I am Pastor Nathan, and today we're gonna be
talking about how God uses disappointment, delay,
and silence to sharpen us. So yes, this is gonna
be a happy study today. We're gonna be looking
at Genesis chapter 40. You know, some of the
greatest work that God does in our lives happens
in places that we would have never chosen for
ourselves, right? we'll find ourselves in circumstances
that not in a million years would we have signed
up and said, please, I would love to be in that
circumstance. And yet, those are the places that
God does great work in our lives. And it's kind
of like a sword, you know, if you've ever looked
into any of that, you know, before a sword can
be trusted in battle. That sword has to be heated
and hammered and shaped by forces much stronger
than it. And what we're looking at today in Genesis
40 is Joseph is that sword. He is a young man
who started as a very gifted, godly man, naive
and inexperienced, but one who was receiving
dreams from God. And as we've been moving through
his story, God is forging him into a man who
could save nations. Well, Genesis chapter 40
is the hammer. and the fire of his forging. This
is not the chapter of his rise. This is not the
chapter of his excellence in activity. This is
the place where he is just hammered down. Now,
in the dungeon, Joseph learns a number of things
that are very important to his future leadership.
He's going to learn to notice sorrow on the faces
of those around him and to have compassion and
empathy for their situations despite the difficulty
that he himself finds himself in. He's going
to learn to speak the truth of God very boldly
and with courage despite whether or not that
is a positive message or a negative message.
He's going to learn to serve others in their
hurt, in the midst of his own hurt. And he's
really going to be a man who remains God -centered,
God -focused, even while his own prayers go unanswered.
And then at the end of this chapter, he's going
to experience the most painful hammer strike
of all, to be forgotten and abandoned and left
to rot in a prison. But the important lesson
here is the God who seemed silent was not absent.
That God was with him. That God was laboring
at the forge, swinging the hammer, keeping the
fire hot, doing the work to craft Joseph into
a man who would be strong enough and mature enough
and humble enough to handle the calling that
God had for his life. And so this chapter, as
we study it, it invites us into the same reality,
that we would learn to have the same perspective
as Joseph, that we would learn to be the same
godly individuals when we find ourselves in the
middle of those very, very difficult situations
where it seems that hammer blow after hammer
blow after hammer blow is falling upon us. But
it shows us and teaches us how God uses disappointment.
delay, and silence, not to destroy us, but to
strengthen us and to sharpen us for what he has
next in our lives. But before we get into that
happy message, and it truly is a happy message,
we want to praise God. You know, praising God
in the midst of everything is one of the strongest
tools we have to endure, to have joy and peace,
even in the midst of suffering. Praising the
Lord for who he is and what he's done. It's a
foundation of what we do. This isn't just something
we do to open Bible study. This isn't something
we just do to start the service. This is worship.
This is worship of Almighty God. This is us coming
to him, glorifying his name, expressing our gratitude,
our love to him. as we then expect him to speak
to us through his word. And so let's pray and
let's do exactly that. Father, we love you. We
thank you so much for your word and for the truth
of it, everything it teaches us, Lord. God, in
your glory and your almighty justice and holiness,
Lord, sometimes we might find ourselves asking
why. Lord, not understanding that how even in
our obedience, even when we're doing the right
thing, even when we're following you, that sometimes
things seem to get worse. And yet, God, you include
the story of this man, Joseph, and specifically
this chapter we're studying today to teach us,
to show us, Lord, what you're doing when we find
ourselves in disappointment. Lord, what you're
doing during the long delays and silence where,
Lord, we're tempted to believe you've abandoned
us or you're not listening anymore, and yet,
God, the truth couldn't be farther from that.
That, Lord, even in those delays and silence,
you're laboring to forge us into the instruments
that you will use to fulfill your will in this
world. And every single one of us, God, have
a call. to affect this world for the gospel of
Jesus Christ. So Lord, encourage us today. God,
I pray for those who are today living in their
own Genesis 40 moments where maybe they've been
tempted to doubt you. Maybe where the enemy has
stepped in and started to challenge their belief
to tell them things like you've left and you
don't care and you don't love them. And Lord,
I pray for those today specifically that they
would see how much you do love them. That they
would find the strength through the Holy Spirit
to trust in you in the midst of the forging.
That God, they would trust in what you're doing
and how you're doing it. That they would look
forward to the time, God, when your work is accomplished
and fully accomplished, that they would just
get past the prison and into the calling, God.
But Lord, that we would know that even in the
prison, we have a calling. And that's to trust
you and to know you and to live for you. So God,
bless this time. God, we worship you. We praise
your name. We ask that you would be blessed by
your people, God, coming together, this one congregation
to lift up our voices in the midst of this world,
to lift up our voices to you. Almighty God. the
lover of our souls. We thank you. It's in Jesus'
name we pray. Amen. We are going to be in Genesis
chapter 40. And we're continuing in the story
of this young man, Joseph. He's not such a young
man anymore. About 10 years have passed since
he was sent away from his homeland and sold into
slavery. And as a young man, we read in his age
of 17, he had received these really vivid dreams
from God about his future. And we read there
how his brothers and his family weren't real
enthusiastic about those dreams because those
dreams were like, hey, others. You're all going
to bow down to me. Yeah, right, Joseph. And then,
no, I had another dream, and mom, dad, and the
whole family, you're all going to bow down to
me too. And, you know, he didn't quite say it
that way, but they weren't real happy about that
because it was just a little insulting to them.
