After those two full years, Joseph experienced a significant point in his life—on a day that appeared like every other day. That morning dawned like each other morning over the prior 2 years. Like the morning that dawned before Moses saw the burning bush.

like the morning that dawned before David was anointed by Samuel as the king-elect. For Joseph, yet another dungeon day—except for one small matter Joseph knew nothing about : the evening before Pharaoh had a bad dream. The king of the land had a dream, and in it he saw 7 fat, graceful cattle coming up out of the marshy Nile delta. Then 7 foul, thin, starving cows came up from the same stream and devoured the fat, sleek cows. Pharaoh awoke, maybe thinking that large meal he’d eaten before he went to bed wasn’t setting too well on his stomach.

Before long he dropped back to sleep, and his dream continued. This time he saw a stalk of grain with 7 plump and healthy ears. But then 7 lean ears, scorched from the east wind, sprang up and devoured the 7 healthy ears of grain. When Pharaoh heard that there had been someone around who could let him know what this discouraging dream meant, he naturally related, “Go get the man.”.

Talk about comprehensive integrity This was Joseph’s moment in court, his wonderful opportunity to point out, “Do you realize that I may have been out of that place 2 years back if that dummy standing right over there hadn’t forgotten me?” But there was none of that. You know why Joseph may be so humble and talk so openly? Because his heart had been damaged. Because he’d been attempted by the fire of affliction. Because while his external circumstances seemed nearly intolerable during those years, his internal condition had been turned into pure gold. We are now witnessing the advantages of enduring affliction with one’s eyes on God.