Interpretations belong to God

 Anything that is spoken or written is subject to interpretation. Of course, some things are very straight forward and easy to interpret, while other things are much more complex and yield themselves to various interpretations. When people are the interpreters, it really depends on their knowledge and their biases as to how they will understand it. This is true when it comes to reading and understanding the Bible, too. 

Joseph gave us a very important principle of interpretation when he addressed the king's butler and baker about their dreams. (Genesis 40:8) They told him they had each had a dream, but they were sad because there was no interpreter to help them understand their dreams. Joseph made a great point when he responded, "Do not interpretations belong to God?" That applies to understanding all things, not just dreams.

God created everything. He is all-wise, and so He understands everything. Therefore, if we want to have the correct interpretation for something, we need to go to the Lord and ask Him for His way of looking at it. Then, we are able to have the absolute truth about it. That is why Joseph asked them to tell him their dreams. That way, he could ask the Lord to show him the meaning of the dreams. We all need to stay close to God, so we can hear Him when He shares these things with us.

The problem comes when people interpret things in their own knowledge and wisdom without consulting God. This happens all of the time with the Bible. Five people can have five different interpretations of the same verse or passage. We must not let that turn us off to God's Word. We must go to the Lord to show us the right interpretation, just like Joseph. He is happy to show us, His children, the proper way to understand anything in His Word, the Bible.

#NHBaptistdotorg

Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 41-43.