Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Genesis 40 before reading the devotional below.
As someone who enjoys studying both psychology and the Bible, dream analysis is a fascinating realm. Joseph, still in prison, has the chance to meet two high-ranking officials in the Egyptian Pharaoh’s court: the chief cup-bearer and the chief baker. They have been thrown into prison for offending Pharaoh, and both have dreams that they do not understand. Joseph is confident in his connection to God and offers to interpret the dreams supernaturally. One is good news, the other quite bad. In the end, both the dreams come true.
Joseph had hoped that when the cup-bearer’s positive dream came true, he would put in a good word with Pharaoh to help Joseph get out of prison. Sadly, the cup-bearer forgets all about Joseph. We’ll read more about this story in tomorrow’s chapter, but that failure to remember Joseph keeps him in prison for two more years. It’s a half a sentence when we read the story, but who knows what Joseph went through during that two year period. Was he discouraged or confident in God’s coming rescue? We’ll never know…
Here’s your freedom for today:
People may forget about you, but God never will.
Joseph places a tiny bit of hope in the cup-bearer when he asks for a favor. Although that does help him down the road, he was ultimately let down by that man. He was forgotten. Locked away and unimportant to society. In the end, he’s only remembered because his dream interpretation skills are needed once again. There was absolutely no consideration for Joseph as a human being on the part of the cup-bearer. Sadly, humans will fail us. The good news is that God never will. He has never forgotten you for one second of your life, and he didn’t forget about Joseph either. He lined everything up to make sure Joseph rose to the top, though there’s no arguing he gave Joseph the easy road to get there. Even when your earthly situation makes you feel lost and forgotten, God is working things out in the midst of the waiting.