Day 13 -- Genesis 40-42

Sudden and joyful reversals are the stuff of fairy tales, and the story of Joseph is filled with such miraculous turns. In today's reading Joseph is hurriedly brought up out of the dungeon and ushered into the presence of Pharaoh to interpret the ruler's troubling dreams. Pharaoh is dazzled by the young Hebrew's wisdom and discernment, and he asks his servants, "Can we find anyone else like this--one in whom is the spirit of God?" (41:38)

The answer is, of course, "no." Joseph is unique. He is the Chosen One. He is blessed, lucky, and happy. He has charismatic gifts--chiefly the ability to interpret dreams.

We regard dreams as mental graffiti, not worthy of a second thought. That's too bad. We spend a third of our lives in the world of dreams. We fail to bring the insights and warnings dreams offer into our waking world.

But ancient people were very different in this. They remembered their dreams and reverenced them as divine speech. In dreams the gods revealed secrets and predicted the future. The art of dream interpretation was highly respected, especially in Egypt; many ancient books have been discovered dealing with the subject. There were experts available to interpret dreams. Joseph knew the language of dream interpretation--look at 41:32. He could speak the lingo of the experts.

But his interpretations were different from the experts. They were inspired. As Joseph says to his fellow prisoners, "Do not interpretations belong to God?" (40:8)

The answer is, of course, "yes." The dream that reveals the will of God can only be interpreted by the revelation of God--that's the principle upon which Joseph works. Dream interpretation stops being magic and becomes a part of the dialogue God initiates with human beings. The expert interpreter becomes the inspired prophet.

Ancient people were better listeners than we are. They were expectant listeners--they anticipated revelation. They expected to see meaning in everything and hear it everywhere. They were open to the voice of God speaking from whatever direction that voice came. They were surrounded by the divine.

We modern folks, who are bombarded with electronic voices and digital images, have become seriously impaired in our ability to hear God speak. We can still do it--we have the gift--we are just not very expectant listeners for the Voice of God. That is why the daily reading of the Bible is such an important discipline for believers today. It opens us to voice of God speaking to the Spirit of God within us.

The reading of the Bible in meditative silence enables us to overhear God speaking. We are still surrounded by revelation, but we also have the Holy Spirit within us to help us understand what we hear, just as Joseph did. We also have the gift, if we will just use it.