by David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 - April 27, 2011]
Joseph was in one of his darkest hours—lonely, downcast, about to give up his
dreams, questioning his place in God. Suddenly, the call came from one of the
king's guards: "Joseph! Get cleaned up—Pharaoh is calling for you!"
In that moment, I believe the Spirit of God came mightily upon Joseph and his
heart leapt with excitement. He was about to understand what it was all about!
As Joseph shaved and trimmed his hair, he probably thought, "This is the
beginning of what God promised me. Now I know I heard from him! The devil has
not been in control and my life hasn't been wasted. God has been directing
everything the entire time!"
In a matter of minutes, Joseph was standing before Pharaoh, listening to his
dream. Joseph gave the interpretation of the coming famine and told Pharaoh he
had to gather and store the nation's grain: "Someone must be in charge of the
storehouses. You have to find a man who's full of wisdom to oversee it all"
(see Genesis 4l).
Pharaoh looked around and then turned toward Joseph: "You! Joseph! I appoint
you second ruler. Only I will have more power in the kingdom than you. You will
oversee it all!"
How quickly things had changed! The day came when Joseph stood before his
brothers and was able to say: "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but
God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much
people alive" (Genesis 50:20).
"God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save
your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither,
but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house,
and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt" (45:7-8).
Dear saint, very soon you're going to understand your present fiery trials. God
is going to bring you into the promise he gave you and suddenly it's all going
to make sense. You'll see that he has never forsaken you. He had to take you
this way, for he has been training you, preparing you, teaching you to trust
him for everything. He has planned a time for you to be used—and that time is
just ahead!
