Flute duet. They are flautists. Don't you like that word? Flautist? Just say that once.
It'll make you feel better. I don't usually take attendance in worship, but I wonder if
Velma Ellsworth is here this morning. Is Velma here? Well, you won't tell her, of course,
that I mentioned this, will you? But Thursday was her 97th birthday. She is the senior member
of our congregation and lives at the Presbyterian Homes. We're just delighted for her. She's
a sweet lady. Praise for us. She's not able to be out too often, but she thought she might
make it today. She's been recovering from a broken hip. Among the modern New Age inventions
that you and I live with every day are answering machines. We neither have an answering machine
nor a microwave oven, which makes our children convinced that we are the only family in America
so disadvantaged. But I call many homes and often get answering machines. I heard about
some answering machine statements that I'd like to share with you this morning. One machine
said, Hi, John's answering machine is broken. This is his refrigerator. Please speak very
slowly and I'll stick your message to myself with one of these magnets. Another one I like
says, This is not an answering machine. This is a telepathic thought recording device.
After the tone, think about your name, your reason for calling, and a number where I can
reach you, and I'll think about returning your call. That was a little long for me, frankly.
I like this is a little shorter, a little more to the point. Hi, I'm probably home.
I'm just avoiding someone I don't like. Leave me a message if I don't call. It's you. I
don't know about you, but sometimes listening to the long statements on the answering machines
and usually a verse of Star Spangled Banner and then beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. You
feel like you could apply for Social Security while you're waiting to leave your message.
Of all the things that I enjoy doing, waiting is not one of them. You can ask my wife. If
I go to the store and stand in a line, it is the line that will have the most problems
at the cash register. Someone's check will not go through. There will be a problem with
the credit card. The price won't be on the item. So I'll switch to the next line, and
the problem switches to the next line. Do you have the same experience? We don't like
to wait. We don't like to wait on our computers to download things off the internet. We don't
like to wait for our computers to even turn on. We are a busy people. We don't like to
wait, and yet waiting seems to be one of God's favorite means to teach us lessons.
Paul waited for two years in a jail in Caesarea for his legal seedings to proceed. Two years
of the Apostles' life in jail. The Apostles waited in Jerusalem for the coming of the
Holy Spirit. As a teenager, David was anointed by Samuel to succeed Saul as the king, but
he waited until he was thirty before it happened. Moses shepherded sheep for forty years, and
then at eighty was called to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. The desert was his
waiting room. Joseph, the man that we're studying in Genesis, learned at seventeen that he would
be a powerful ruler, that even his own family would bow down to him, but he spent the next
thirteen years after that in slavery and in prison before being exalted to that high position.
I want to talk today about God's waiting room. As we turn together to Genesis chapter
forty and then move into chapter forty-one as well. God's waiting room is where He prepares
His servants for greater things. God's waiting room is where He prepares you for greater
things ahead. For some, the waiting room is an upper room. For others, it's a wilderness
or a prison cell. What is God's waiting room in your life? Maybe it's a hospital room.
Maybe it's that dead-end job that you're enduring. Or perhaps it's a classroom or an unemployment
line. For someone here this morning, God's waiting room is waiting for that child to
be born that you've longed for. For someone else, God's waiting room is waiting to see
if the chemotherapy is going to work. God has all kinds of waiting rooms. Inevitably,
they are there to prepare us for greater things ahead. From the experience of Joseph, there
are three encouragements I want us to note for those who wait in God's waiting room.
The first encouragement is this, that while you are waiting, God is working. While you
are waiting, God is working. I want you to notice how God worked in Joseph's experience
as he waited. To do that, we're going to back up just one verse in the chapter 39 of
Genesis where it says, the chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge
because the Lord was with him, with Joseph. And whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper.
In the first place, for Joseph, God positioned him for what was coming. For Joseph, what
that position entailed was jail, and then responsibility in the jail. God positioned
Joseph strategically and then made him wait. Then I noticed that for Joseph, he provided
the means for his future. In other words, God let it be known that Joseph could interpret
dreams because while Joseph was there in that prison, there were two other prisoners who
joined him. One was the cup bearer for Pharaoh and the other was the baker for the palace.
