Genesis 40
If there is something I have learned from my time on this earth is that sorrow can be a lonely time. No matter how supportive others can be… one can still feel all alone. Forgotten. Like a leaf in a stream at flood stage. You have lost connection from the tree and are now swirling out of control… will you ever be found?
I wonder what state Joseph was in when he entered jail for a crime he did not commit? Well Joseph did what he always did… made the best of the situation and was soon a trusted helper for the warden. But as the story continues we learn that God is not through with Joseph.
Some time later, the cup bearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. [2] Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cup bearer and the chief baker, [3] and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. [4] The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. (1-4a)
One day Joseph saw these two men and they were both disturbed. “Why are your faces so sad today?” They explained that they had both had dreams and didn’t know what to make of them. I love Joseph’s optimism. “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
The two recount their dreams which are quite similar. The chief cup bearer tells his dream: “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, [10] and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. [11] Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.” (9-11)
Joseph tells him that the three branches meant three days… and that within three days he would be restored to his position and would again place a chalice of wine into the Pharaoh’s hand. Joseph bids that the cup bearer remember him to Pharaoh when he is restored to office.
The chief baker likes what he has heard and offers his dream up to Joseph: “On my head were three baskets of bread. [17] In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” (16-17)
Joseph, looking a bit more somber this time, states truthfully: In three days, Pharaoh will have you executed. And so it goes:
“Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: [21] He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand, [22] but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.” (20-22)
Now after the cupbearer is restored a travesty occurs. He NEGLECTED TO DO ANYTHING ALL ABOUT JOSEPH’S PLIGHT!
Genesis 40:23 reads: “The chief cup bearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.” I wondered how many nights Joseph lay awake wondering when his friend would come to his rescue. 41:1 tells the sad truth: “…two full years…”
Joseph was forgotten for two more years. It was one thing to have no hope, but to see hope rise and fall had to have ripped at his heart. He was at the rock bottom of his faith. The chief question at rock bottom is this: Has God Forsaken Me?
Have you ever been searching for a road out in the country that even Google Maps can’t help you with? Eventually you throw up you hands and say: “Where is this God Forsaken place?” Well that is not a Biblical statement at all! There is no place on this earth that is “GOD FORSAKEN!”
Isaiah 40:27-29 reads: “Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? [28] Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. [29] He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.
The Bible teaches us that there is no place we can go or be sent that escapes his notice.
Matthew 10:29, 31 says: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. [31] So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Just as he sees every bird that falls from the sky. He can see where you have landed. And you are still worth everything to Him. He knows your situation. He feels the pain in your heart. And he sees every tear you’ve cried.
Psalm 56:8 (The Living Bible) reads: “You have collected all my tears and preserved them in your bottle! You have recorded every one in your book.”
Pastor Bill Hybels remarked on this verse: “In Middle Eastern culture when every a soldier would go off to war he would buy a “tear vial” – a little tear bottle—he would give it to his wife or his mother. She would promise, “Your absence will make me so sad, I will cry every night. And when I do, I’ll collect those tears in this bottle. When you come back, you’ll see my tears and you’ll know how precious you are to me.”
Psalm 56:8 says that God will one day be able to show us our “tear vials.” For he has witnesses each one of them. He will say to us: “Didn’t miss a one. Not a single one.”
Joseph might have thought near the end of that second year that his story was over. But it was actually just ready to begin.
Feeling forgotten? Know that God sees every single tear… and that your story isn’t over until HE says its over. Hang on for one day more.
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