God's Plan God's Timing
Genesis Chapter 40 (Audio Only)
Thank you to all who came out for fellowship night. I’m sorry I had to slip out a few minutes early to make a grand exit.
The reason I had to slip out is I had to get up at 3:30 am, along with David, my son, and a number of other guys to participate in my first extreme hiking event with some very extreme guys (they don’t consider it “extreme”). The reason I bring it up is for most of the ten hours that I was wondering if I was going to live through the day, I was talking to God, and I’d like to share a few things that became painfully clear to me during this extreme hike – most of which relate to this study. As I do this, I’d like to ask you to pick the lesson that I learned, that most applies to your life.
1). It became painfully clear to me that a guy my age, that’s as “well-fed” as me, shouldn’t do extreme hiking without some serious conditioning.
2). It became as painfully clear to me that there are both strenuous switchbacks and glorious meadows and vistas in our walk with God (a switchback is a trail straight up the mountain).
But here’s the part that sometimes we don’t want to hear: I only got to walk through the glorious meadows and vistas because I made a “no-turning-back” decision to make it one step at a time through the strenuous switchbacks. If I had blamed God for the strenuous switchbacks or demanded that he removed them, I would have never experienced the glorious meadows and vistas, and the same is true in our walk with God.
3). It became painfully clear to me those who designed the path I was on, designed it to be hard for a while, then easy for a while, hard – then easy. And I painfully recognized that God does the same thing with the path he’s designed for me. There have been hard stretches and no-so-hard stretches. The question is, have I made a “no-turning-back” decision to stay on the path God has designed for me… even when I have leg cramps and I’m dehydrated, and I’m not sure how many more steps I can take, am I going to stay on his path for me? Trusting that the not-so-hard always follows the hard.
How about you? Have you made a decision to stay on the path that God has laid out for you? Are you just “in for life”? Are you in for good? Are you on the path, do you trust the One who has designed the path? And are you going to stay on it – hard or easy – when it’s hard knowing it’s going to be easy, and honestly, when it’s easy knowing that there’s another hard section to come? But the question isn’t is that path hard or easy. The question is, are you going to stay on it? Are you committed to the One who’s designed the path and are you going to keep taking that next step knowing that he designed it well?
There’s one other thing that I painfully learned in my first extreme hike… and this one was the hardest to take, and this story directly relates to our text today. There’s no doubt in my mind God gave it to me to share with you.
4). It became painfully clear to me that only God knows how long there is left on the path that he has you on. As I was in “never say die” mode forcing my body (which was wracked in pain) to take just one more step, then just one more. I was seeing mirages of the parking lot that was my salvation from this path I was on.
Just then, two young boys and their father passed me, and as they passed me one boy said, “Just two hundred more…” and I said, “Excuse me?” (Hoping to cling to any shred of hope.) And he said, “Just two hundred steps from the bottom.” And I said, oh! Thank you, God. You’ve sent an angel to encourage me. I can make it just two hundred more steps, and so I began counting the steps, to be encouraged, straining my eyes to see the parking lot come into view.
And so, I counted one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, three hundred and something… and when I was sure I had taken at least two thousand more steps, I thought, man, that kid is a bad counter! And then I became disillusioned. What I thought was my encouragement suddenly slipped away, and I was left alone on the path God had me on.
Today, we’ll see that exact same thing happen to Joseph. That’s how I know that kid wasn’t from the devil – he was from God because suddenly I understood some of Joseph’s pain. Now, after I had wallowed in my disillusion for about thirty minutes, God sent one of our extreme hiking leaders trudging up the trail to find me (or make sure I was still alive). And he came with cool water and real encouragement and suddenly this difficult and painful path was over! And I even survived to tell the testimony and give God glory for it!
But my biggest lesson was this: only God knows how many more steps there are on this path he has you on. No kid who can’t count, no positive motivational speaker, no pastor, book, or video – only God knows. The question is, will you trust him to get you home? Will you surrender your idea of when this path should be over and let God decide, trusting him, and joining him in his plan?
