Glue of Goshen

My dreams became galling To my fratricidal brothers My father's favor appalling Birthed from different mothers "The master of dreams is coming." Down the cistern they tossed me Their plan to kill me numbing My dreams engulfed in irony Reuben discouraged their plan They sold me to a caravan My father instead reaps deceit "Wild beasts he could not defeat." From Dothan to Egypt I went "Are slavers the agents of death Or God's delivering instrument?" His plan will preserve my breath Stung by my brothers' hate Faith clung despite my distress So my sorrow was not as great I believed I'd someday possess God placed me in Potiphar's house I was steward of all that he owned I was smeared by his lustful spouse And into a jail I was thrown My faithful response paid a price But God would not be outdone His favor rewards self-sacrifice He had planned a shocking end-run The cupbearer and baker offended Their dreams were sent by the Lord But interpreting was not extended My compassion was not ignored "Interpretations belong to the Lord." He has gifted it to me as a skill Let me be your sounding board And we'll discover Pharaoh's will. Pharaoh will restore the cupbearer But the baker will suffer demise Their dreams fulfilled without error The cupbearer would later apprise "Will my dreams ever be fulfilled? What are their interpretations?" He has baffled me like the unskilled I am tempted with machinations But then Pharaoh had his dreams And the cupbearer would now apprise No need to resort to schemes God's plan would soon surprise Pressure formed my character vows My appearance became Egyptian, too Pharaoh related his troubling cows His diviners had nary a clue I interpreted the dreams faithfully And advised Pharaoh what to do God's breakthrough came suddenly In all Egypt, I was number two His sovereign choice a Hebrew slave He sent ahead to preserve life Egypt and Israel God will save And reconcile a family's strife An Egyptian name and an Egyptian wife And two sons caused my forgetting The bitterness that consumed my life The sting was no longer besetting God swallowed up the power to sting He blessed me beyond my belief The pain of the past was emptying Twenty years had melted my grief "Go to Egypt and buy us some grain." Ten sons of Jacob make the journey My identity I decided to feign I will be the prosecuting attorney Physical and spiritual famine Now filled my family's cup Dysfunction I can now examine Sin and distrust needs a shake-up I must test them to see their hearts Their past sin and present guilt Before their restoration starts Repentance must be to-the-hilt Judah's repentance impressed I broke down in front of my brothers Tears of joy when they confessed Now bring back my father and others Pharaoh will settle you in Goshen The best of the land before you God's forgiveness with a promotion The first time our communion is true El Shaddai swallows the sting The Glue of Goshen holds us fast He can overrule anything His promises will always outlast