Genesis 41:1-4 KJV And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. [2] And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow. [3] And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. [4] And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.
I. INTRODUCTION—MAD COW DISEASE
In the late 1980’s a strange malady begin to affect the cows primarily in Great Britain although there were some other scattered cases around Europe. The symptoms of what would be called “Mad Cow Disease” affected the neurological system of cows. A tiny protein that had run amok in the brain of the cows would cause them to have an unsteady gait in which they would stumble and fall and not be able to get up without great assistance. This tiny protein infection literally turned the brains and spinal cords of infected cows into a spongy like substance prior to it being fatal to the cow.
The likely culprit causing the infection was from contaminated bone meal that had been fed to the cows. There were some who even linked it to contamination from infected sheep whose bones were ground up and placed in various cow feeds. But those who watched the cows infected by this and then their demise were very troubled by the process by which the cow would either die or would be shot prior to their death.
Then the fear factor began to descend and people were concerned that they could get infected by eating the contaminated meat. There were a very small amount of people who did indeed contract the disease and in the human form was called Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease after the two physicians that discovered it.
-But long before the Mad Cow Disease came about in the late ‘80’s, there was a Pharoah who had a dream about seven mad cows!
II. PHARAOH’S DILEMMA
-It appears at the time that Pharoah had his dream that all was well with Egypt. Economically, politically, and their military were experiencing a great time of wealth and security. It perhaps could be said that Egypt was the super-power of the time.
A. Pharaoh’s Dream
-But there is something disturbing about dreams that we remember when we wake up. This was the case with Pharaoh. He dreamed two successive dreams in which seven seemed to be the number and the devouring of good seemed to be the theme.
• Seven fat cows, seven lean cows.
• Seven healthy ears of corn, seven withered ears of corn.
• Lean cows eating fat cows.
• Withered corn eating healthy corn.
• Yet the appearance of the lean cows and withered corn never changed. (Genesis 41:15-24)
-The Scriptures portray this dream in great detail concerning the river which was understood as the Nile. This was symbolic of the fertility. Seven healthy cows and full ears of corn, seven years of wealth and prosperity and the seven lean cows and withered ears are seven years of famine.
-Pharaoh’s dream will come into the life of every man. We are not immune from it nor should we be. With every hint of prosperity, there will be a leveling action of adversity.
-Our lives are filled with variables, changes, and challenges. The old writers used a word for this called “vicissitudes” which meant the changes of fortunes or the ups and downs of life.
• Life is not one run on uninterrupted happiness; there will be seasons of sadness.
• Life is not one long occasion of good health, there will be seasons of sickness.
• Life is not one victory after another, there will be losses to overcome.
• Life is not just prosperity; there are some setbacks to endure.
• Life is not one accomplishment after another, there will be hopes that are dashed.
-There will be mad cows that will come along and attempt to destroy you.
B. The Mad Cows That Talk
-Furthermore, it will not be too long in life before you notice that the “mad cows” can talk. I would like to go another whole different portion of Scripture to illustrate what I mean by this. From various places in the book of Nehemiah, you will see what I am talking about.
-The mad cows of your dreams will do everything they can to devour what God is trying to help you to build up. Nehemiah faced his detractors but he kept on working. Consider the foes that Nehemiah had to contend with.
1. Sanballat—The Mad Cow of Anger
Nehemiah 4:1-2 KJV But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. [2] And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?
-Sanballat ranted and raved. He raged. His anger was like Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace that had been heated seven times hotter. His anger was like the fires that burned the martyrs at the stake.
-To be frank, his anger irritated Nehemiah, but Nehemiah never bought into it. On the inside he was burning but on the outside, he was as unruffled as a calm lake on a warm day. He was like a bitter east wind to Nehemiah but he never let on to it.
-Start building a wall. . . Start building a church. . . Start building your life. . . Start going to school. . . Start making a choice to better yourself. . . Start turning the rubble into a wall. . . and you will wake up the Sanballat’s.
-Instead of fighting the mad cows. . . Nehemiah just determined to follow a principle. . . It is Nehemiah 4:6.
Nehemiah 4:6 KJV So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
-That is how you prepare for “mad cows.”
2. Tobiah—The Mad Cow of Worldly Wisdom
Nehemiah 4:3 KJV Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
-Tobiah was a mad cow of worldly wisdom. He lived at Ammon and had power over a province there. Most likely he had reached his place of power by hook and crook. In Nehemiah 2:9, he is referred to as a slave.
-He had probably reached his post by being a flattering slave in the imperial court. He was the kind of guy who was always right up under the elbow of the boss, flattering, back-slapping, smoozing, and playing the game.
