Genesis 41:15

First God reveals what He is about to do; but even so man cannot profit by the revelation... the wise men of this world are utterly at fault in their efforts to interpret the Word of God. So Pharaoh appeals to the "magicians of Egypt and all its wise men," only to find "there was none who could interpret" his dreams (v. 8). Man's natural pride of intellect blinds him to the simple fact that communications from God can only be interpreted by God.

God falls back on the man He had kept in reserve, "a man in whom is the Spirit of God." But God's man is always of little account in the eyes of the world... Pharaoh, speaking as a natural man, at once says, "I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it." Joseph immediately confesses, "It is not in me." It was no more in Joseph than in the wise men of Egypt. They may be learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. They may hold the highest positions in the king's court. Joseph, by contrast, is "a young man, a Hebrew, a slave," in a dungeon. But God is with him. So he can surpass the wisdom of the wise, stand without fear before the king, and say with complete confidence, "God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace." He does not say, "God can give Pharaoh an answer," true as that would have been. Faith goes beyond what God can do and states what God will do.

His answer to Pharaoh's enquiry reveals his simple confidence in God. He disclaimed any power or wisdom in himself but declared that God would give an answer of peace. It is a mark of a true servant of God to say, "It is not in me." We see the same spirit in Paul: "Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God" (2 Cor. 3:5).

Joseph disclaims any personal ability or gift for this. He tells Pharaoh that God only can give the answer. This simple confidence in God was the secret of Joseph's receiving such revelations from Him.

Interpretations belong to God. All through this, the Lord was with him, though he was rejected and completely forgotten like a dead man out of mind. It is as the rejected one that he becomes the interpreter. There is no true interpretation without the cross. It is there that God's interpretation has its place and its ways are carried out. In the principle of it — moral principle — is the wisdom of God... The whole interpretation belongs to Joseph in his low estate. Then, after righteous humiliation and wisdom, comes exaltation to power at the right hand of the throne.

In Jesus, as in Joseph, it was clear that God's covenant was with Him, even in weakness and rejection. He was God's object, and all blessing passed through His hand, though He was in shame and poverty... And so in His saints now in measure. They may be despised, but they "have the mind of Christ." They are in the secrets of God. They know the love of the Father, the judgment of the world, and the coming kingdom and power of Jesus. And of these secrets they bear witness to sinners, as Joseph told of the secrets of God to Pharaoh, and his servants. They tell both of judgment and of mercy, as he did.