Daily Devotional Details

Date

After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile. Genesis 41:1

One night Pharaoh had a dream. In the dream, he saw seven fat cows, healthy animals feeding on the long grass beside the river Nile. Then Pharaoh saw seven scrawny and ugly cows. They were not normal cows. In fact, Pharaoh had never seen cows like these before (41:19).

Next the ugly creatures came out of the Nile. To help you get the picture it would help to have the Jaws soundtrack playing alongside the ugly, distorted, threatening beasts marching out of the water. Then they stood beside the healthy cows and ate them! Everything beautiful and healthy was gone. It had all been swallowed up by what was distorted and ugly, and only what was ugly and distorted remained. Then Pharaoh woke up (41:4).

Pharaoh “fell asleep and dreamed a second time” (40:5). This time his dream was about seven fat ears of grain. They were swallowed up by seven scrawny ears of grain that looked as if they had been blighted by the wind. “And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. So, in the morning his spirit was troubled” (41:7-8).

Think about the weight of responsibility on this man’s shoulders. People look to him for leadership. He is a public servant, and the good of many hangs on his decisions. He is only a man, but he has been thrust into this position. How do you carry that kind of responsibility?

Pharaoh feels sure that there is some message in these dreams, but he does not know what it is, and nobody in the palace can tell him. So he calls in the pundits, and for once they are silent: Pharaoh “called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men.” He “told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh” (41:8).

Where do you feel the heaviest weight of responsibility in your own life right now?