-His speech betrays him as one who assumed that wisdom would die with him.
• He ridiculed their efforts.
• He kept up a constant distraction to those who were discouraged (Neh. 6:17).
• He brought up every conceivable argument as to why the job could not be done.
-But Nehemiah handled him the same way he did Sanballat. Instead of fighting the mad cows. . . He just determined to follow a principle. . . It is Nehemiah 4:6.
Nehemiah 4:6 KJV So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
-That is how you prepare for “mad cows.”
3. Shemiah—The Mad Cow of Divided Loyalties
Nehemiah 6:10 KJV Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee.
-This man had been hired by Tobiah and Sanballat (6:12), the enemies of God, and amazingly his place of attack was from within the Temple. He pretended that great danger was approaching.
• He tried to bring Nehemiah into a place of inactivity.
• His spiritual talk was full of doom.
• He corrupted the house of faith and made it the territory of fear.
-He was motivated by money. He let the filthy lucre of Tobiah and Sanballat control his voice. The faster you figure out that everybody in your tent doesn’t necessarily want to get the wall built, the quicker you can get the work done.
-Every church, every district, every organization has its share of those with a divided sense of loyalty. They are primarily out to serve themselves. Take care what voice you allow to speak things into your life because their paycheck could be coming from the enemy.
-But we have come this far by faith. . . Leaning on the Lord. . . Trusting in His holy Word. . . He’s never failed us yet. . . !
-So instead of fighting the mad cows. . . Nehemiah just determined to follow a principle. . . It is Nehemiah 4:6.
Nehemiah 4:6 KJV So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
4. Noadiah—The Mad Cow of Fear
Nehemiah 6:14 KJV My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.
-This woman was a prophetess and she used her sacred position to hinder the efforts of a good man.
• She threatened.
• She instilled doubts.
• She stirred up dread.
• She prophesied evil things.
-Just because it may appear to be spiritual is not necessarily a reason for you to want to create an alliance. Fear is always motivated by imperfect love. This is what the devil loves to do with mad cows. Fear will devour the most useful stock and fruit in your life.
-Don’t give in to your fear!
-Instead of fighting the mad cows. . . Nehemiah just determined to follow a principle. . . It is Nehemiah 4:6.
Nehemiah 4:6 KJV So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
5. Gashmu—The Mad Cow of Wild Whispering
Nehemiah 6:6 KJV Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.
-He was an Ishmaelite, one of the wild ones. He had no principles and no character. He was just a man who had nothing to lose but everything to gain by creating an opposition in life.
-He was perhaps the most dangerous of all the mad cows. He was suspicious of their zeal and enthusiasm. So he made it his business to spread reports that a rebellion was necessary because Nehemiah was being motivated to set up his own kingdom and would soon tax them to the hilt.
-Instead of fighting the mad cows. . . Nehemiah just determined to follow a principle. . .
Nehemiah 4:6 KJV So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.
-They were nothing more than mad cows trying to devour what was right and proper and true in the lives of those who were doing something for God.
• They were cunning and cruel.
• They had allies in Jerusalem.
• They were half-hearted.
• They were given to indifference and laziness.
-But you just keep on going and don’t let the mad cows get the best of you! Worship the Lord and do His will!
C. The Discouragements of the Mad Cows
-There are also the discouragements that come with the mad cows. For a lot of people Pharaoh’s dream will come to pass in their life except it will not be seasons of prosperity followed by times of famine. But rather it gets more personal than that.
• Lean cows of laziness will eat up our times of great work.
• Lean cows of spiritual coldness will freeze out the times of revival and fervent prayer.
• Lean cows of worldliness will throw us back from the advances we have made in spiritual life.
-Beware of the lean cows. . .
• Lean praises.
• Lean prayers.
• Lean devotions.
• Lean experiences.
-The lean cows can have their way with us:
• If we neglect prayer for a short while, we lose our hunger to pray.
• If we neglect our love for the Word, we lose the supply of power that comes from it.
• If we neglect our desire to gain fresh anointing from Heaven, the old corn is soon consumed.
-Famines have a way with our souls. Soon the blight of famine will create a fever in the soul that eats away at the heart of worship.
• Caterpillars of indifference.
• Cankerworms of worldliness.
• Palmerworms of self-indulgence.
• Locusts of carnality.
-All of these things eat away the fruit that was harvested and our growth in grace soon stops. Does that alarm you? Does it matter that the lean cows have come up out of the river to destroy all the good that God has brought to your life?
III. BRING ON THE DREAMER!!!
-Eleven years had passed since Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers. Despite the fact he had experienced his own dreams, it appears that God had forgotten what Joseph had been given.
