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

Copyright © Randy Johnson | Year Posted 2023

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