In these verses, Pharaoh has a dream that is destined to come true because it is of God. In his dream, he sees seven well fed cattle coming up out of a river and feeding happily in a meadow.
Suddenly, seven other cows come up after them that are “ill favoured and leanfleshed” and precede to stand beside them. Soon afterward, the lean cattle begin to eat up the fat-fleshed cattle and then Pharaoh awoke.
While this dream has important immediate context for Egypt and the children of Israel who will be saved by God’s promotion of Joseph, Pharoah’s dream is all too often our experience today. Our days of laziness ruin the achievements of our zealous times of labor. Our seasons of despair often put a damper on our periods of enthusiasm. And, our bouts of worldliness sometimes pull us away from our progress toward holiness. Preachers of old used to call this backsliding. It feels like every time you take two steps forward, you take one step back. Therefore, we must beware the lean times of prayer, praise, or service to the king lest we lose the fruitfulness and progress toward our ultimate goal.
How do you keep this from happening? How do you keep the lean from eating the fat of your spiritual life? You must feed in the right meadow by spending time with the Lord. You must be about his business and following in his path. As we grow ever nearer to those celestial hills, we should grow fatter and not leaner in our peace, love, joy and usefulness to our Lord. May the Lord keep us from the curse of leanness in our spiritual lives as we progress every day closer to our heavenly home. May we not backslide, but move ahead toward our higher calling.
Let us Pray
Rev. C. Justin Randolph
Prayer Coordinator
Sevier County Baptists
