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Episode 438: In this episode, we explore Genesis 41 and the incredible journey of Joseph from being sold into slavery to becoming the second in command in Egypt. We also learn about the importance of seeking wise counsel, being steadfast in difficult times, and preparing for the future. Jeff and Wesley discuss how to apply the lessons from Joseph's life to our own, including the value of discipline, preparation, and giving God the credit for our successes.
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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Well, welcome back to another episode of The Bible Guys. I'm Jeff Forster and my guest co host is the dazzling Wesley Woods and he's with me today. So welcome Wesley. He's welcome back to the studio. Man, this has been great. Chris Sarbaugh is our regular co host, and he's out of town shooting some video. We're getting ready to take on a partner that fights against human trafficking and so he's doing some video work on that right now. And so here you are, the dazzling Wesley Woods. Yeah, it gets better and better and better. Yes. I love the big adjectives. Yeah. So, Wesley, Chris and I have a very strong commitment to our listeners to bring only the finest news, yes, and the most compelling investigative journalism that we can find. Yep. And so what we found is we think the most trustworthy news source on all of the Internet is the Babylon b. Yeah. If you don't know, the Babylon b is a satire website. And so I'm gonna you have the radio voice, so I'm gonna let you do do this next news segment for listeners. So the title of this is study finds one hundred percent of men cooking on grill just kind of moving meat around and hoping for the best. It's hilarious, it says. With summer barbecue season about to heat up, a new study has found that are remarkable one hundred percent of men cooking on a grill. We're kind of moving meat around and hoping for the best. The new findings confirmed what many experts have long suspected, meaning hundreds of millions of men wearing grill master aprons have been flying by the seats of their cargo pants all along. It turns out all these guys are just out there winging it, said Professor thursting Thurston Billingsley, who led the research team. Though men often talk a bit game about knowing all there is to know about grilling meat, they are in reality just poking at sausages and flipping pieces of meat haphazardly without knowing the outcome whatsoever. When reach for comment on the study results, one man came clean, Yes, yes, it's true. God forgive me, it's true, and self profess grilling officionado, Scottie Moon, I have no clue what I'm doing. I'm just out there shoving meat around to different areas on the grill and hoping for the best. I can do everything exactly like I did the last time, but it never turns out the same way twice in a row. Why is that why? The story also confirmed that all men purchase as many grilling tools and accessories as possible in order to maintain they At publishing time, the research team was preparing to move on to its next study, which would determine what percentage of men had no idea how a toilet actually worked or how to fix one. Okay, good, well, hey, that hits a little too close to home today, so let's just move on. Yes, okay, so are you a thriller? Do you like to grill? I'm not a big griller. I like the things that are on the grill, but I'm not a big griller. I love to grill. It's one of my favorite things. And uh yeah, I do think a lot of men also doing his movie over here love it over there. Yep, that's funny. So yeah, well, poor Scotti. I felt bad for him. He got exposed right there in the article. But as it turns out, they're just winging it by with the cargo pants, right, isn't that what they said? That's what got me. They're flying by the season the cargo pants. Oh man, that's good. All right, Hey, I think over the weekend, I'm gonna do some tacos. I'm gonna make some tacos. I like to be good. I like to grill for the start for the staff, right, So usually we'll have forty fifty people show up for a staff meeting like that, and I like to grill. So I think here in the next few weeks, we're gonna be grilling for the whole staff. Good. So I always like to try to test the thing at home before I scale it up for you. Once you did the different was it sausages or yeah, we did sausages and hot dogs, or we did all the different stations and they different hot dogs. Yeah yeah, yeah, those were grill it's too high class, yeah yeah, very high class. Yeah. But I like to smoke meat. And I made some venison sausages from a deer a deer at harvested a while back, and smoked them on the smoker and yeah, I like all this. I love to throw a good steak on the fire. I love to to grill things, you know, unique, weird things on the grill. So it's it's just I love it. Okay. So here's the question, though, how do you like your meat cooked? Do you like it rare, medium, well, burnt? Yeah? It depends on what it is, and it depends on where I'm at. If I'm in the US, I don't mind it being a little on the rare side. If I'm overseas, I want it cook to a brick. Yeah. I think when we were in Africa, I told them to cook everything. Well, you can take that bread, throw the bread on the grill, cook everything well. Yeah, so I eat street food, all those things all over the world. As long as I can watch them cooking it, I'm fine. But you were with me the only time I've ever gotten sick from eating meat overseas. While we were overseas, man, I got so sick on that trip. But you said medium, if I remember, I did. I did. I don't think that translated like medium. Well, so we were in the embassy area and then the guy we were with said, oh, don't worry about it. They cooked just like Americans. You know, this is everything, everything's made just for just for the American area. I was like, okay, well then I just figured it was gonna be safe, and it was not. But I was I was so sick. I was going for both volume and accuracy. I mean, I can attest to that it was rough. Okay, well, anyways, we should move on. That was a low point in the whole show. Here. So