Not me...but God!

“Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the spirit of God?”  Genesis 41:38

Not me…but God!

By Rev. William Dohle

Sometimes I feel like the weakest man in the world!

Sitting with a family, after their loved one has passed away, there is nothing I can say.  No words of comfort that will fill the void left there.  I listen, nod my head, get some tears in my eyes, and then say, so powerlessly it seems, “Can I pray for you?”

After our prayer, they leave with tears and I wonder: Has any good come out of this?  I wish I could help them.  All I can do…is pray.

And yet there is power in that prayer.  Friday morning, early that morning, I prayed “God…let it rain!  We need the moisture so bad!”  I had prayed that before…countless times.  But this time, when the heavens opened up in a downfall, I stood at the window in awe.  I had prayed for that…and it happened!  My prayer was answered!  But it wasn’t my work that had done all of this.  It was God!

Joseph makes that same confession too in the presence of Pharaoh himself!  After Pharaoh summons him to interpret his dream and says, in his regal tone: “I had a dream and no one can interpret it.  But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”

Now, most of us might blush and say, “It was nothing.” Or “Oh…thanks!”  We might tell Pharaoh, “I’ve been doing this since I was a kid.  My brothers back home actually threw me in a cistern and left me for dead for two dreams I interpreted for them.”

In other words… most of us would take the credit, especially if it was the king speaking to us.

But Joseph does not.  Instead Joseph points to God.  “I cannot do it…but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.”

It’s not me, Joseph says.  It’s God!  God is the one with the answers Pharaoh seeks.  God is the one who will get the praise.  It’s not Joseph.  It’s not his message.  It’s God’s message through Joseph.

And when Pharaoh tells Joseph the dream, the answer comes from God.  “…God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.”  This isn’t about Joseph.  It’s about God.  God is revealing his ways to Pharaoh through Joseph.  Joseph is merely a vessel of the Spirit of God.

This might seem amazing…astounding even…but we too can be vessels of God’s Spirit.  The Spirit of God has been poured out upon us all, Scripture tells us.  And so…whenever we pray, we are vessels of the Spirit of God, pouring that Spirit into the lives of those we pray for.  Whenever we offer to another a kind word to another, we become God’s mouthpiece with words of peace and hope and love.  Whenever we speak loving truth into a situation, we are God’s prophets.  Whenever we read Scripture to another, we are God’s messengers.

The list goes on and on.  And in every case, the credit goes to God.  For we do not pray to ourselves.  We pray to God.  Our praises rise to God.  Our petitions fall at God’s feet.  And, though we may have prayed for this or that to happen, we know that it isn’t us.  It’s the power of God at work within us.  For the world and everything belong to him!

God you have poured out your Spirit upon us so that, just like Joseph, our sons and daughters might prophesy, our young men see visions and our old men dream dreams and yet the work of it all is done by you.  In our weakest moments, help us see that you are still working for us, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.