5/23/24

Do you realize that apart from God there is no good? Even the man who is lost has God working on him to do good. Satan often points to the good that God has worked through man and attempts to show man that he is good. Then the man not realizing the good was from God, becomes proud. In this, he has pride which is the beginning of sin. To keep from dwelling in this pride man needs to understand that all good comes from God. For this reason throughout the Bible, we see examples of men giving the glory of good works to God. One illustration of this is found in our text today. Pharaoh is told that Joseph has the ability to correctly interpret dreams. So he sends for Joseph and asks him, can you interpret dreams and this is Joseph's answer. Genesis 41:16 Joseph then answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”

Joseph responds to Pharaoh saying, "it is not in me." The literal translation here is "apart from me." Joseph is taking no credit for the good he will do. He has a complete understanding that any good that comes through him was placed on him by God the Holy Spirit. He says "apart from me." He plainly states he cannot interpret Pharaoh's dream. However, then we see in my opinion a prayer to God. The literal translation of the next phrase is, "God answer favorable Pharaoh." Joseph says, Elohim answer Pharaoh favorably. Joseph makes it clear that God can answer or interpret the dream if He so chooses and Joseph asks him to do so, favorably. Joseph had spent years in prison for a crime he had not committed now he has an opportunity to be released. He prayed God please have a favorable answer for Pharaoh. Yet the answer had a favorable and a not so favorable answer and Joseph gave the complete answer. Why would he give both? Because God's good was upon him. Pharaoh could have thrown him back in prison for the bad part of the interpretation and Joseph knew this. Which is why he prayed for a favorable answer. However, through the good of God and Joseph's understanding of it, he chose to be completely obedient. This worked out for good, not only for Joseph but for his whole family. The lesson in this text is God's good is the only good. It is always good to follow God's good no matter how bad the forecast looks for your life. In other words, "It is never bad to follow God's good even when it appears to be bad for you!" Joseph understood this. Do you want to be good? Then follow God no matter what!!!!

Love Bro. Scott