Joseph is God is blessing him. The Bible says God was with Joseph and everything that he did. But then Potiphar's wife comes after him and she makes a move, and then she accuses him of making a move on her, and Potiphar gets mad throws Joseph in prison. Then while Joseph is in prison, God is with him in prison. He's working hard, he's serving the Lord, he's serving people, and he keeps being elevated. Finally he's over the whole prison, all the prisoners. And during that time, the King's cup bearer andare Pharaoh's cupbear, and Pharaoh I know you get drink, drink and eat all day long and the chief baker both get thrown in prison. I don't know what the baker made that was bad. But he's right, these cookies are horrible. So they send these two guys. Well, while they're there, both of these guys have dreams and they come to Joseph, and Joseph said, well, maybe maybe the Lord can help me, you know, understand your dream and he explains the meaning of the dreams. One of them is going to live, one of them is going to die. Sure enough, the Pharaoh executes the one guy, the baker, and the pharaoh's chief cupbearer he would store, is restored. And so Joseph, as this guy is being restored back and he's leaving the prison, Justph said hey, if you can help me out right, could you tell Pharaoh? You know, because these people would stay in prison for sometimes years. So a prisoner in Egypt was guilty until proven innocent, and then there was no right to speedy trial. It was just at the whim of the rulers. And so you could be in there for years or maybe never get a trial because you were guilty because you were accused. And so Joseph is trying to appeal to somebody who maybe has the ear of Pharaoh to say, hey, if you could help a brother out. Yeah, great, So now here we are in Genesis chapter forty one, So we're gonna skip forty because it just tells the story of him interpreting the dreams, and we'll pick up with verse forty one after he asks the cup bearer, hey, could you help me out? The Bible says two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. In his dream, he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river began grazing in the marsh grass. Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin, and these cows stood beside the fat cows on the river bank. Then the scrawnye thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows. At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up, but he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk. Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind, and these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well formed heads. Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream. The next morning, Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams, so he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, none of them could tell him what they meant. Finally, the king's chief cupbearer spoke up. Today, I've been reminded of my failure, he told Pharaoh. Some time ago, you were angry with the Chief Baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the place in the palace of the Captain of the Guard. One night, the chief Baker and I had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. And there was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who was a slave of the Captain of the Guard. We told him our dreams, and he told us what each of our dreams meant. And everything happened just as he predicted. I was restored to my position as cupbear. The Chief Baker was executed and paled on a pole. Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he was quickly brought from the prison. After he shaved and changed his clothes, he went in and stood before fear Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I had a dream last night no one here can tell me what it means. But I've heard that when you hear about a dream, you can interpret it. It is but beyond my power to do this, Joseph replied, But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease. And so Pharaoh told Joseph his dream. We can skip that because I just told you seven cows, eight seven cows, and seven heads of grain eight seven heads of grain. And so when he comes down to the end, he says, I told these dreams to the magicians, but no one could tell me what they mean, as verse twenty four. So then in twenty five, Joseph responded, both of Pharaoh's dreams mean the same thing. God is telling Pharaoh in advance what he's about to do. The seven healthy cows and the seven healthy heads of grain both represent seven years of prosperity. The seventh thin scrawny cows that came up later, and the seven thin heads of grain, which withered by the east wind, represents seven years of famine. This will happen just as I've described it, for God has revealed to Pharaoh in advance what he's about to do the next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land of Egypt. But afterward there will be seven years of famine, so great that all the prosperity will be forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land. This famine will be so severe that even the memory of the good years will be erased. As for having two similar dreams, it means that these events have been decreed by God, and He will soon make them happen. Therefore, Pharaoh should find an intelligent and wise man and put him in charge of the entire land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh should appoint supervisors over the land and let them collect one fifth of all the crops during the seven good years. Have them gather all the food produced in the good years that are just ahead, and bring it to Pharaoh's storehouse stored away, and guard it so there will be food in the cities. That way, there will be enough to eat when the seven years of famine come to the land of Egypt. Otherwise this famine will destroy the land. How far are we supposed to read here, Let's think to forty five. Forty five. So Joseph's suggestions were well received by Pharaoh, and as an officials so Pharaoh asked his officials, can we find anyone else like this man, so obviously filled with the spirit of God. