Realizing How God Talks To Us

So basically, Genesis 41 is one of the most well-known passages. There are many interpretations of what this passage means and what it's saying to the reader. The story itself is interesting because this is the part in Joseph's life where God's plan really manifests itself. But I'll focus on God and His ways instead of focusing on what Joseph or what Pharaoh did:

1. God talks to us, usually with a warning or a message to make us aware of what our situation is and what will happen. In other words, God reveals His intent for us. In the passage, God reveals to Pharaoh what He plans to do to Egypt. In other stories, God also attaches a condemnation and a call to repentance. If ever you doubt this because you don't feel like you hear God's voice, we should look at what the Bible says. To us, we are so focused on God's immediate will for us in terms of who will be our wife or what job we'll get, we forget that God's will for us is holiness. So if ever we are at a point that we're asking ourselves or God "What do you want me to do?", remember we are called to holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:7). In light of this, God's message is usually a reminder and an evaluation of where we are at right now, usually nowhere near where we're supposed to be and we don't want to hear that. So we would rather tell ourselves that God isn't talking to me because He's not telling me what I want to hear.

2. We don't understand God's message either because God hasn't revealed Himself to us yet or we don't want to. In the passage it's the former, where Pharaoh's lack of understanding was necessary for Joseph to come in. And so God's will for for Pharoah to understand it through Joseph's interpretation. To us, it's both. Sometimes it's safe to say God hasn't revealed Himself to us yet. Many people lack the understanding of what  Jesus has done for us on the cross. But more often than not it's the latter. We don't want to hear God's message or call to repentance because it reminds us of how much we are at fault compared to His Holiness.

3. God will then send someone who is perfect for the job to bring an understanding of His will for us. In the chapter Joseph is that man. In every way he was a man who can bring God's glory to the Egyptians. Yet they had their own deities, Joseph was able to glorify God and was able to reveal God's intent for Egypt and the entire world through him. Notice in the Old Testament God sends his prophets to remind Israel and to call them to repent of their ways. It's a reminder because they already know through the laws of God and the covenant He established with His people what they should be doing. And yet they do not repent. 

We are stubborn when it comes to realizing God's will for us. We are so focused on the immediate future that we lose focus on what God's eternal will for us is: fellowship with Him and holiness through Him. Instead of giving ourselves up to God's will, a call for us to be holy we would rather force God to submit to our will for ourselves. We end up demanding of God "Tell me who my wife will be or where I will be working in 10 years". And this is exactly why God had to send His Son. We are so stubborn and self-centered that God said "You know what I'll do, I'll send my Son down to remind you how much I love you. To remind you how much I want you to be with me. And what it will take is for me to pour my wrath that you deserve on my Son on the cross, so that you will be able to spend eternity with me."