And so what ended up happening was Joseph got
sold into slavery by his brothers. And since
that point in Joseph's life, you know, Instead
of going from like, wow, God is speaking to me
and I'm having these dreams from the Lord and
wow, this is awesome. Instead of his life like
raising up, it seemed that his life just kept
collapsing over and over and over again. And,
you know, after being betrayed by his brothers
and then sold into slavery and then accused,
falsely accused of rape and now finding himself
thrown into prison. The banner over his life
that scripture wants us to pay attention to was
in Genesis 39, 21, and 23. And the banner is
this. It says, but the Lord was with Joseph and
extended kindness to him, and the Lord made everything
that he did successful. You see, this chapter,
as we're going to go through all these just repeated
difficulties and hammer blows of the forging
of his character, it shows us what it looks like
to live under the truth and the promises that
the Lord is with us. It looks like, or it shows
us what it looks like for a Christian who's going
through repeated difficulty and suffering and
it seems like nothing's going right and it seems
like your prayers aren't being answered and it
seems like God has abandoned you. It shows us
what it looks like for that Christian to live
with the faith that God is with me. That God
is with me in this circumstance. Even though
he's silent, he's with me. that God is working,
God is doing something. And so pick it up here
with me in chapter 40, verse one. It says, after
this, the king of Egypt's cupbearer and baker
offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh
was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer
and the chief baker, and put them in custody
in the house of the captain of the guards in
the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain
of the guards assigned Joseph to them as their
personal attendant, and they were in custody
for some time. Now, we had looked at in the previous
chapter that when Joseph landed in prison, although
it was a very difficult circumstance, even though
it was unjust, unjust, unjust, he was falsely
accused, he still went there and just lived the
same godly character that he had. He was still
of service. He was still honest. He was still
trustworthy. And that led to him being kind of
raised up in the prison as someone with influence
and authority, someone that could be trusted,
someone that was given. Just given a place of
respect, even though he was in chains. And that
integrity and that reputation led to him just
being recognized as a responsible authority there
in the prison. Now, time passes since he was
thrown in, and two new inmates arrive, and it
tells us it's the cupbearer and the baker. Now,
these aren't low -level servants in Pharaoh's...
Pharaoh's household, these aren't just kitchen
staff because it tells us that they were two
officers. To understand the importance of these
two individuals, in those days the cup bearer
was the person who oversaw everything that Pharaoh
drank. The idea was that people were constantly
trying to assassinate the Pharaoh and assassinate
the leader and so before he drank anything, there
was someone else whose job was to make sure it
wasn't poisoned. Well, do you know how he made
sure it wasn't poisoned? He would take a drink,
right? So every day he would wake up going to
work saying, well, I might die today, right?
And I know a lot of us feel that way with work
today anyways, but you know. His job was one
of great authority and respect. He was a close
advisor to the Pharaoh. He was a trusted confidant.
And really, he was trusted with Pharaoh's life.
So he was a very, very important and powerful
person there in the kingdom. And then the baker,
he had the same job when it came to the Pharaoh's
food and the stuff that Pharaoh would eat, the
menu and all of that. His job was to make sure
that the food was quality. that the food was
safe and all of that. And so what it tells us
here is that these two officials, these two very
important people trusted with the life of Pharaoh,
offended Pharaoh in some way. It doesn't tell
us exactly what the offense was, but we can imagine
that it had something to do with their job, right?
Maybe Pharaoh drank something or ate something,
had a meal and got sick. And now they're like,
oh no, one of you were trying to kill the Pharaoh,
they didn't know which, and so they throw them
both into prison. And this is not just the common
prison for the criminals. This is where the high
-risk prisoners are kept. This is the place that
was overseen by Potiphar, who was the captain
of the guard. This is where political prisoners
went. This is where people who were considered
directly enemies of Pharaoh would end up. And
so it was a high -security place. And this is
where Joseph was, because that's where he got
thrown into prison when he was accused of trying
to rape Potiphar's wife. Potiphar, we looked
at in the last chapter, could have had Joseph
executed when his wife falsely accused him because
that was the penalty for attempted rape or rape
is that you'd be killed. Instead of having him
executed, Potiphar put Joseph in prison, which
seemed to indicate that Potiphar may have not
fully believed his wife's story. And a part of
that was because of Joseph's character, his integrity.
It was hard to believe that he would do something
of that nature. And now that same kind of respect,
if you will, for who Joseph was is seen here
as these two very high -value prisoners are thrown
in, and they're immediately put into the care
of Joseph. That tells us, to continue to tell
us, that Potiphar didn't really believe that
Joseph was some dangerous predator, that he was
somebody that was going to, you know, pounce
and take advantage and kill, that he was somebody
that could be trusted. And so even in the dungeon,
Joseph's integrity, Joseph's reliability are
obvious. It's part of that Christian work ethic
we were talking about. But the more important
thing to understand in this story here is that
it's these two exact specific individuals who
had these two exact specific jobs didn't land
here in this exact prison where Joseph was by
accident. God is working. God is orchestrating.
God is doing what he does behind the scenes.
And so, you know, humanly, from Joseph's perspective,
it could have been like, man, this is just more
responsibility. that I don't really want in a
place I shouldn't be in anyways. But from God's
perspective is he's starting the process by which
he's gonna move Joseph up to the calling that
he has on his life. So God is at work in the
background. And you have to understand that.
