# 372A Blown Opportunities

The Book of Genesis

Day 372a

Ge 41:1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river.  2 Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow.  3 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river.  4 And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke.  5 He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good.  6 Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them.  7 And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream.  8 Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but  there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.  9 Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: "I remember my faults this day.  10 "When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker,  11 "we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.  12 "Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream.  13 "And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him."

Two full years pass, and Joseph continues rotting in jail, seemingly a forgotten man. But God does not forget, and He brings two disturbing dreams to Pharaoh. These dreams “troubled” Pharaoh’s spirit. The word “troubled” here means to tap, to beat regularly, hence it means to impel or agitate. (Much like your washing machine) Maybe you’ve done this with a pencil on your desk. Nervously tap tap tap tapping it to the point of it being irritating to others. Well, that irritation with the pencil is what was going on with Pharaoh’s spirit. …….no rest!

These dreams had to be interpreted before Pharaoh would be at peace in the matter, so he calls in all the so-called experts in this field, and none of them could come up with anything. (I get the feeling the prison just got a few more patrons!) Anyway, at this point the butler has a v-8 moment, slaps his forehead, and says, “Joseph!” And it finally hits him, Joseph had specifically asked him to put in a good word for him  and he had forgotten. And evidently, this is not the first time he had been given the opportunity, (note the word faults (plural) in verse 9!)

I can identify with that, how about you? There have been numerous times when I had opportunities to say something or do something to testify of the presence of Christ in my life, and I let them slip away. Times when I had opportunity to exercise faith  by taking God at His Word and acting on it but finding myself shrinking back out of fear.

You know, working for the Pharaoh could be very daunting, one slip and you could wind up in prison, or worse yet, you could suffer the baker’s fate and end up hanging from a tree.  I suspect this is the reason the butler held back.

Look, we are weak. We allow opportunities to slip away, but let’s not beat ourselves up over this. Rather, let’s admit our weakness and pray that God will provide more opportunities as He did for the butler.  That talent, you have buried? Let’s dig it up and get back at it, remembering that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it!