A Weekly Meditation of Pastor
Chang (September 27, 2009)
<The Greatest Statesman
in Human History ¨C Joseph in the Bible> (4)
Joseph was put in jail for doing nothing wrong as what the Bible says. He was innocent. Imagine: if one has committed crime and is put in jail, of course, one will feel bad, but at least knows because of wrong doing. But if an innocent person is put in jail, of course one immediately feels angry and frustrated. But I believe that Joseph was a man of God, he already learned how to trust in God totally. And because of that, he probably could handle better than anyone else in terms of responding to the evil situation. A person who had faith in Christ is always different from anyone without faith in Christ.
The prison that Joseph stayed was not a common one; it belonged to the royal dynasty. Those who were put there probably were once much closed to Pharaoh, the King of Egypt. And because of that, God could provide great opportunities for Joseph to practice his gifts ¨C the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, they are: ¡°the message of wisdom¡± and ¡°the message of knowledge¡± (cf. Corinthians 12:8.) ¡°The message of wisdom¡± is a gift to interpret dreams, to understand the language of wisdom, and to provide true ways of solutions. ¡°The message of knowledge¡± is a kind of gift to see through the deep inside of a person¡¯s heart. These gifts are only from God the almighty. Besides that, if anyone who has it can be from evil, such as psychics, fortunetellers, or witchcrafts, they seem to have the similar gifts, but not from God.
The opportunities finally came! One day, the cupbearer and the baker of the king offended their lord, and the king put them into the jail where Joseph stayed. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he took good care of them.
After they had been held in the jail for a while (several months or year(s)? we don¡¯t know) one night each one of them got a dream. And they were dejected. Joseph helped them to get interpreted. The cupbearer¡¯s dream was like this: He dreamed that in front of him, he saw a vine. And on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, blossomed, and ripened into grapes. He took the Pharaoh¡¯s cup which was in his hand and squeezed the grapes into the cup and gave it to Pharaoh.
Joseph¡¯s interpretation was: the three branches mean three days. Within three days, Pharaoh would restore the cupbearer¡¯s position. But, by the way, Joseph also instructed this cupbearer when this dream was fulfilled; remember to report to Pharaoh about Joseph¡¯s innocence so that he could also be out of this prison as soon as possible.
When the chief baker saw that Joseph gave a favorable interpretation of dream for the cupbearer, he told Joseph his dream. He dreamed that there were three baskets of bread on his head. But the birds were eating the bread from the baskets.
Joseph¡¯s interpretation was: three baskets mean three days. Within three days, the baker would be taken out, and his head would be lifted off and hung on a tree. The birds would eat away the baker¡¯s flesh. Three days later, it was the birthday of the king, and both dreams completely came true according to the interpretations of Joseph. But unfortunately, the cupbearer totally forgot this event and the words of Joseph. It was very strange, wasn¡¯t it? How come? I believe: it was from the Lord, because the time hadn¡¯t come yet. Joseph still needed to be in the prison for a while.
¡°Dreams¡± were very important in the ancient palaces of any kingdom or empire. It was always regarded as a kind of revelation from god(s). Therefore, magicians and wise men were always called by the kings or emperors to be the advisors or counselors to interpret the dreams. Anyone who did good job of interpreting dreams could gain power and many benefits from the kings or emperors.
Nowadays, although we live in a very
scientific world, many people still believe dreams, signs and wonders. I
believe that the Lord sometimes still reveals His will through dreams to people
nowadays. Nevertheless, we need to be very cautious to discern, otherwise, we
could be deceived; because psychics, soothsayers,
fortunetellers, and witchcrafts on behalf of the evil spirit are still very
active and popular in the