Let’s pray that we would leave this study on Joseph with a new commitment to surrender to God’s plan and God’s timing and a new commitment to join God in the work he’s doing.
We left Joseph doing everything right regarding Potiphar’s wife and getting thrown into prison for it, and we saw Joseph do the right thing even after being wrongly imprisoned, and we saw that the Lord was with Joseph even in that terrible situation. Genesis 39 and the second half of verse 23 tells us:
Genesis 39:23(b) (NLT)
23 … The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.
And so, we left that message thinking, okay. Tough situation. But God’s going to come through for Joseph because it’s God’s plan, right? Right! Yes, it’s God’s plan, but… in God’s timing. And sometimes after we learn to accept God’s plan, then, we have to learn to accept God’s timing.
In Genesis Chapter 40, the life-changing lessons of Joseph continue.
Genesis 40:1 (ESV)
1 Some time after this (Joseph being thrown in prison), the cupbearer of the king of Egypt (Pharaoh) and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt.
These were both very important positions in the Pharaoh's court. The cupbearer actually tasted all the food for the king, not only for poison but to make sure it was to the king’s taste. The baker prepared much of what the Pharaoh ate, and what he prepared, the cupbearer would first taste. And these two committed some offense against the Pharaoh and so, he throws them into prison.
Genesis 40:2-4 (ESV)
2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,
|3 and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined.
4 The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.
We live in a microwave, fast-food society. We don’t like to hear, “for some time” – how long is this going to continue? For some time. How long is the Lord going to leave me in this? For some time. How long do I have to stay on this path? For some time. A lot longer than we typically want. It’s not good enough for you if you want to set the time frame yourself. Why do we need to know how long? Because we want to make our own decisions. But God knows how long you’re going to stay on the path, and these two were for some time in custody.
Now, these two officers were some of Pharaoh's closest men. They were with him every time he ate, and suddenly, they’re in prison under the care of Joseph.
Now, under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for Joseph to reach the Pharaoh. It would be like you and me reaching, not just the President of the United States, but like us reaching Queen Elizabeth. It was never going to happen unless God orchestrated some miraculous set of circumstances… seemingly just like the circumstances developing here. And so, for some amount of time Joseph was “attending” to these men. And he had to start thinking, “Wow. I’m taking care of two of Pharaoh's highest officers. I wonder if God is somehow at work here?”
And then in the next verse it happens, and Joseph has got to see it from a mile away because it starts with a dream, and we already know about Joseph and dreams. Things tend to happen with Joseph and dreams.
Genesis 40:5-7 (ESV)
5 And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation.
6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled.
7 So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” [NLT = Why do you look so worried today?]
And then you know Joseph couldn’t help but grin when they told him…
Genesis 40:8 (ESV)
8 They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? (referring to the fact that he is a servant of God) Please tell them to me.”
Now, as Joseph interprets the first dream, watch how he must see the doors starting to open for him.
Genesis 40:9-13 (ESV)
9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me,
10 And on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes.
11 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed (squeezed) them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.”
12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
13 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer.
Wow, Joseph! You’ve still got the gift of dream interpretation. But then, Joseph’s mind races. He puts together all these “coming events of the dream” and he thinks quickly, here’s my chance (my opportunity) I better help God out here… So, then he says,
Genesis 40:14-15 (ESV)
14 Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house.
15 For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”
Joseph says to the cupbearer, please, do me a favor. Put in a good word for me with the Pharaoh and help get me out of this place. And then he adds a little personal testimony to seal the request. He says, “Listen, I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and I haven’t done anything to deserve being in this pit.” Now, that’s what pretty much everybody in jail says… but for Joseph, it’s actually true!
There’s also something very interesting in the Hebrew word selection at the end of verse 15. The Hebrew word used here for pit is the same Hebrew word used for the pit Joseph’s brothers threw him into. And last week, we agonized with Joseph that he was in the same trial, the second time around. And here, the Holy Spirit uses the same Hebrew word to convey perfectly where Joseph is at emotionally. We can feel Joseph pleading, “Man, I’ve been in this PIT before. I was kidnapped here and I’ve done nothing to deserve this.” And it’s true, Joseph had done nothing to deserve this. And so, (it appears) God has given Joseph a “tailor-made” chance to get somebody to do something about it.
