Read Genesis 41:9-32
Verse 9-32 -
God's time for the enlargement of his people is the fittest time. If
the chief butler had got Joseph to be released from prison, it is
probable he would have gone back to the land of the Hebrews. Then he
had neither been so blessed himself, nor such a blessing to his
family, as afterwards he proved. Joseph, when introduced to Pharaoh,
gives honour to God. Pharaoh had dreamed that he stood upon the bank
of the river Nile, and saw the kine, both the fat ones, and the lean
ones, come out of the river. Egypt has no rain, but the plenty of
the year depends upon the overflowing of the river Nile. See how
many ways Providence has of dispensing its gifts; yet our dependence
is still the same upon the First Cause, who makes every creature
what it is to us, be it rain or river. See to what changes the
comforts of this life are subject. We cannot be sure that to-morrow
shall be as this day, or next year as this. We must learn how to
want, as well as how to abound. Mark the goodness of God in sending
the seven years of plenty before those of famine, that provision
might be made. The produce of the earth is sometimes more, and
sometimes less; yet, take one with another, he that gathers much,
has nothing over; and he that gathers little, has no lack, Exodus
16:18. And see the perishing nature of our worldly enjoyments.
The great harvests of the years of plenty were quite lost, and
swallowed up in the years of famine; and that which seemed very
much, yet did but just serve to keep the people alive. There is
bread which lasts to eternal life, which it is worth while to labour
for. They that make the things of this world their good things, will
find little pleasure in remembering that they have received them.
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