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you clearly, no one is as intelligent or as wise as you are. You 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. Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt. And then Pharaoh removed this signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in fine linen clothing and hung a gold chain around his neck. And then he had Joseph ride in the chariot reserved for his second in command. And wherever Joseph went, the command was shouted, kneel down. So Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all of Egypt. And Pharaoh said to him, I am Pharaoh, but no one will lift a hand or foot in the entire land of Egypt without your approval. And then I'll read verse forty six too, or forty five. It says then Pharaoh gave Joseph a new Egyptian name, zaphanath Pania. He also gave him a wife whose name was asked, and she was the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of Ann. So Joseph took charge of the entire land of Egypt. He was thirty years old. Wow, isn't that's something that's pretty good. Yeah. One of the first things that jumps out to me here is in verse eight, where it says the next morning, Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams, so he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. And the first thought that popped into my mind was, be very careful of who you get your information from. Be very careful of who you consult for advice. I think that's really important. So instead of going to a godly person, he went the magician route and to try to seek information that route instead of going to Joseph. So eventually he did go to Joseph, but his initial response was to gather the magicians and the other people. So I think of that in our own personal life. Be very careful of who you consult for direction and guidance in your life. Make sure they're a godly person. Make sure they're following God's word. Make sure they are giving you advice that lines up with God's word as opposed to just some random information, right right, the kind of advisors we have. The Bible says that there's wisdom and a multitude of counselors, but you have to have wise counselors in order to get wisdom from them. Yeah, and so in this situation, Pharaoh kind of his magicians were exposed as frauds in this moment because they couldn't actually actually understand a message from a real message from God. So here's the question, Jeff, So there's someone listening to us right now, and they're going through something. Should they consult their friend, who is maybe knows no more than they know, but who's a good friend with them? Should they consult that friend for advice and guidance and direction. And that friend is at the same level, Let's say their friend is like almost like a clone of them, so to speak. Well, if you're asking for restaurant suggestions, yeah, you know, or hey, the does do these clothes look nice? Or what kind of car should I get? Sure? Yeah, But if you're trying to make life license decisions. You know, don't ask your unless your friend is a tax expert. Don't ask your friend advice on taxi. Go find a tax expert. But everybody knows a tax idea. Yeah, everybody's got their favorite tax guy on on TikTok right now, right, So did you I just read a thing in a Wall Street journal there's a huge crackdown on a very specific tax solution that was very very popular on TikTok and Instagram this last year that it turns out everything being said about it was not true. It didn't apply to everybody. But I guess there's been tens of thousands of people that tried to take advantage of thing. None of them got expert advice. It was only from the uh from from the TikTok and Instagram do not make life decisions. Well, it's going it's gonna cost people thousands of dollars social media in general, right, there's going to be all these finds as a result of it, and the Wall Street dreams talking about there's a crackdown right now on it. And so one of the taxi tax guys from there I asked to say and don't do that is not true, right, most of you don't qualify for that idea, so be careful where you get your info from. Yeah. So, so you need a to be surrounded by experts in different fields. You need a good doctor, right, YEA a general practitioner that has access to good experts. You need a good uh legal person that you can lean on. You need all these things. I was just recently talking to a young business owner and he's growing in his business and I say, hey, I'm a pastor, I'm not a business guy. That's some ideas, But the smartest thing you can do is go find a business coach that that is successful. Not a business coach who's certified. Yeah, go find the business coach who's been successful, somebody's done it. And then you go and figure out what's the playbook to be successful. And then you need a good attorney. You need a good marketing person. Right, have finances. If you're not strong in finances, go go find somebody's really good at setting up business finances. And I think it's the same thing in our marriages. A lot of times we need a good coach. And the worst person to go to for marriage advices one has been divorced three times, right, go to somebody who's been able to find a way to navigate the difficulties of marriage for forty years and get advice from you know, what did you do? Right? It seems so basic, But oftentimes we don't do that. We'll go and we'll find a person who's been you know, divorced three four times, and so what would you do in this situation? Yeah, you know, get advice about raising kids, not from your peers. Get advice from raising kids from somebody who raised kids like you want your kids to beat. Yeah, right, And it's just it's silly. It doesn't seem like we would make those mistakes, but we do, and especially now in the age of social media. Yeah and friendship. Yeah, because of the friendship. Yeah, I know they probably don't have the best advice, but I'll listen to him and I'll go that way. And it's like, no, that's that's not sound advice, right. Asking hey ladies, what stroller works the best is different than saying, hey, friends, I'm having this issue with my child's behavior right now, and most of your friends haven't seen it. They just have an opinion about it. Yeah, right, they've