“And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me:
God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” –Genesis 41:16
Success
and triumph in the natural is undeniably yoked to one’s ability to exalt
themselves. It is your ability, your
gift, your talent; this is the anthem of the natural, and the more a man
possess (or feigns to) the higher he or she is exalted. Contrast this with the story of Joseph, a
beacon of triumph through humility, patience, and honesty. When he had every opportunity to promote
himself, instead he chose to exalt God.
A righteous man, married to the dogma “It is not in me.”
The
life of Joseph was nothing if not a roller-coaster ride. He went from favored son, to slave, to head
steward, to prisoner, and then instantaneously elevated to second in command
over the most powerful country in the known world. All his life he had a gift. Well, many gifts I am sure, but one in particular
that brought him to Pharaoh. The ability
to interpret dreams. To see the
future. Imagine for a moment, what a man
could do with this gift. World’s greatest
hedge fund manager. CEO of any business. One weekend in Vegas and you would be set for
life. You could save lives, stop wars,
make bundles of money. Profit and loss,
success and failure; it does not lie in the past, but in the future. When the most powerful man in the world heard
that Joseph possessed this gift, he sent for him and said “I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to
interpret it.” Effectively saying,
rumor has it that you are the guy to talk to.
There was no obligation on Joseph’s behalf to keep God in the
conversation. The opportunity was there
to exalt himself and push his own agenda; instead, he said, “it is not in
me.” He took himself out of the
equation, because he was out of the equation.
He resisted the alluring temptation to promote “me, wonderful me,” and
instead clung to the awesome realization that it is all in God. It is all in God and through God. We must realize that it is not in me because
it is in Thee. The past, present,
future. What we have been and will be,
is in His control and His providence.
Throughout Joseph’s life, he totally embraced the providence of God,
both in good times and bad. Now, here he
stands, the opportunity of a lifetime; this is Joseph’s time, the big stage,
the launch pad, the megaphone, and he does not even take an ounce of
credit. Simply because he was just being
honest.
We
are inclined to believe that it is all in us.
The person is god in our society.
If we love it, it’s fine. If we
want it, it’s fine. If we can’t have it,
its injustice. We live in a culture of
me, which is addicted to exalting itself.
This is vanity, and dishonesty.
If we were honest, we would recognize the providence of God, his wisdom,
his judgement, his righteousness, and the enteral truth that without him we are
nothing. While the world seeks to exalt
itself, and the natural man seeks to promote himself, the Christian seeks to
glorify God and his Christ; in everything.
It is not in me, because it is all in Him.