It's a truth to know. Yesterday was my grandson's
third birthday party. And one of the couples
here from the church, Paul Larson and his wife
were there with their kids. And his kid Simon
was sitting at the table right next to us. us
and Paul got some food for him and handed it
there and I had a bottle of water and little
Simon looks at my water and he goes, water? I'm
like, yeah. And then I hear his dad behind me
go, Simon, do you want some water? And Simon
goes, yeah. And it was like instantaneously,
yeah, boom, the cup of water was already there.
And I looked at that and I go, Simon, did you
see what your dad just did there? The water was
on the way before you even asked for it. And
I thought, isn't that what God does? You know,
he's already bringing the answers and the stuff
he wants to do in our lives before we've even
known to ask for it. And so this is what's happening
here. Now, verse five, it tells us the king of
Egypt's cupbearer and baker who were confined
in the prison each had a dream. Both had a dream
on the same night and each dream had its own
meaning. When Joseph came to them in the morning,
he saw that they looked distraught, and so he
asked Pharaoh's officers who were in custody
with him in his master's house, why do you look
so sad today? So one night, both men have disturbing
dreams, and there's a really huge detail here
that tells us a lot about Joseph. He noticed
that they were upset. And you think, well, that's
just a simple detail, right? That's a small detail,
but we have to remember, Joseph is unjustly imprisoned.
Joseph has been betrayed and slandered and forgotten,
and he has every reason to be self -absorbed,
right? Every reason to be focused on himself,
but instead of just, you know, this is terrible,
and my life's terrible, and I can't believe this
is happening, he's in a place behaviorally, mentally,
in a place, prison, where he's still able to
have empathy and go, hey, why do you guys look
so sad? Are you okay? It's a big deal. Most people
in pain, we have a tendency to turn inward, right?
Because pain hurts. We turn inward. We become
self -absorbed. We become focused on our own
issues. Our world shrinks to encompass only ourselves,
and all we can focus on is our own pain. Our
own circumstances, our problems are the biggest
thing in our world, and so they're the only thing
that matters. And sometimes believers who have
this infinitely almighty God who orchestrates
and is sovereign, and we profess to believe these
things, we find ourselves in this place where
we go, you know, look, I'll start caring about
other people's problems when God fixes mine.
Have you ever been there? I don't have the mental
ability right now to worry about you. I've got
issues. And at the end of the day, it's a selfish
attitude. That doesn't mean the pain's not real.
It doesn't mean the trauma doesn't hurt. It doesn't
mean that it's wrong to acknowledge I have wounds
and hurt. We talked a little bit about this last
week. But the issue here is that Joseph notices.
Even if he's in the midst of his own pain, he's
in the midst of his own disappointment, he's
in the midst of his own just things being done
to him, wrong being done to him, and yet he still
has a compassionate heart that notices and then
says something about someone else's pain. See,
I believe one of the keys to enduring our own
hardship is really to kind of pause our pain
long enough to serve someone who's hurting more
than us. And that's really kind of where the
rubber meets the road because oftentimes in our
pain, we're like, nobody is hurting worse than
me right now. And the reality is there probably
is. Or we have to understand that as much as
we feel like our pain is the worst pain in the
world, that other person thinks that their pain
is the worst pain in the world. And a part of
healing a part of enduring, right? Because it's
like, I can't go one more day. I can't go one
more day. But a part of enduring through that
is just to pause long enough and say, okay, God,
I'm hurting. I have all this doubt, this disappointment,
but I trust you. So I'm going to give it to you
and just say, you're working on it so that I
could be free to look around and notice someone
else is hurting. and to have the empathy and
the compassion to step up to be a part of their
healing. And, you know, sometimes we find ourselves
emotionally drained, and I just can't. Well,
if you're emotionally drained, go visit a hospital
or a nursing home and find yourself just sitting
and praying and talking with people who are probably
more emotionally drained than you are. Ask someone
at church, are you okay? Can I pray with you?
Right? This is the family. We are here to support
one another. And, you know, we need to not have
the habit where we come to church, we listen,
and then pew, we bolt out the door as fast as
we can because lunch is waiting for us, right?
You know, a part of this is we worship. A part
of this is we study God's word together. But
a big part of this, too, is you ministering to
one another. That's what the family of God is
called to do. This is why the Bible says that
we all have gifts. So that you're able to not
just be like, hi, but hi, how are you doing?
How are things going? Can I pray for you? Do
you have prayer requests? Here's my needs. Let
me share my praise reports with you. Right? Because
we're to celebrate together. We're to cry together.
That's what this is. And so I encourage you guys.
One of the reasons we have the coffee shop open
half hour, an hour early. What do we do right
now? It's an hour early, right? We open our coffee
shop next door at 9 a .m. That's there so you
guys can come and not just get some coffee, but
just spend some time together before we come
into our official moment of congregational worship.
It's why we keep it open after church so that
you guys can stop and get some coffee, yeah,
but then have that opportunity to pray with one
another, to support one another, to encourage
one another. That's a part of what this congregal...
congregational gathering is all about. And I
just encourage you guys to take advantage of
that, you know? It's not really hard for us to
walk by somebody and see that look on their face
and go, wow, they're not okay. Now, some of us
have faces that look like that all the time.
I get it. But ask. Ask. Are you okay? I'm perfectly
fine. All right, cool, you know? But more often
than not, somebody that's hurting, you could
see it. You could see it in their countenance
and take the opportunity as family in Christ
to, you know, hey, can I pray with you? Can I
sit with you? Can I, whatever that might be,
you know, send a text, send a call. You know,
it's like. Some of us are good and some of us
are not good with these things, you know. And
I've been trying to get better because I'm not
great at reaching out, you know. And, you know,
the Lord's like, hey, you have a phone in your
hand, use it. And so, you know, it's like if
you struggle with sitting next to a buddy or
asking somebody or sending calls, God, help me
get better at that. I want to be actively connecting.
