Genesis Week 12

Genesis 40,41 – Prison Release

Personal incarcerations usually fall into one of four categories:

• Undeserved treatment from family – abusive mistreatment/scars
• Circumstantial restriction – an emotional or physical confinement – disability, trauma, trapped by something outside of our control
• False Accusation – made worse when people buy someone else’s lies
• Abandonment – by a parent, a spouse, a friend…

Read Genesis 40:1

Genesis 40:23 – 41:1(a) “Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought. Two full years later…” 

Psalm 105:18 “They humbled his feet in fetters: the iron pierced his soul.”

Psalm 105:19(b) “How God tested his patience!”

Romans 5:3-4, “We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.”

Job 23:10,14 (CEV) “But [God] knows what I am doing, and when he tests me, I will be pure as gold.” “and he will do exactly what he intends with me.”

What happens next in Joseph’s life changes everything – a clue to what He will do in your life…

Genesis 41:1 “Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River.”

Read Genesis 41:2-8

Why was this such a big deal to Pharaoh?

• First, anything to do with the Nile was a huge deal! Everything in Egypt was dependent upon the annual flooding of the Nile – water, food, natural resources for tools, clothing, shelter…all wrapped around the Nile…so a dream about the Nile was a problem

• Second, the Pharaoh of Egypt was regarded as a godlike guardian of the Nile in cooperation with Hapi – the god of the Nile. So if Hapi is not Happy, Pharaoh is not happy! Any breakdown of the Nile flooding would be considered a pharaoh failure. So Pharaoh was freakin’ out.

READ Genesis 41:15,16

RIGHT NOW…I want to show you the purpose of Joseph’s life! This is everything – Joseph is doing exactly what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had intended for the nation. AND I WANT TO SHOW YOU THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE…we are called to do the same thing…

TO MAKE GOD’S NAME KNOWN TO THE WORLD!!

READ Genesis 41:37-40

Sometimes it may be hard to see any purpose for our lives…trouble, strife, pain, rejection, depression…Job 23:10,14 (CEV) “But [God] knows what I am doing, and when he tests me, I will be pure as gold.” “and he will do exactly what he intends with me.”