When God Calls:  Answering Quickly With Faith

Shared on December 11, 2024

When God calls on us to move, there is only one way we should move. God has put together a perfect plan to move us towards our blessing. In this week’s study, Pastor McCrary shows us how to quickly spring into faith by following Joseph’s example. Be sure to watch this week’s study and share it with someone, somehwere.

Commentary Introduction

When God calls on you, how should you answer?  How should you respond?  Do you think God has set everything in motion for you to be blessed just for you to sit still?  We have to remember that the Lord has a perfect plan that He has put in motion just for us. So, I want to share with you in this study how every child of God should move and answer God’s call.

This week’s study is picking up immediately where we left off in my prior study – “God’s Perfect Plan: Embrace the Wisdom of His Timing”. If you missed this study, be sure to read over it before you continue in this study.

Answering God’s Call

Let’s remember that Joseph had sat two years in that prison.  So, when Pharaoh sent for Joseph and spoke to him about interpreting, Joseph quickly sprang in faith.  Joseph said to Pharaoh, “It is not in me, God will give Pharaoh an answer (Gen. 41:16).”

Joseph took the opportunity given to him by God, and used the gift that was given to him by the Lord as well (Gen. 41:25-32).  This action is exactly what the Lord desires from us.  God blesses us with gifts to minister (share) those gifts.  God doesn’t give us a gift for us to sit back and hold on to them for dear life.  

The mere thought of holding on to a gift from God and not using it will always remind of Jesus’ Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30).  The Parable of the Talents is a story that focuses on three servants that were given gifts by their master.  Two of the servants used their gifts and profited.  One servant buried his gift and didn’t prosper.

The master returned to the three servants and rewarded the two servants that used their gifts.  However, the master grew angry with the one servant that did nothing.  The master even told the servant that if he wasn’t going to use it, he could have at least invested into something.

The master in Jesus’ parable represented the Lord.  God hasn’t given us a gift just for us to bury that gift.  Even more, God doesn’t give us an assignment just for us not to carry out that assignment – see Jonah’s story.  What’s even worse is that God doesn’t answer our prayers and call on us just for us not to answer and move.

When God gives us a task to do, He knows that we’re able to carry out the task.  God desires for us to be a blessing when He gives us an assignment.  So, when you have prayed and God has delivered you, certainly answer His call and move by faith.

Be Ready for the Moment

Pharaoh’s dream was a warning, from God, about a very severe drought in seven years.  Joseph advised Pharaoh that he needed to select a discerning and wise man to gather and store up food during the seven good years (Gen. 41:33-35).  

This was a very interesting position for this Pharaoh to be in.  Being the most powerful man in the land, Pharaoh could have easily ignored Joseph from a place of pride and ego.  Proverbs tells us that a wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel (Prov. 1:5-6). 

No matter how highly you may think of yourself, it is always good to be humble and willing to listen to wise counsel.  When we may not know what to do in certain situations, don’t get yourself into more trouble by not seeking wise counsel.  There is always hope that can be found in seeking wise counsel.

Pharaoh turned to his servants and asked, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God (Gen. 41:38)?”  Well, there was at least one among them who had proved himself to be wise, discerning, and the Spirit of God was clearly with him.  There is no such thing as coincidence when it comes to God’s work.

Joseph, we would say, was ordained for this moment, right?  Think about everything that Joseph had endured to reach that point in his life.  Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and sold into the hands of Potiphar.  Potiphar set Joseph over his house which gave him the experience of management.

Joseph was then thrown into prison because of the lies of Potiphar’s wife.  The keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in prison.  So, again, Joseph was able to gain more experience while putting his experience from Potiphar’s house to work.  

While he was in prison, Joseph was able to put to use the gift given to him by God in being able to understand and interpret the dreams of the butler and the baker.  This gift Joseph was able to use to interpret Pharaoh’s dream and give him the wisdom to foresee what was coming.  All of the ups and the downs came together to put Joseph into a position to now lead.