You know, this matters spiritually because when
we do these things in the midst of our own pain,
it helps us break the idol of self -focus that
often forms in the midst of our difficulty. That
idol that my problems are the most important
problems, that my hurt is the most important
hurt, that it becomes an idol that we can worship.
And when we say, no, no, no, I'm gonna give that
to God and trust him, and it's real. But let
me focus on some others. That's when we break
that idol in our lives. And so it's just an open
channel for God's comfort to flow through you,
not just to you, okay? Because you're not the
only one that's in a dungeon. More than you think
are also in a dungeon. And they need you to stand
alongside them. They need you to say, are you
okay? You look like you're hurting. Is there
anything I could do? And so, Joseph's model for
us, what he doesn't do is he doesn't go up to
these guys that are hurting and say, you think
you've had a rough night? Let me tell you about
my last 11 years. He doesn't do that. Don't do
that. Sometimes that's what we want to do. Oh,
you're hurting? My method of helping you is to
unload all my stuff. There's time for that. He
doesn't do that. He asks them. He sets aside
his own hurts. He asks what's wrong with them,
and he truly listens. And so verse 8, they say,
we had dreams. But there's no one to interpret
them. That's the issue. Then Joseph said to them,
don't interpretations belong to God? Tell me
your dreams. You see, the reason they were so
distraught is in Egypt, and there's a lot of
places around the world today, but dreams were
a big deal, right? They considered dreams were
windows to another world, that every dream was
the gods trying to talk to you or something,
and so they must all have meaning, you know?
And so in their culture, there was professional
dream interpreters, and they would carry around
these dream books to decode the symbols. And
when I was in South Sudan a couple months ago,
One of the questions that would get asked in
this specific individual was saying, hey, my
friend had a dream that a snake crossed his path,
and then the next day he saw a snake. What's
it mean? And I was like, what do you mean? He
goes, well, all dreams have meaning. And I was
like, no, some dreams have meaning. Yeah, but
God speaks through dreams. God. can speak through
dreams. But, well, the snake isn't the, the snake
is the serpent, and yeah, there's symbolism to
things, but, and I told him this, and he just
laughed out loud. It was the funniest thing to
him. I said, you know, there could be dreams,
and God could be speaking, and you could dream
of a snake and then see a snake, but sometimes
a snake is just a snake. And he just thought
that was the greatest truth he had ever heard
in his life. Sometimes a snake is just a snake.
I'm like, yeah. You don't want to over -spiritualize
things and get so caught up in everything has
a meaning. Oh no, the light was red and the devil's
red. No, it's a red light. You know, Jesus even
said this to some people and they were like,
the tower fell on some dudes. Who sinned that
the tower fell on the dudes? And Jesus' answer
in my own vernacular is, the tower fell down
because it fell down. Tower fell down because
it wasn't built right and there's gravity. It
doesn't mean more than that, right? So the whole
idea with this interpreting these dreams is,
you know, sometimes God will speak through dreams,
yes. In the Bible, he does that with both believers
and unbelievers. But at the same time, the book
of Ecclesiastes warns us that many dreams are
just the overflow of a busy mind, it says. Right?
God in Scripture warns against false prophets
using dreams to legitimize their false messages.
When it comes to all that kind of dream stuff,
God's Word is the final authority. Always. God's
Word. So if you have a dream and you're like,
oh, is there meaning to that? Go to God's Word.
Follow God's word. Search God's word. Get counsel.
You know, as God's word says, there's safety
in a multitude of counselors. And sometimes there's
no meaning to the dream. It's just a dream because
you're stressed out about something. I had a
dream. I killed my boss. God wants me to kill
my boss. No, maybe you just had a bad day with
your boss, you know? So anyways, dreams were
a big deal in Egypt. And so Having two dreams
on the same night, you know, it's like, ooh,
this is an ominous thing. And so they're bummed.
They don't have access to the experts. How are
we going to possibly know what these dreams mean?
And, you know, it turns out that these dreams
were indeed prophetic, right? And we see what
Joseph does here. He immediately says, don't
interpretations belong to God? That's his reflex.
His reflex is to turn to God. He doesn't start
saying, well, let's talk about those dream interpreters.
That's all wrong and everything. And, you know,
their books aren't accurate. He just turns immediately
to God. He points them to God. And that's a great
reflex to have. We're bummed because we had dreams
and there's no interpreter. And he goes, you
don't need an interpreter. God has all the answers.
Don't dreams belong to God? Dreams are his arena,
not man's. You don't need magicians. You just
need God. And that's a reflex we should all have
as Christians, right? People around us we talk
to, they're having challenges, they're having
issues, they're having struggles. Our reflex
should be to point them to God immediately. Oh,
you know, I mean, God is aware of all things.
Have you prayed? I don't pray. I don't believe
in God. Now there's a conversation about the
Lord, you know? It's a great reflex to have.
It's a great reflex to pray, you know? Things
go bad in our life, how many of us immediately,
first thing that comes to your mind is, wow,
I need to go pray, I need to inquire of the Lord.