Now what they had done, we're not told, but they were both cast into the prison and they
got to know Joseph. And it says in verse 4 of chapter 40 that they were in confinement
for some time. And then one night something happened. Both of these men had a dream. And
they came to Joseph the next morning and they asked him if he could interpret the dreams.
He said to them, do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, please. So the chief
cup bearer of Pharaoh told about his dream of a vine. And this vine had three branches
and as it was budding, its blossoms came out and the clusters produced ripe grapes. And
he said in this dream he had in his hand Pharaoh's cup and so he took the grapes and he squeezed
them and put the wine in the cup and put the cup into Pharaoh's hand. That was his dream.
And Joseph said, this is the interpretation. The three branches, he says, are three days.
Within three more days, verse 13, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to
your office. And you will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand according to your former custom
when you were his cup bearer. Now this cup bearer was a wine taster. He was responsible
to be sure that the wine that Pharaoh had was good wine and was not poisoned. He had
to be very trusted. He could be involved in no plots of intrigue within the palace. After
he interpreted the dream, Joseph said to this man, verse 14, only keep me in mind when it
goes well with you and please do me a kindness by remembering me to Pharaoh and get me out
of this house. For I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews and even here
I have done nothing that they should have put me into this dungeon. And so Joseph asked
the man to remember him to Pharaoh. Now did Pharaoh know Joseph? It's possible. He was
the chief servant in the household of Pharaoh's trusted bodyguard, the head of his secret
service. So it's possible that he had met Joseph. But even if not, Joseph is convinced
that Pharaoh will be able to help him. And so he asks the cup bearer, when this happens,
remember me to your boss. Well then the chief baker of the household of Pharaoh stepped
forward and asked for the interpretation of his dream. And Joseph, and his dream was that
of three baskets of white bread. He says that they were on his head and the top basket,
and the top basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh and the birds were
eating them out of the basket on my head. And Joseph said, well here's the interpretation
of your dream, verse 19, within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you
and will hang you on the tree and the birds will eat your flesh off of you. Now you have
to commend Joseph for being willing to give the good news as well as the bad. Well verse
20 says, thus it came about on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he threw a party.
And he lifted up the head of the chief cup bearer and the head of the chief baker among
his servants. He restored the cup bearer to his office and put the cup into Pharaoh's
hands. He put the cup into Pharaoh's hand. But he hanged the chief baker just as Joseph
had interpreted to them. And so these dreams were interpreted and they came true. You see
God provided the means for Joseph's future. He did not know that yet. We know that because
we know the story. But Joseph was waiting and these events simply happened to him. But
this was the key to his future. It gave Joseph a reputation as a dream interpreter. The third
thing that God did while Joseph waited was to prompt the circumstance of his promotion
because God then gave dreams to Pharaoh, two of them. He fell asleep one night and he dreamed
that out of the Nile River there came up seven cows that were sleek and fat, it says in chapter
41. And they grazed upon the grass there, but then seven other cows came up after them.
They were ugly and gaunt. And they stood by the first cows on the bank of the Nile and
then ate up the fat cows. Well Joseph, or rather the Pharaoh, woke up. But then went
back to sleep and he had a second dream which God gave to him. There were seven ears of
grain that came up on a single stock and these ears were plump and good, it says. But then
there were seven ears that were thin and scorched by the east wind that sprouted up after them
and the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. And Pharaoh woke again, perhaps
in a sweat. It was a dream. He wondered about its meaning. And so on the next morning he
called his wise men together, but there was not one of them who could interpret the dream.
And then says the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh saying, I would make mention today
of mine own offenses. Pharaoh was furious with me and he recounts what had happened
to him and to the baker. And he says in verse 12, now a Hebrew youth was with us there in
the prison, a servant of the captain of the bodyguard and we related them to him and he
interpreted our dreams for us. To each one he interpreted according to his own dream
and it came about that just as he interpreted for us so it happened. He restored me and
in my office he hanged him. And so Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph and he was hurriedly
brought, he was cleaned up and taken into Pharaoh's presence. And Pharaoh had a dream,
had Joseph rather interpret his dreams for him. So here's my point that while Joseph
was waiting, God was at work. God strategically placed him in the jail and gave him authority.
