And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. – Genesis 41:41

Great riches and high positions are not to be desired. Agur’s prayer is a wise one: “Give me neither poverty nor riches.” Joseph was in great peril when he came to be lord over the land of Egypt, but during his time in prison he had been learning to spell out a mystery and answer a riddle. Practically, his interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream was what he had been learning in prison, namely, that it is idle to boast of the fat kine, since the lean kine can soon eat them up, and it is unwise to be proud of the full ears, because the withered ears can soon devour them. Pharaoh saw in the dream the lean devouring the full-fleshed, but Joseph alone understood it. He saw his fat kine when he was in his father’s house eaten up when he was sold as a slave; he saw his full ears when he was in Potiphar’s house devoured by the withered ears when he was thrown into prison, and he now knew that there was nothing here below worth our relying upon, since on the chariot of all earthly good there rides a Nemesis, and every day is followed by a night. He was tutored to be a ruler for he had learned the prisoner’s side of politics and felt how hard it was for men to be unjustly condemned without trial. He foresaw that this could not be forever endured, and that one day the long-suffering lean kine would be goaded to fury and would eat up the fat ones that oppressed them. Hence Joseph’s rule would be just and generous, for in this he would see the elements which would preserve law and order and prevent the poorer sort from overturning everything.

Joseph believed the word of the Lord, and he spoke with the accent of conviction, and Pharaoh believed also. Whence came this simple-minded courage? Whence this boldness? It was the right royal velour which doth hedge about a virtuous soul-or rather the fearlessness which follows from the fear of God. He stood forth and delivered his message, and the Lord established his word. He had been preparing for this in the day of his sorrow: like a good sword-blade, he had been passed through the fire and through the fire again, that now he might not fail in the day of battle. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, may you gain as much from tribulation as Joseph did, and you will do so if the Holy Spirit sanctifies them to you. ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm

…for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. – 1 Chronicles 28:9

No Christian man is all that he thinks he is; our purest gold is alloyed. We have none of us so much faith as we impute to ourselves, nor so much patience, or humility, or meekness, or love to God, or love to men. Spurious coin swells our apparent wealth. It is amazing how rich and increased in goods we are till the Lord deals with us by a trial, and then full often we discover that we are naked, and poor, and miserable in the very respects in which we boasted ourselves. Oh, man, if thou be a child of God thou art like a house which He is building with gold, and silver, and precious stones; but by reason of thine old nature thou art mixing up with the divine material much of thine own wood, and hay, and stubble; therefore, is it that the fire is made to rage around thee to burn out this injurious stuff which mars the whole fabric. If the Holy Spirit be pleased to bless thine afflictions to thee then wilt thou be daily led to put away the materials of the old nature with deep abhorrence and repentance, and thus shall the true work of God which He has built upon the sure foundation, stand in its true beauty, and thou shalt be builded for eternity.

The rod of God teacheth us more than all the voices of His ministers. When the Christian has been passed through the fire, the assaying, by removing the dross, adds a new lustre to the gold. Brother, thou art not what thou shalt be, nor canst thou be what thou shalt be except through a measure of trial. Child, it is needful for thee to feel the weight of thy Father’s hand, or thou wilt never behave thyself as a man. Thou must see His face veiled with frowns and hear His voice in harshness chiding thee for thy transgressions, otherwise thou wilt always retain the follies of childhood. Our chastisements are our promotions. They are privileges more precious than the rights of princes. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/1277.cfm

…this thing is from Me… – 1 Kings 12:24

There sat, one Sabbath day, in that left-hand gallery, a young Hindoo gentleman wearing a scarlet sash. I preached that morning from this text, “What if thy father answer thee roughly?”* and I had hardly reached the vestry at the back before this young Hindoo gentleman was there with an aged man, and all in a hurry the young man said, “Sir, has Mr. E_____ told you about me?” “No,” I said, “I have not seen him for months; what could he have told me about you?” “Are you sure that you never heard of me before?” “To my knowledge, I never heard of you, and never saw you before.” “Well then, sir,” he said, “there is a God, and that God is in this place.” “How so?” I asked. “Last night, I told this gentleman here that I was almost persuaded to be a Christian; but that, when I went home to India, I should be disinherited by my father, and I felt sure that I should not have the courage to stand out as a Christian; and then my friend said, ‘Come and hear Mr. Spurgeon to-morrow morning,’ and I came in here, and you preached from those words, ‘What if thy father answer thee roughly?’ Verily,” he said, “the God of the Christians is God, and He has spoken to me this day.” That was an illustration of our text, “This thing is from Me.” Has it not often happened so? The providential working of the Holy Ghost is a very wonderful subject. They who are the Holy Ghost’s servants learn to depend upon Him for every word they are to utter; they sometimes feel their flesh creep, and almost every hair on their head stand on end at the way in which they have unconsciously spoken so as to depict to the very life the character of their hearers, -casual hearers, perhaps, -as if they had photographed them though they knew them not. Oh, you who are the Lord’s workers, commit yourselves to God’s guidance; the more you can do it, the better, for often you will have to say of an event that happens to you, “This thing is from the Lord.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2476.cfm