Paul said it best when he said that all things work together for good to those that love the Lord (Rom. 8:28).  It can, and often is, very easy for us to fall into doom and gloom when it seems that nothing but bad is coming our way.  Yet, in those times, we must continue by faith and hope.  God’s thoughts towards us are not evil but are of peace, a future, and hope (Jer. 29:11).  You never know what God is preparing for you or what He is building you up to take on.

Joseph’s Faith Greatly Rewarded

Pharaoh set Joseph over all the land of Egypt and even put his signet ring on Joseph’s hand (Gen. 41:41-42).  Signets were the seals of the highest in authority and Joseph was now wearing it on behalf of Pharaoh!  On top of that, Pharaoh gave Joseph a garment of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck further signifying Joseph’s rank and authority.  

Reigning with Pharaoh

We have to acknowledge the obvious in what scripture is showing us here as it heavily foreshadows our future.  When you think about it, Joseph, when he was in prison, had been brought down to one of the lowest places one could be.  As a prisoner, Joseph was a beggar that had no rights.  Now, Joseph’s days of such struggle had come to an end.

Scripture tells us that Joseph was thirty when he stood before Pharaoh and went out in this new position (Gen. 41:46).  Joseph had lived in the land of Egypt for 13 years essentially being little to nothing.  We know that at minimum, two of those years he spent in prison.  The rest of those years were spent living in Potiphar’s house.

We find ourselves in the same position as sinners.  The sinner is one living in captivity to sin and sin is not a wonderful master.  Jesus grants rest to those who are heavy laden (Matt. 11:28) whereas sin will keep throwing extra weight on top of those who are heavy laden.  The sheep in the pasture of Christ live freely under his grace whereas sin has no desire to set anyone free.

As Joseph took the signet of Pharaoh, we who are of sincere faith already have a piece of God with us— the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit seals our salvation for which we can never lose.  By the seal of the Holy Spirit, we will one day be transformed into our glorified bodies where we will receive our own fine linen and incorruptible crown (1 Cor. 9:25).  In the eternal kingdom, we shall reign with Christ forever and ever (Rev. 22:1-5).

God, I want you to understand, will take and lift you out of the pit of sin.  From the lowest place we can be in our soul, God will lift us unto righteousness everlasting.  Yes, as he did for Joseph in Egypt, he will do for us in His kingdom.  Yes, we may have our struggles in the world today but let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that our troubles are forever.

Married and “made to forget”

For the first seven years after receiving his promotion, Joseph oversaw  the gathering of the grain and the food.  Scripture tells us that he had gathered so much grain that it was innumerable as the sand of the sea (Gen. 41:49).  Again, Joseph was greatly blessed because of his faith and those around him were enjoying the fruit of his labor.

During that period of time Joseph married an Egyptian woman named Asenath.  Gen 41:50 tells us that Asenath was the daughter of priest name Pot-Pherah.  What an interesting marriage that had to be with Joseph being a man of God and Asenath being the daughter of an Egyptian priest.  They had two sons together with one being named Manasseh and the other named Epharaim (Gen. 41:51-52).  

The naming of both of their children was with purpose.  The name Manasseh meant, “For God has ‘made me forget’ all my toil and all my father’s house.”  The name Ephraim meant, “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”  

Joseph had gone from being betrayed and sold into slavery, dwelling in the dungeon of prison, to now being second only to Pharaoh in the most powerful kingdom in the land.  How did Joseph manage to overcome all he went through in life?  Was it by his strength and might?  No, it was by faith and fellowship with the Lord.

Faith and fellowship with the Lord will carry you over all of your afflictions, trials, and tribulations.  How often do you think about the struggles you had 10 to 15 years ago?  Do you even remember what you were worried about in February or March of this year?  Sure, we had something that we were worried about but God has taken that worry from us.

As Psalm 30:5, “weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning.”  God is that joy and He will give you that joy even in all of your suffering.  The key for us is to remain patient in our faith and then answer the call the moment God has ordained for us to move.