It so happened then that two of Pharaoh's officials were placed in the jail too. They
obviously got to know Joseph who was in charge of everything. They had dreams that God gave
to them. Joseph interpreted the dreams, what happened came about. Some time later Pharaoh
had dreams and likewise he wanted interpretations. And Joseph's reputation came to the mind again
of this cup bearer and Joseph came to the attention of Pharaoh.
You see in all of these events God is at work. Joseph didn't realize that. He did not understand
the narrative occurring around him any more than you understand the narrative of your
life today in God's waiting room. But the thing that I want to write upon your heart
as an encouragement is this, while you are waiting, God is working. Count on it.
Now there's a second encouragement that I see as I look at this text about Joseph and
it's this, that God appoints the time and the way for your advance. God appoints the
time and the way for your advance out of your waiting room. Now as I think about that there
are two expectations that you ought to have in light of that truth. We see these in Joseph's
story. The first expectation is this, that God's timing will likely be different than
yours. You see Joseph thought he had it all worked out. He thought he knew the time and
that was when the cup bearer was going to go back into Pharaoh's presence and so he
asked the cup bearer to remember him to Pharaoh. But it says in verse 23 of chapter 40, the
cup bearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him. Joseph had the time all figured out,
but it wasn't God's time. When you are in the pain of waiting and waiting and waiting
and you think you have the timing worked out and it doesn't work, the disappointment can
be severe. And you are tempted to ask yourself, well what is going on in my life? And where
is God anyway? Maybe Joseph asked that question. We're not told that he did. But God's timing
will likely be different than your timing. Just keep that in mind. You have to expect
that. By the way, let me throw this in. It's free. You don't have to pay for it. Don't
do to somebody else what the cup bearer did to Joseph. Okay? If somebody comes to you
and needs your help, by the grace of God help them. Don't forget them. W.S. Griffith Thomas
writes, God is never before his time, but he is never behind. The clock of divine providence
keeps strict time and has never been known to vary in one direction or the other. Joseph
thought he had the time all worked out, but God's time was two years yet down the road.
Two full years. Verse 1, chapter 41. Now it happened at the end of two full years that
Pharaoh had a dream. This is God's time. Now we read over that two years. How long is two
years? If you're in a waiting room, two years can be eternity. Joseph was in jail.
These may have been the two longest years of his life. The waiting room that you're
in today may seem like the longest period of your life too. Don't despair. You need
to expect that God's timing will likely be different than yours. There's a second expectation
that you need to keep in mind, and that is that God's way will surely be better than
yours. Have you ever been saved from what you prayed for? Has God ever spared you from
what you thought was the best, what you wanted? He has me, and I'm grateful for it. I wasn't
at the time, but I am now with hindsight. God did an extraordinary thing here. God's
way was far better than Joseph could have planned out. His ability was recognized in
the court. He gave his interpretation to Pharaoh. Pharaoh's dream involved an interpretation
in which there would be seven years of plenty in Egypt and then seven years of famine. And
after giving the interpretation to Pharaoh, Joseph goes on to give him a plan. In verse
33 he says, Now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and set him over the
land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and
let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance.
Joseph's plan is, Pharaoh, you need to increase taxes by 20 percent. Thankfully there wasn't
a congress in that day. It would never have gotten through. But Pharaoh took this advice.
He says, Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the
grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh's authority, and let them guard it, and let
the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur
in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish during the famine.