Some of us, yes, some of us, no. Some of us may
have been walking with the Lord for a long time
and we still have the reflex of bad happens,
freak out, then pray. And we don't need to freak
out. Maybe freak out after, but go to God first,
right? Say, God, help me to not freak out and
just trust you in these things. So anyways, his
reflex is to point them to God, and we just see
this wonderfully God -centered attitude and life
that Joseph has. He's very pastoral in his response
to them, not superstitious. What I mean by that
is he's genuinely seeing their distress and genuinely
wanting to help, and he wants to bring God's
word to help them in their distress. I believe
that indicates that he still believes the dreams
that God gave him as a teenager, right? Like,
don't dreams belong to God? You know, if he was
like, oh, I had these God dreams, and they landed
me in slavery, and now they land me in prison,
and, you know, God doesn't speak through dreams
at all, I don't think he would have said what
he just said right here to these guys about dreams.
If he had given up on the dreams, I think he
would have been like, oh, bro, dreams are dangerous.
Don't even trust him. Don't mention him to anybody
because look where I ended up. But he doesn't
say that at all. He instead says they belong
to God. And so after more than 10 years far from
home in slavery and in prison, he still believes
in God. He still believes that God's revelation
is reigning over his life. And so he steps in
to then give them the interpretation. Verse 9.
So the chief cupbearer told his dreams to Joseph.
In my dream, there was a vine in front of me
and on the vine were three branches. As soon
as it budded, its blossoms came out and its clusters
ripened into grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in my
hand and I took the grapes. I squeezed them into
Pharaoh's cup and I placed the cup in Pharaoh's
hand. This is the interpretation Joseph said
to him. The three branches are three days. In
just three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head
and restore you to your position. You will put
Pharaoh's cup in his hand the way you used to
when you were his cupbearer. But when all goes
well for you, remember that I was with you. Please
show kindness to me by mentioning me to Pharaoh
and get me out of this prison. For I was kidnapped
from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I've
done nothing that they should put me in a dungeon.
When the chief baker saw that the interpretation
was positive, he said to Joseph, I also had a
dream. Three baskets of white bread were on my
head, and in the top basket were all sorts of
baked goods for Pharaoh. But the birds were eating
them out of the basket on my head. This is the
interpretation, Joseph replied. The three baskets
are three days. In just three days, Pharaoh will
lift up your head from off of you and hang you
on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh
from your body. Wow. Cupbearer's dream, right?
Gives him the details. Basically, the details
are like he's going to be restored to his position,
and Joseph speaks that interpretation out. So
don't dreams belong to God? Share your dream
with me. He's trusting God for the interpretation
in this moment. He's trusting God to give him
insight, and it really is supernatural insight
because there's nothing in the dream itself that
would say, oh, the three vines are three days,
right? There's no... detail there for him to,
you know, divine it that way. I believe it was
just he trusted the Lord for the interpretation
and God gave him this interpretation. Three days
you'll be restored to your position. Now, think
of where Joseph's at. This is a interpretation,
a prophecy that will be determined true or false
in 72 days. Right? Or 72 days. 72 hours. Three
days. you're going to be restored to your position.
Three days later, his credibility is either affirmed
or he's a charlatan. So it's a big step of faith
for him to even step out and say this because
it's not like it's one of those interpretations
like in 400 years this is going to happen and
yeah, nobody's going to be around to prove whether
that's true or not. And so he steps out, he gives
this, but he still speaks it anyways. He speaks
it boldly, he speaks it confidently, and then
he adds this humble request. That shows how confident
he is in this interpretation. This is going to
happen, and so please, when you get out there,
remember me. I shouldn't be here. I'm here unjustly.
You know, just please talk to Pharaoh and let
me get out of here. What he doesn't do is say,
So I could go beat up my stupid brothers. So
I could hire someone to take out Potiphar's wife,
that whatever, whatever, right? He doesn't get
into that. He just says, look, this is my situation,
and I want to get out of here. Now, it's important
to note that Joseph isn't bitter. He isn't angry.
He's not seemingly holding a grudge against his
brothers and stuff. He's just like, okay, this
is where I'm at, but I know I shouldn't be here.
But neither is he passively doing nothing. He
fully trusts God, but he's still knocking on
the doors in front of him. That's an important
thing for us. Faith doesn't mean I'm gonna sit
here and do nothing with my arms crossed until
God forces me. Unless that's what God is telling
you to do, okay? Faith says I fully trust that
God is leading me, guiding me, and in the process,
I'm gonna knock on every door in front of me.
You see, in Proverbs, we have the proverb where
it says, you know, trust in the Lord with all
your heart, lean not on your own understanding,
acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will
make your paths straight. The word paths, that
phrase in the original language, indicates forward
motion. It's not standing here until God lights
up the step, and then you'll step on it. It's
stepping out when you don't even see what the
step is or where it's at. You're stepping out
into the darkness in faith, and you trust that
when you put your foot down, God is guiding you.
God is leading you. Do you understand the difference?
So the idea here is I'm going to trust God, but
that doesn't mean I'm going to sit around and
do nothing. So, hey, here's an opportunity. Bro,
please remember me when you get out. The baker
then has this dream. Joseph, you know, gave this
really positive interpretation to the cupbearer.
And so the baker's like, bro, I had a dream too.
I want some of that good news. And here's my
dream, three baskets of bread. The top is full
of stuff for Pharaoh, but the birds are eating
it. And so the interpretation he gives them is,
wow, bro, the three baskets are three days and
then you're going to die. Hey, Joseph, how about
we do the first interpretation? I like that one
better. I'm going to be restored, right? No,
you're going to die. I mean, that's a hard thing
to say. That's a hard thing to say to this guy.
