JOSEPH OPENED ALL THE STOREHOUSES

       " . . . And Joseph opened all the storehouses . . . " (Genesis 41:56)

The Lord sent Joseph down to Egypt in order to save life. When Joseph was sent, however, the Lord did not tell him he was being "sent," even though He had spoken to young Joseph in at least two dreams about his coming superiority (Gen 37:5-10). Joseph entered life in Egypt as a slave when he was seventeen (Gen 37:1) – and a maligned one at that. His master's wife lied about him, and he ended up in prison because of it. Scripture says of this young man, "Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him" (Psa 105:18). Eventually, his time came, and he was brought out of prison after at least "two full years," probably more. It came because he was able to interpret the dreams of at least three men: a butler, a baker, and Pharaoh himself (Gen 40:5-13; 41:1-33). The dreams of Pharaoh were the most significant. He had dreamed of seven lean cattle that ate seven fat cattle, and seven thin ears of grain that ate seven full and fat ones. Inspired by God, Joseph told Pharaoh this meant Egypt would have seven unusually productive years of harvest, followed by seven years of famine that would consume all of their resources. He said the way to survive the seven year famine was to store up grain during the seven good years, using it to live during the years of famine. The Pharaoh saw the wisdom of the counsel, and set Joseph "over all the land of Egypt". Only in the matter of the throne was Pharaoh greater than Joseph (37:33,40-41). Under the direction of Joseph, they saved 20% of all of the produce during the bountiful years of harvest, placing it in special storehouses (41:34). It all began when Joseph was thirty years old – thirteen years after he had been brought into Egypt as a common slave. Every city had these storehouses. So much grain was stored in them he finally "stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure" (41:49). As Joseph had prophesied, the years of famine finally came, consuming everything in Egypt, until "all the land of Egypt was famished." Then, after all resources were exhausted, the people cried out to Joseph, and he "opened all the storehouses" (41:55-56).
There are presently Divine storehouses with ample spiritual food for the people of God. They are all hidden in Christ Jesus (Col 2:3). But they are only opened when no other resources are available to us. One of the benefits of our trials is that they exhaust all natural resources. Then, and only then, are the vast storehouses in Christ opened to us.