never experienced it. But to go find a parent who's had several kids and they turned out well, you go and ask those as from there, So having wise counselor is important. Then the other thing is sometimes we feel like we're forgotten. I think that's another thing you pick up here. This guy, you know, Joseph was willing to help him out, and the guy just forgot about him for two years. It speaks about Joseph's character. You know, God tends to bless people who are choosing to make good choices in the good times and the bad times. Not everything is a mountain moment, right, And so Joseph decided, I care about the people around me. So he's the servant of the head of the prison. These two guys come in, they're concerned. Joseph says, hey, let me help you out. Sometimes God gives the meaning of dreams, and so I help you. And he was just willing to help, and he was hoping that maybe they could help him, but he didn't know for sure, and it took a long time before that paid off. But investing in people is a great strategy for your future and for where you're going. Usually it's not about what you know, it's about who you know, and so investing in those relationships, I think it's really important. And sure enough, two years later, this guy did remember Joseph, and I think there was a life lesson in the fact that Joseph was steadfast. He kept doing what he needed to do over and over, even when he saw no progress. You know, there was no forward momentum. No one was saying, Hey, next week you're gonna get out, Hey next month, you're gonna He just kept doing what he was supposed to do. I think about that in terms of weight loss. Now, you got to keep doing the same thing. And it may be boring, but you got to keep doing the same thing. You may not like the way the food taste, but you got to keep doing the same thing if you want to see results, that's right, Or just keeping taking the same shot every week. Yeah, but yeah, So here you go. You have this guy that's just steady and faithful. And then he points out to Pharaoh that God had said Pharaoh, which is extraordinary. Pharaoh's not a godly man. Pharaoh doesn't even acknowledge God. But God decided to warn Pharaoh, Hey, a famine's coming. You're gonna have seven really good years. And then you're gonna have seven really bad years to prepare. And so in this instance, Joseph's suggestion was save twenty percent. Yep, save twenty percent of what you're producing storehouse, and you will be ready to protect yourself for seven years. If you save twenty percent of what you produce in the first seven years, you'll have plenty in the next seven years. There's wisdom in that, right, preparing for the future and saving for the future and those things, and so hey, he was putting away twenty percent. That meant that they weren't able to consume everything they wanted. Yeah, right, they had to plan and discipline there. Yeah, and it's very important to have discipline, especially in time, in trying times, you know, when things aren't going well for some reason. And you reference this earlier. As Christians, we often think that Christianity is going to be twulps and rainbows and mountaintop experiences every single day, unicorns and kittles. Yeah, I don't know what version of Christianity that is, but I haven't seen that. So if you know where to find it, let me know. That's not real life. Yeah, that's not real life. There will be some valleys, but God will be with you in the valley. That's how this works. And so what God did is God provides ahead of time. A lot of times we find ourselves in a crisis and we blame God that we don't have what it takes to get through. And God's like, I gave it to you a couple of years ago. You just weren't ready for it, right, You didn't keep it. You didn't prepare for for the future problems. And so we're always shocked by problems as opposed to preparing for those tough days, preparing ahead a little bit. And it's not that we need to be in fear all the time. You don't have to be fearful if you're prepared. And so having a preparation here there's some wisdom in that. And then here you go the leadership that he learned in Potiphar's house, yep, the leadership and the servant kind of mentality of serving others in the prison. God used those as boot camp to prepare him to become the second in command of all of the most powerful empire in the history of the world up to that point. Right. And so if we can look at the struggles and the difficulties that maybe you're in a tough time right now in your life. If you can think of those things as maybe boot camp for what God's really preparing you for. Just understand each of those was a short season. It just took a few years. But man, when something lasts three or four or five years, it seems like it's forever. I feel like it's an eternity. So a lot of historians and a lot of theologians believe maybe Joseph was about fifteen when he gets sold away, and now here he is fifteen years later, thirty when he's you know, being promoted. You gotta remember back then they didn't live very long, a lot of them, so you know, thirty would be a normal adult beginning to things. And Joseph had this fifteen year window of preparation. If you can look at it, preparation's worth it. Just allow whatever it is that God's doing in your life to be preparation for the thing He's going to do next. And God raised Joseph up at the right time. I heard a preacher a long time ago call this. It was a sermon from the pit to the palace. Oh yeah, pit to the prison to the palace. Whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. So there you go, and then Joseph is elevated and he does rescue all of Egypt as a result of the wisdom that God gave during that time. But I love the fact that lastly Joseph didn't take credit. Joseph said, I can't do this, but maybe God will do this through me, and he'll speak to you. And so we got to always be giving God the credit for what he's doing in our life. Yeah, because it's not us. That's right. Well, hey, I think that's a great place to wrap up because we're going to continue this story tomorrow in the life of Joseph. So thank you for joining us today and we'll see you later.