In scripture, birds often symbolize evil and
judgment. You know, Jesus shared the parable,
the four soils, and he said that as the seed
went out, which is the word of God, the birds
came and snatched it away. We have revelation,
there's unclean birds that are dwelling over
fallen Babylon. And here we see these birds that
are devouring what was meant for the king. And
so he interprets it for him and says, this means
that you're going to die. Not a fun interpretation.
Who likes to give bad news? There's some people
out there who like to give bad news and they're
kind of annoying, right? It's like, wow, you
just like bumming people out. But in general,
right? Nobody likes to give bad news. But love
doesn't mean avoiding hard truths. Love delivers
hard truths with a soft heart. You see, Joseph,
isn't the type of guy sharing God's word who
only focuses on the cupbearer sermons but avoids
all of the baker sermons. That's not who Joseph
is. He confidently, boldly speaks forth God's
word no matter what the message is. Faithfulness
in sharing, faithfulness in teaching, faithfulness
in preaching is speaking all of God's message,
whether it's comfort or warning, grace or judgment.
No, that's why we here at our church, it's verse
by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. We
get to the end of Revelation, we start in Genesis
again, and we go through, right? We don't go
through fast, I get that, but we go through.
Because we're going to teach everything God's
Word says, even the hard stuff. We don't avoid
the hard stuff. because the hard stuff is there
for our benefit and for our growth. And so this
is what Joseph is exampling here, where he's
like, look, I got a really positive message,
and those are the easy ones to share. You're
going to be restored. Everything's great. Woo
-hoo. Wow, can you interpret mine too? Yeah,
you're going to die in three days. What? But
he shared it, and he shared it confidently. So
verse 20 on the third day. which was Pharaoh's
birthday, he gave a feast for all his servants.
He elevated the chief cupbearer and the chief
baker among his servants. Pharaoh restored the
chief cupbearer to his position as cupbearer,
and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. But
Pharaoh hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph
had explained to them. So three days come by.
I imagine the cupbearer's like, ooh, three days,
I'm gonna get out of here. Baker's like, Joseph,
you're a liar. Joseph's like, that's what God
said. So three days come, it's Pharaoh's birthday.
And just as Joseph had said, just as he was given
the word, the interpretation by God, the cupbearer
was restored to his office and the baker was
executed. Apparently over those three days, you
know, or during the time that they were in prison,
because it says they were in prison for some
time, they had deduced who was responsible for
Pharaoh getting sick, right, whatever. So it's
the baker. In the library with the candlestick.
Imagine how encouraging this was for Joseph.
After years of silence, right? After years of
the hammer blows. After things going from bad
to worse. Finally has this moment, this experience
where Although he believed in God and although
he knew God, that God spoke to him and it was
100 % true. And that's just encouraging, right?
We've all, most of us, I think, have experienced
that situation where we're like, I believe God
and I believe in the gifts and I believe what
God's doing. But then when that gift actually
operates through you, it's just like, wow, it's
just this exciting thing. Almost like we're shocked
that God did what he said he would do, right?
And that's just a part of us and our immaturity.
Imagine how excited he was that the cupbearer
got out and he was restored. And wow, that just
had to boost his faith in his own dreams that
he got 17 years earlier. You know, just, oh my
gosh. And wow, what God told me, I mean, I've
always believed it, but wow, now I'm like extra
sure it's gonna happen. And imagine him watching
the cupbearer leave. Bro, congratulations. I'm
so excited for you, Baker. But cupbearer, yeah.
Remember me, man. Don't forget me, my friend.
And you can almost see the cupbearer turning
back with two thumbs up. Yeah, Joseph, right
on, man. This is exciting. This is awesome. And
you see the picture that night, Joseph rolling
up his mat. I'm making all this up right now,
but Joseph rolling up his mat. smiling, just
excited. At any moment now, those keys, I'm going
to hear the rattle of those keys and the door's
going to be unlocked and this iron collar's going
to be taken off and I'll be free. But it didn't
happen. A day goes by and well, I mean, it was
Pharaoh's birthday after all. Cupbearer was probably
really busy so he didn't have time. That's cool,
I get it. Day two goes by. Well, It was Pharaoh's
birthday after all, and those parties are pretty
lavish, so there's probably a lot of cleanup.
There's a lot to do. I get it. You know, maybe
tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the day. And then
a week goes by. Well, I mean, it is Pharaoh after
all, so it's pretty hard to get an audience with
Pharaoh, so maybe he just hasn't had a chance
in week two. Lord, I'm not quite sure what the
delay is, but can you, like, nudge him or something?
Then a month, then two months, then 12 months.
Verse 23. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember
Joseph. He forgot him. Ouch. Ouch. I just had
this moment, Lord. I've been waiting so long.
You just showed yourself on my behalf. Why am
I still here? Why is this difficulty, this hard
circumstance, why is this, why is it still happening,
God? From Joseph's perspective, I'm doing everything
right. I've been obedient. I've maintained my
witness. I've worked hard. This was it. This
was the opportunity. I mean, how else am I ever
going to imagine getting out of this prison?
This was it. What are the odds that the cupbearer
and the baker would be sent here and put in my,
what are the odds of that? That is too perfect.
That is too supernaturally ordained. And yet,
I'm still here in this prison. Ouch. The very
next verse of the next chapter starts out this
way. At the end of two years, Pharaoh had a dream.
Now in our Bibles, you've got a paper Bible or
an app or something that you're reading through.
Verse 23 to verse one of chapter 41, it's just
a gap, just a small gap. Just a small space there,
but that space for Joseph was 730 long days of
silence. No confirmation, no answered prayer,
no word from the Lord, nothing. Silence. Delay.
