Joseph has been rotting in an Egyptian prison for months.  One day he is unexpectantly summoned to appear before Pharaoh.  It seems Pharaoh has had some dreams that no one can interpret.  But the cupbearer remembered that Joseph had interpretted his dream two years earlier, and so the cupbearer tells Pharaoh.  So Joseph is summoned.  Pharaoh tells Joseph, “I hear you can interpret dreams.”

“So I hear that you are a good plumber.”  “I was told you are really good at golf.”  “I heard you are a great cook.”  “That was a great presentation.”  Someone comes up to you with praise for whatever ability you have.  How do you respond?

Joseph responds to Pharaoh, “It is not in me; but God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”  On my own I can’t interpret your dream, but God can.  Interpretting dreams isn’t my ability; it comes from God.  It’s not about me; it is about him.

How do we respond to praise?  Do we point others to God?  I confess I often just say “thank you.”  They gave me a complement, and I appreciate it.  It seems somewhat awkward to constantly in effect say – “it’s not me – it’s God.”  Does that belittle their complement?  Or look at it from the other side.  If I should always deflect the praise from myself to God, maybe I shouldn’t complement others because it really isn’t about them anyways.  But shouldn’t we encourage each other and express gratitude toward those who minister in some way to us?  Of course we should!  So then maybe a simple “thank you” is a good answer after all.

But maybe there is a better.  Maybe we can both accept the complement with appreciation, and also express praise to God who gave us the ability.  Maybe the one giving the complement can phrase it as both appreciation for the person and praise to God.  Maybe instead of saying, “Thank you for…,” we should say, “I appreciate the way God used you in….”  And maybe our response should be, “Thank you.  I praise the Lord that he used me to minister to you.”  And if it seems awkward, maybe it is simply because we aren’t used to doing it. 

In the end, maybe complementing each other is an opportunity not only to encourage and express (and receive) gratitude, but an opportunity to help all of us lift our eyes to the one who is truly worthy of praise.