Have you ever had the thrill of teaching someone and watching the moment they finally “get it”? During my first season coaching football, I worked with the 2nd and 3rd team JV players in a strong Tampa program. Every day after stretches and fundamentals, the head coach sent all those kids to me and two assistants. We taught them the basics, and early on it was chaos. I took the offense, the other coaches took defense, and we scrimmaged the rest of practice. About three weeks in, something changed. The light came on. They started to understand. Then one game, the first team was struggling, and the head coach yelled, “Coach Davis, the 2nd team is going in—you’re calling the plays!” Our kids were pumped. I was pumped. This was their moment. First play: false start. Second play: minus fifteen yards. Third play: fumble returned for a touchdown. “Coach Davis, first team is going back in.” We were certain we were ready. We thought we had taught them well. But we weren’t even close. Today’s story from the Life of Joseph is the spiritual opposite of that moment. It’s about Pharaoh—of all people—hearing truth from God and immediately getting it. No warm up period. No false starts. No fumbling around. One encounter with God’s Word, and it transforms the path of a king and an entire nation. This week we look at the day Pharaoh realized that the Word of God—not his magicians, not his advisors, not his culture—was where his hope needed to be placed.