What is God doing in the delay? What is the point?
From Joseph's perspective, it's crushed hope.
It's deep disappointment. It's why, Lord? Lord,
how can things keep getting worse when I do the
right thing? When I do the obedient thing, when
I do the godly thing, it just keeps getting worse.
But from God's side, not a single second of those
730 days were wasted. Not a single second. There
was a point and purpose for every second. There
was no cruelty here. It was preparation. It was
refining. It was honing. It was forging. You
see, Psalm 105, we looked at this last week,
it describes Joseph's prison years this way.
They hurt his feet with shackles and his neck
was put in an iron collar. It wasn't comfortable.
He had responsibility, he had respect, but he
was still a prisoner. And he still had to wear
this iron collar and be shackled and chained.
But the whole time, the whole delay was the Lord
refining him. That's what God is doing with you
and me in the delay. That's what he is doing
with us in the disappointment. That is what he's
doing with us in the silence. He's honing us.
He's refining. He's forging us for what's next.
Because what's next? needs a certain character,
a certain maturity from you. And guess what?
If next isn't happening yet, it's because you're
not ready. Now, why the silence? Why the delay?
Personally, I think this is what kind of was
going on. I'm out of here. Week goes by. Two
weeks go by. Month goes by. Joseph is now starting
to worry and doubt, and I believe it was the
opportunity for the Spirit to be like, do you
still believe my word? Do you still believe that
I'm God? I mean, you were very excited when you
interpreted the dream, and the dream came true,
and you were just like, oh, wow, my gosh, those
dreams God gave me 17 years ago, I'm so excited.
Do you still believe? Do you still believe six
months later when you're still sitting in prison?
How about now? A year goes by. How about now?
Do you still believe? Do you still have the faith
you had the day the cupbearer was raised up and
the baker was hanged? Do you still have that
same vibrance of faith 18 months later? That's
what God's asking us in our delays. Have I changed,
God might say? Has my word changed? You see,
God was tempering Joseph like a fine sword. Heeding
him in the furnace of injustice, hammering him
through repeated disappointment, cooling and
sharpening and strengthening him in the dark
years. Delay never thwarts God's purpose. It
simply polishes his instrument. That's what delay
is. That's what it's all about in those two silent
years. I believe Joseph was fully purged of blaming
his brothers. Because when we see Joseph later
when he's raised up, there's no blame. He learned
to instead just trust and believe that God's
hand is behind everything. Why? How do we know
that? Because later on he says what you guys
planned for evil, God planned for good. I believe
it was in this two years that Joseph fully came
to terms with the reality that even obedience
could lead you into deeper suffering. That's
a tough one, isn't it? We kind of can find ourselves
living in a culture where you do good, you get
good. You do bad, you get bad. How about do good,
get bad? No, that's not how it's supposed to
work. But if that's God's plan, is it the perfect
thing? Yes, it is. Do you believe that? Do you
believe that yet? Because if you don't, and you're
in the midst of having to learn, I've been doing
the right thing and it keeps getting worse, God
is forging that truth in your heart. Because
you need to believe that without a shadow of
doubt for whatever's next. He doesn't turn from
God. He doesn't stop serving God. He's still
Joseph. Now, by the time God opens the door for
him in chapter 41, Joseph is now just humble.
No arrogance at all. He's God -centered, not
self -promoting. He's ready to handle the enormous
power and authority that he was about to be given
without being destroyed by that authority and
power. You might be in a Genesis 40 moment of
your life right now, today, this morning. Maybe
you're like, I had high hopes for something and
nothing's happened. Maybe there's a person that
you were trusting or counting on and they didn't
come through, they let me down. Maybe there was
an answer that you were expecting and it never
came. Maybe you're staring at the space between
verse 23 of chapter 40 and verse 1 of chapter
41 and that space, seems to be going on and on
and on and on forever. We learn some things from
Joseph's story about all of that. Some biblical
truths we're to hang on to. One, God is sovereign
in the details. Even when you feel forgotten,
even when you feel abandoned, even when you're
like, God, where are you? He's there, he's sovereign
in all the details. These two officials happen
to land in the prison where Joseph's at. These
two officials who have the ear of Pharaoh, these
two officials, God orchestrated that. I believe
God's the one that sent the dreams. Why? Because
the dreams are what allowed Joseph to interpret.
I believe God allowed the cupbearer's amnesia
to forget about Joseph. God timed it two years
later for Pharaoh to have a dream, and we're
going to see that in the next chapter. Your delay
is not random. Your delay is not God winging
it, right? God, what's going on? I'm not sure,
but I'm figuring it out. No, that's us. God's
like, I know every detail, front to back. Just
hang on. Trust me. God isn't cruel even when
the silence hurts. Sometimes we're tempted to
think that, but it's not cruelty. There's a purpose,
right? The psalmist was taunted by people. Where
is your God? And what he responded with is, why
are you cast down, O my soul? Hope in God, for
I shall again praise him. You may not feel like
praising him. You may not feel all warm and fuzzy,
but that's why we have verses like this to preach
back to ourselves. Where is your God? I'm gonna
hope in him, and I'm gonna again praise him.
God's promises ripen in his time, not yours.
Think about it. If Joseph was remembered by the
cupbearer immediately, right, everything happened
the way he thought it was gonna happen, the cupbearer
said, hey, Pharaoh, bro told me a dream, it happened.
Get him out. Okay, Pharaoh gets him out. Then,
I mean, who knows what would have happened? Maybe
Joseph would have been like, I'm done with Egypt.