-He had been forced to endure the betrayal of his own brothers, the trumped up false charges against him from Potiphar, and had been seemingly left in a prison to rot. Two years prior to this he had been called on to interpret the dreams of the baker and butler of Pharoah and their dreams had been fulfilled as he said they would.
-He had no idea that God was troubling Pharoah in a nightmare that he would soon be called on to give an answer for. There is a principle in this: Sometimes you have to interpret and bless the dreams of others before your own will ever come to pass. It is crucial make sure that your heart and attitude stays right during all of this.
-The solution for the mad cow disease is to bring on the dreamer!!!
-What is the remedy for dreams that appear to destroy you? Bring on the dreamer! Joseph knew what it was like to have a dream and then it seem like it would never come to pass. He is about to be elevated but he does not know it just yet.
A. A Work of Patience
-Joseph apparently has had his own mad cows to eat up his life just as Pharoah. When you have a dream, it is difficult at best to let patience have her perfect work.
James 1:3-4 KJV Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. [4] But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
-If we are honest with ourselves we have to admit we know how difficult this can be. Furthermore the writer of Proverbs explains it another way, the path of most common men:
Proverbs 13:12 KJV Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.
-When mad cows eat up the life of our dreams, patience is hard to get a handle on and it is severely tried.
• When is the healing coming?
• When is the revival coming?
• When are my children going to be saved?
• When is my spouse going to have a spiritual awakening?
• When will my thorn finally be banished?
• When am I going to ever get beyond this setback?
• When am I going to get over the pain of this difficult trial?
• When will I experience the revival that I long for?
• When will my dream ever see the light of day?
• When will I get married?
• When will I finish this degree?
• When will the circumstances of my job ever level out?
• When? When? When? When?
-Somewhere along the way, the mad cows have to be confronted by the dreamer!
B. The Dreamer Has a Plan
-Furthermore, when Joseph gives the interpretation of the dream, he does not point the ability to interpret the dream to himself but rather to God (Genesis 40:8).
Psalms 25:14 KJV The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
Daniel 2:28 KJV But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
-Thirteen years after Joseph had been sold into slavery which had brought him to Egypt, he is summoned by the Pharoah. His friend the butler remembered that Joseph had interpreted his own dream that came true and now he felt like God would assist Joseph in the same way.
-He hears out the dream and tells Pharaoh that a famine is coming and he will have to contend with the “mad cows.” But if you are prepared for the mad cows, they won’t consume you. The key is to be ready for them.
1. An Illustration of Hope
Joe Bayly wrote a book entitled The Last Thing We Talk About. It is a painful book and one that cost him a great price to write it—the death of three sons. Danny, John, and Joe all died at a different age and under different circumstances to death. One of his sons died before he was five to leukemia. Remembering those heartaches, Joe Bayly wrote about the day that his hope came back to him.
One Saturday morning in January, I saw the mail truck stop at our mailbox up on the road.
Without thinking, except that I wanted to get the mail, I ran out of the house and up the road in my shirt sleeves. It was bitterly cold—the temperature was below zero—there was a brisk wind from the north, and the ground was covered with more than a foot of snow.
I opened the mailbox, pulled out the mail, and was about to make a mad dash for the house when I saw what was on the bottom, under the letters: a Burpee seed catalog. On the front were bright zinnias. I turned it over. On the back were huge tomatoes.
For a few moments I was oblivious of the cold, delivered from it. I leafed through the catalog, tasting corn and cucumbers, smelling roses. I saw the freshly plowed earth, smelled it, let it run through my fingers.
For those brief moments, I was living in the springtime and summer, winter past. Then the cold penetrated to my bones and I ran back to the house. When the door closed behind me, and I was getting warm again, I thought how my moments at the mailbox were like our experiences in life.
We feel the cold, along with those who do not share our hope. The biting wind penetrates us as them. . . But in our cold times, we have a seed catalog. We open it and smell the promised spring, eternal spring. And the first-fruit that settles our hope is Jesus Christ, who was raised from death and cold earth to glory eternal.
IV. CONCLUSION—IT WON’T BE WINTER FOREVER
-If you are contending with mad cows, remember that winter does not last forever. There is somewhere in your past that you prepared for it. You are probably like most all of us. . . Did not prepare was well as you should have or could have. . . But there are some past victories that you can depend on.
1 Samuel 21:8-9 KJV And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste. [9] And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.
• Somewhere in your past, there is a sword that you once had a victory with. . .
• There are some ears of corn that you stored up but have long since forgotten. . .
• There are some prayer meetings. .
• There are some victories. . .
• There are some songs but more than just songs, they are anthems. . .
• Pull them out and take care of your mad cows!
Philip Harrelson—July 17, 2011
