Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Overcome a Power Struggle | Torah | Genesis 41:37-46

Episode Date: April 12, 2022

Whether you have a lot of power or no power at all, the way you use your responsibilities matters. In Genesis 41:37-57, Joseph uses his position to bring glory to God. How will you use your power? Tanya discusses how to have a God-centered view of power. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Genesis 41:37-57 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. Right now, we're going through the first book of the Bible, Genesis. For better or worse, power is part of all our lives. Whether it's trying to gain it, having it, and knowing how to use it for good, bending to it or handing it over, we're all in some kind of relationship with power, whether it's going well or not. You're probably in the top, bottom, or even, in the middle of the power game in all kinds of places in your life. Today we're going to look at a guy that went from the very, very bottom to the very, very top. For some of us, it would be a dream come true, to be taken out of our place and suddenly lifted up and given all kinds of resources and credit and responsibility.

But for Joseph, it really was from a dream. It sounds kind of weird, so let's dig in. You're already familiar with the story and you know that dreams have played an important role in Joseph's life. It was a dream, or at least it was him telling his brothers about a dream that got him thrown into a pit in the first place. When Joseph told his brothers in Genesis 37, that he dreamt he was a sheaf of wheat, standing upright in the field at harvest. And they were sheaves of wheat circling around and bowing down to him. They plotted to get rid of him, and threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery. That's one way to handle the power struggle.

Now that led Joseph to Egypt, where he started as a slave in Pharaoh's house, where he was thrown in prison by a false claim that he was trying to seduce Pharaoh's wife, and where he ended up at the bottom of the bottom, a foreigner and a slave in prison. But in prison, he accurately interpreted the dreams of a cut bear and a chef, who were also thrown in prison. So when Pharaoh needed a dream to be interpreted, the cut bear who had been restored to his position, remembered Joseph and suggested that Pharaoh called on him to interpret his dream. And this is where the way we view power gets interesting and ironic. Pharaoh was the king of Egypt and he had a lot of power over people's lives. Certainly he had power over Joseph's. He was able to get him out of prison and bring him into the palace to interpret a dream. Pharaoh was the kind of person who could make your life amazing or make your life hell.

He could eliminate you like he did with his chef. with one swoop of his sword, or he could establish you like he did Joseph after he interpreted the dream about the famine that was coming into the land. But here's the part about power and the way the worldviews power that is really ironic in the context of God's bigger story and God's ultimate power. Listen to what Pharaoh says to Joseph after he interprets the dream. He says, Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards to the throne will I be greater than you.

It's ironic, because first, Pharaoh however ignorantly, was giving praise to the almighty God for giving Joseph the ability to interpret his dream about the famine and coming up with a brilliant plan to save Egypt. But Pharaoh was also completely ignorant about who was really in control of the future. Pharaoh recognized God. In fact, God's spirit was undeniable in Joseph's abilities, even to an unbeliever. But he doesn't recognize who God is, and especially who he is in relation to God. Pharaoh thinks he's number one and now Joseph is number two.

Pharaoh thinks he is power. He thinks he's the source and the giver of power. And he thinks he has the power to control the future of a nation and a world. This is where Pharaoh and Joseph are so very different. Joseph is actually the one whose interpretation and plan to store 20% of the grain for seven years and place it in distribution centers for the seven years of famine that would follow will save Egypt and the world. He's also the one who will execute the plan and see it through. But Joseph doesn't seem to care lick about power or exulting himself.

All of Joseph's speech begins with God. includes God and ends with God. He recognizes God Almighty and his undeniable power and sees himself as an instrument in God's divine plan. When we feel like we're in a power struggle, there's a pretty good chance we're fighting for control or power that's not really ours to have. Maybe Pharaoh doesn't understand the premise on which biblical history rests. Maybe he doesn't know that kings don't have the power to make history. Rather, God uses them to affect history, to serve history. For those who don't recognize the truth about real power, it's a struggle. Listen in on the exchange between Jesus and Pilate in John chapter 19. Pilate asked Jesus, you will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have

authority to release you and authority to crucify you? And Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all, unless it had been given to you from above. God used Pilate to carry out the plan of the cross. Jesus knew the plan and the end of the story. He knew he was not only powerful enough to stop Pilot in his tracks, but he was in his very essence power, the creator, initiator, and giver of it. But he didn't struggle with Pilate. He glorified his father.

Joseph doesn't seem to be struggling. with power in Genesis 41 because he knows God. Joseph has power that is undeniable. Even Pharaoh saw it in him and promoted him from slave to second in command. But the power didn't come from Joseph. It was God in him. For Egypt, there was a famine coming and Pharaoh could not cause it nor prevent it. Kings, political heads, presidents, history doesn't serve them, but God can use them to serve history. Rather, they're aware of it or not. And we need to remember this when we see evil and injustice in our world today. And the Christian response to hardship or evil isn't, is this the end?

But rather, because we know the end of the story, we ask, how can we bring light into this hard place? How can we be agents of restoration? In other words, how do we follow the example that Joseph offers in Genesis 41? Joseph shows his humility before Almighty God while he's commanding Pharaoh's workers and storehouses. At the end of the chapter in verse 50, after he's been second in command for six plentiful years in Egypt, and this is what we read about him. Before the year a famine came, two sons were born to Joseph.

Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, for he said God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house. The name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. If you find yourself rich in power, find your humility in Christ. Know and meditate on what Christ has done, what only he could do on your behalf. Be aware and listen to the Spirit of God who lives in you. The fruits of Him are not coercion, manipulation, pride, force. They are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-control. Just hearing those nouns should humble each of us in our dependence on Christ.

How we view God shapes how we view power. A little view of God makes for a big self, a power-hungry self that wants to be affirmed, respected, known, and exalted. A big view of God makes for a little self that wants God to be known, loved, trusted, and exalted. Mother Teresa, she's not a household name because she led a nation through war or drafted a bill of rights. She's a household name because she opened an abandoned building and made it a home for the dying and went out every single day in Kakata to find lepers and unwanted invalids in the street and bring them into a place where they could die with at least one face and the touch of at least one human who cared for them. She didn't want anyone to die thinking they were unloved or unwanted because she,

herself knew the love of God. Doing something for God was what her life was all about. Do you have power? Find your humility in doing something beautiful for God. Do you have no power? Find your identity in doing something beautiful for God. God will shine his light just as he did through Joseph, as we depend on him and exalt him as the one true king. Before you forget, some of Sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.