I'm going home. If he had gone home, would he
have ever been in the position to interpret Pharaoh's
dream two years later? Probably not. If that
didn't happen, Joseph would have been raised
up. Egypt would have had no plan for the famine.
And if there's no plan for the famine, Joseph
and his entire family would have starved in Canaan.
What feels like a frustrating delay might simply
be God staging something larger that you can't
see yet. And so trust him. And then the last
thing I think we learn here is you can't control
other people's failures. But you can control
your response. Right? The cupbearer totally dropped
the ball. Or dropped the cup, if you want to
say that, right? Completely failed Joseph. He
benefited from Joseph's gift of interpretation.
Right? He told Joseph, you know, I mean, Joseph's
like, please remember me. And he totally forgot.
I mean, in a way, he owed Joseph his life. But
he still failed to speak up. And we're going
to see in the next chapter that he doesn't speak
up until it benefits him. But we don't see Joseph
ever, you know, hunting him down for revenge.
We don't see Joseph nursing bitterness. We don't
see Joseph letting that man's selfishness define
his identity. We can't stop people from being
flaky, selfish, cowardly, forgetful, but we can,
by God's grace, choose to respond the way Joseph
did. And what we see here is, okay, this is where
I'm at still. I'm still gonna be the same person
I was the whole time. And then God's grace is
sufficient even in the dungeon. You see, I don't
believe Joseph's success is measured by the success
he had in Pharaoh's court. It's measured by his
faithfulness in Pharaoh's prison. Because that's
the foundation that God was able to build upon
to do everything he did in Joseph's life after
this. And so, yeah, you might, in your prison
Genesis 40 moment, feel like I'm wasting the
best years of my life. I'm sitting here and nothing
is happening and my prayers are bouncing off
the ceiling and I don't hear from God and I don't
feel his presence. Yet, if you are in Christ,
God is as present with you today, right now,
as he is with Joseph. In the scripture we read,
he is with you. Not only that, he is laboring.
His strong arms are striking the anvil of your
life. He is putting you in the fire and cooling
you down and folding the metal and he is doing
all of his hard labor to forge you into the instrument
he wants you to be. For the calling you can't
even see yet. So, trust in him. He's trying to
teach you that. Trust in him alone. Be... Hope
in him alone. Rest in him fully, even if you're
in the prison. So serve faithfully where you
are, not only where you wish you were. Okay,
this is where I'm at. I'm going to serve. I'm
going to be faithful. Fight the idol of self
-pity by actively noticing and caring for others.
That's how you fight it. Open your eyes. Go about
serving others and praying and supporting them.
Keep God at the center of your conversations,
just like Joseph did. As you go out to just,
you know, hey, how you doing? Can I pray for
you? If you do that with a non -believer, keep
God in the center of the conversation. Bring
it back to the Lord that you believe in. Let
God refine you in the delays instead of letting
the delays define who you are. Then lastly, if
you're in a Genesis 40 season, you're not alone,
you're not crazy, and you're not wasting your
life. God already knows what your chapter 41
looks like. He knows every detail. He knows every
moment, every period, every letter. But you're
not there yet. And he is just as much at work
in your Genesis 40 as he was in Joseph's life.
And so trust him in the process. Get ready for
what's coming and be who God wants you to be.
Amen? Let's pray. Father, we love you. We thank
you, God. We thank you for the fire. We thank
you for the forging. We thank you for what feels
like hammer blows. God, you came to this earth.
You were born and lived and died. Lord, to be
the atonement for our sin. But God, that's not
where the relationship ends. Because Lord, as
children in your family, you care more deeply
for us than we could even imagine. And that means
that you will do the hard thing and say the hard
thing in our lives if that is what is best for
us. And Lord, that includes these prison moments.
These moments where we have hope and yet, Lord,
that wasn't... What you were doing, what we expected,
Lord, is Joseph expected to be let out of this
prison in three days and yet, Lord, that's not
at all what happened. But instead of seeing him
succumb to doubt and frustration, he continued
to live that faith of knowing God is still with
me even though the cupbearer forgot about me.
God is still true. He is still God. He is still
who he says he is and his word is still true.
So I will trust in that regardless of the circumstance
I find myself in. And Lord, when we do that,
there's hope. There's patience. There's healing.
There's even joy in the peace. That surpasses
all understanding. And God, I pray that for all
of us, Lord, for this church and every believer
in this world. God, some of us are coming into
this Christmas season and we're hurting in ways
we've never hurt before. I pray, God, that your
peace and healing would fall upon them. Lord,
that even though they may not feel it, they would
take that step of faith to trust your word. to
trust you in what you're doing and what you're
allowing, knowing that you love them so much,
that you care about them so much, that there's
a purpose and plan you have for their life and
their testimony that is glorious, and that God,
in recognition of you, just saving their soul,
Lord, forgiving them of all of their sin, that
there would be a an ability to be grateful, to
say thank you for that, and Lord, I just want
to live for you even when it hurts. And God,
all of that might seem impossible to us, but
what's impossible to us is possible for you,
and so God, do your work. We love you. We thank
you. We pray, God, that we would follow, learn
from Joseph's example. To be like him in the
prison. To be like him in the disappointment,
in the delay, in the silence. Because God, even
if we can't hear your voice, Lord, I think if
we listen hard enough, we could hear the strike
of the hammer on the anvil. And to know that
you're laboring on our behalf. We love you. We
thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. Well, God bless you guys. Let's worship.