Well Pharaoh liked the idea, and he said to his servants, Can we find a man like this,
in whom is a divine spirit? Or perhaps better it reads, in whom is the spirit of God? And
so he said to Joseph, Since God has informed you of all of this, there is no one so discerning
and wise as you are. Look at the extraordinary thing that God did. Not only did he bring
Joseph to the attention of Pharaoh, he gives to Pharaoh discernment to see the ability
of this young man who is now 30 years of age. And so Pharaoh appoints him basically as vice
Pharaoh. He gives him authority over all of the land of Egypt, verses 40 through 44, to
carry out this plan that Joseph himself has suggested. And beyond that it says in verse
45 that Pharaoh gave to Joseph a wife, and then two sons. The first son's name was Manasseh,
and the second son's name was Ephraim. The name Manasseh means forgotten, or perhaps
better forgiven. The name Manasseh, or excuse me Ephraim means fruitfulness. Isn't that
interesting? The first son was given the name forgotten or forgiven. As Joseph reflected
upon what had happened earlier in his life. And then as he counted what was happening
now he named his second son fruitfulness. I think we see a lesson here, and it's this,
that fruitfulness always follows forgiveness. Fruitfulness always follows forgiveness. Joseph
thought he had the way worked out so that he could escape God's waiting room. But it
wasn't God's time, and it wasn't God's way. God had another time, and God had a better
way. And it involved exaltation for Joseph beyond what he ever could have imagined. And
so my exhortation to you and to myself is this, let's be patient with God's timing,
and let's trust in God's way. A third encouragement now for those in God's
waiting room. We see it in verses 46 to 57 of chapter 41. God's waiting room brings greater
blessing. Joseph managed the national resources to save Egypt from the ruin of the seven years
of famine. But so great was the abundance that they were able also to sell food to other
nations who also were passing through famine. You see the blessing of Joseph's interpretation,
his suggestion, and his administration went far beyond just Egypt. It reached into the
surrounding nations as well. God had something more in mind, however, than just this. For
there is an incredible turn in the plot of Joseph's life just at this point that involves
his father and his brothers. And we see that hinted at beginning in verse 1 of chapter
32. Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt. And we pick up the story later regarding
what's going to happen. But my point is this, that God's waiting room brings greater blessings.
You and I cannot possibly foresee how our experience of waiting will fit into God's
larger purposes. We cannot foresee how what God is doing in us in the waiting room and
through it will touch the lives of people we could never expect, but count on it. If
you're in the waiting room of God today, God's waiting room is going to bring you greater
blessing in the end. Be encouraged by that. You never know what is in store around the
next corner of your journey. God knows, but you don't. Around the corner of your life
there may be a waiting room, or maybe the way out of one. But know this, write it upon
your heart that God's waiting room prepares you for His further purpose. And be encouraged
by that. Now I want us to close this morning by looking at a New Testament text that touches
upon this theme just from a different angle. And that is in the book of Hebrews, the twelfth
chapter. The writer of this New Testament book is concerned about Jewish believers who
were being tempted to turn back to their old ways, to their old faith by the trouble they
were passing through. The writer of Hebrews calls it God's discipline. I'm going to begin
reading in verse 7 where it says, It is for discipline that you endure. Perhaps a better
way to have written that is as the NIV does, endure hardship as discipline. You see, these
believers in the first century were, as it were, in a waiting room also. They had trusted
the Savior, but that trusting the Savior had brought to them only pressure and persecution.
What was God doing? The writer of Hebrews calls it discipline or chastisement. And he
says to them in the first place, endure the waiting room. Endure the discipline. You see,
the waiting room almost always involves some sort of suffering. We suffer at some level
of our lives in the waiting room. And so to those who are suffering, to those who are
in a waiting room, the writer says endure it. The word endure is interpreted this way
to us in the linguistic key to the Greek New Testament. It says, It is the Spirit which
can bear things, not simply with resignation, but with blazing hope. It is not the Spirit
which sits statically enduring one place, but the Spirit which bears things because
it knows that these things are leading to a goal of glory.
You there in your waiting room, I want to exhort you as does the writer of the book
of Hebrews, endure the waiting room. Not with resignation, but with hope that what you are
experiencing in your waiting room is going to lead you to glory. Endure the discipline.
The word discipline here is a word that means child training. It means character development.
