Not In Man

Genesis 41:16 KJV

And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

When Pharaoh first approached Joseph about his dream he said "thou canst". He placed the credit upon Joseph. Joseph immediately set the record straight. "It is not in me". Now, Pharaoh must have known that. How could it be in a man to understand another man's dreams? There was no school that could teach it (though some psychiatric systems attempt today). It was not an inherited skill. In those days even wise men were thought to have magical or supernatural powers by being possessed of a spirit or god. Pharaoh innately knew it was not in Joseph to interpret the dream but placed the ability upon him anyway.

It is our nature that, though we know the Bible places all the burden and ability for ministry upon Christ, to slip into the mindset that it is in man.

·       Some are born with natural abilities

·       Some inherit them being in a preacher's family

·       Some acquire them at one of the best colleges

Or so we begin to believe. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Ministry is not in man. It is in Christ. As we surrender control of our lives to Him He performs ministry through us. We can plant and we can water but it must be God who gives the increase or else it is wood hay and stubble.

Joseph could have made up his own interpretation and, given his record, been believed. But it would have helped no one and in the end been discovered as a fraud. Only God could reveal the meaning that God intended it to have. Only God could foretell their future and only God could have so moved Joseph that he had a plan regarding that future.

It is not in man but God.