest purposes. He used used even Joseph’s time in prison here in Genesis, for His good purposes. In Joseph’s case God used it to work together for His providential good purpose of saving the family of Israel from starvation and death, so that they would eventually give the world God’s word — and also the Messiah He has promised, to be our Savior.  

We need to remember that the Sovereign God of Genesis is still the same Sovereign God today too! So we can be confident that He still “causes all things to work together for good” in OUR own lives today. 

Some of us may need to take a fresh look at a situation in our lives, that is hard, or even tragic, and ask the Lord, “What might You be doing through this situation?” Encourage your group members to ask God to give them wisdom as to how He might be using a difficulty in their lives, for His purposes. How could God use this to advance His kingdom, and further His will?

We don’t always know how or why God is using difficult things to work together for good — often we can’t see it until much later — and sometimes we may not know until eternity — but His word says He is causing all things to work together for good for His people, so let’s believe it, and LOOK in our situations for what He might be doing — and especially, like Joseph did here, let’s point people to God in our situations, and also then get personally involved and LET HIM USE US to minister in those situations too! As we do, we can be confident that God will work it all together in His Sovereign plan, just like He did for Joseph! 

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