And he goes on to say in the text that you should endure because God is treating you
as children. It is evidence, in fact, he says, of His love for you and that you belong to
Him. He acknowledges that waiting rooms may not be pleasant for the moment, but they are
geared for the development of our character, for our holiness, which he says will be evidenced
in our lives in righteousness that brings peace. And so he says endure it.
And the second thing that he says in our waiting room, verses 12 and 13 is renew your strength.
The way he puts it is strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble.
You get the picture of someone who is just like this. You know they are just worn out
as we all get in our waiting rooms. We just feel like collapsing. We can't take it anymore.
And what he says is strengthen those hands and those knees. Renew your strength in the
waiting room. Be strong in the Lord. Jeff Kemp was an NFL quarterback for 11 years.
He gave a speech at Hillsdale College a few months ago entitled Rules to Live by On and
Off the Playing Field. Jeff is now the leader of the Washington Family Council, the executive
director of it. He is a born again Christian. And as he spoke to this college campus, he
talked to them about what he had learned on the field. He doesn't talk too much about
God, but certainly Christian principles are throughout the speech. One of the things that
he talks about learning in those early years of his experience as a new quarterback in
the NFL is humility. He talks about finally being able to join the Los Angeles Rams in
1981 where he was designated as a fifth string quarterback. He was told that it was a 50 to
50 shot that he would even survive the training camp.
Rookies were ordered to be there a week early, and so he was. There were dozens of men, rookies,
who were competing just for the few slots that were open on the team. He says in the
speech, after two days a young boy approached me as I was walking off the field. He asked
if he could carry my helmet to the locker room. It was a long way, but I said, sure,
I think you can handle that. The next morning he showed up before practice and offered to
carry my helmet and shoulder pads. And he was there again after practice offering the
same service. So it went for the rest of the week.
On the last day as we were departing the field, my young assistant said, Jeff, can I ask you
a question? I thought for a moment, he says to myself, this is my first fan. He's going
to ask me for my autograph. He then inquired, Jeff, when do the good football players come
to camp? He says, right then and there I learned a lesson in humility from a seven-year-old
boy. And he goes on to recount how in various experiences with different teams, constantly
God was bringing him back to this character development of humility. He says, in 1986
I was traded to the 49ers and sent to San Francisco as a backup for Joe Montana. A backup.
He's been in the NFL several years now. He's a backup for Joe Montana. While Montana was
sidelined with a back injury, I was called upon to take over the offense. We won against
the Saints, the Dolphins, the Colts, primarily because a young new player named Jerry Rice
reached the end zone with a number of my touchdown passes. As soon as Joe recovered, however,
I was once again relegated to the bench. At about the same time, I received a fan letter
that read, Dear Jeff, as Joe Montana returns, you'll probably feel like you were shoveled
off to the side. Well, just remember, Joe Montana is the greatest quarterback to ever
play the game. You should feel lucky to have even played on his team. Then he says, the
author went on in another paragraph to sing Joe Montana's praises and then closed with
this PS. You're not as bad as some people might say. He is waiting for the opportunity
to prove himself. He thinks he's done it and then back to the waiting room. What is God
doing in all of this? God is teaching him character. God is preparing him for the very
successful career he ultimately had before he retired. Friend, if you're in God's waiting
room today, endure God's discipline and renew your strength, knowing that what God is doing
in your life is preparing you for greater things ahead. Let's pray. Father, I pray for
every one of us today who senses himself or herself to be in a waiting room of some sort.
We confess to you that we don't like to wait. It is against our nature, Lord, and we live
in a culture that does not value slowing down. Therefore, we often fret, and sometimes we
get angry and we doubt. Forgive us. Today we would accept the exhortation of the writer
of Hebrews and determine in our hearts to endure your character development in our lives
and to strengthen ourselves in the promises of God. May we learn from the narrative of
Joseph's life today that you know what you are doing and that when you put us into a
waiting room it is always so that in the end you may bless us in some greater and perhaps
unexpected way. In Jesus' name I pray. Would you stand with me please with your head bowed
and sing this chorus. In his time he makes all things beautiful in his time. And then
pray with me, Lord, please show me every day as you are teaching me your way that you do
just what you say in your time.