Certainly, that’s what Joseph was thinking. This guy got thrown in prison, here, now! The keeper of the prison put me (a Hebrew slave) in charge of him! And now, he has a dream (which is my specialty)… Everything just seems to be orchestrated perfectly by God, and even the timing seems perfect… Oh! Wait a minute, uhhh, Joseph, about that timing issue…
See, Joseph certainly would think that he sees God’s plan coming to pass. But… as far as that timing issue goes, that might not be as clear as we assume. Sometimes we sense God’s hand on our lives and we think, okay… this is it! Get ready for lift-off. But maybe God would say to us, be glad that you see my hand. But don’t assume you know my plan or my timing. Sometimes, when we see God at work, it doesn’t mean we can see his timing.
Joseph must’ve thought, man. This must be God, and it was God. But it was God on God’s terms and in God’s timing. Not God on Joseph’s terms and in Joseph’s timing. And we can’t assume we know God’s timing even when we see his hand. As soon as our terms don’t pan out as we think, we quit. We get off the path. That’s what we do. We’ve got to stay on the path. We’ve got to trust God and his timing. Only God knows how long that path is.
Now, the baker is watching this whole thing go down and he sees that the cupbearer got a favorable interpretation, so he asks Joseph to interpret his dream.
Genesis 40:16-19 (ESV)
16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head,
17 and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.”
18 And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days.
19 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”
Whoops! The baker wasn’t so happy as the cupbearer. Joseph spoke the truth in his interpretation. Unfortunately, the baker would sleep even worse that night! But now, Joseph was seeing it all starting to work out! God had set it all up, and certainly, God would bring it to pass. Ohhh! The cupbearer was going to be released. He’d speak up on Joseph’s behalf and everything was going to be good again. Just three days and everything was going to be alright.
Genesis 40:20-22 (ESV)
20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.
22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Perfect! Everything is working perfectly. Joseph is packing his belongings and standing by the cell door… any minute now… any minute. Joseph saw God’s hand, but he couldn’t see his timing.
Maybe it’s the same way in your life. Maybe you see God’s hand, but you’re waiting at the cell door, “Come on, God! It should have happened by now. The way I had it all figured out, it should be all done by now.”
And then we see the grand finale of (this part of) God’s plan in the last verse of Genesis Chapter 40.
Genesis 40:23 (ESV)
23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
WHOA! That is not supposed to happen. That’s now how it’s supposed to work, God! What do you mean, forgot him? How could he just forget him? Why would he just forget him?
We are Joseph and we would say, “How could this happen, God? How could this happen?” Or here’s the bigger one. And we love to ask this question – Why, God? Why would you allow this to happen to me?” “I saw your hand. I know you’re at work, then how could it go this way? How can it take this turn?”
We get so obsessed with wanting (and even demanding) to know the how and the why of God’s plan for our lives. But, like we said last week, we don’t get the answers to the how or why questions. We only get the answer to the what question (as in – what should we do about it).
We can’t have the answers to the how or why questions. Because God says in Isaiah 55,
Isaiah 55:8 (NLT)
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
And since we can’t think like God and we can’t even imagine his ways, then we can’t have the answers to the how or why questions (we couldn’t understand them anyway). In the life of faith, we only get the answer to the what question.
The what question is, what was Joseph supposed to do now? He’s become disillusioned, even worse than me on that trail with the bad counting kid. Two thousand steps instead of two hundred? What do I do, God? And God says, “take another step.” “I know, but it hurts.” “Take it anyway, I’ll give you the strength. Take that step right there. Don’t worry about it. I designed this path, I know when it ends, I know where it ends. Your job is to take the next step.”
Oh, Joseph, the cupbearer let you down. He forgot you! You got dropped again. Your expectations are shattered! What are you going to do now?
Okay, hold on a moment. So, the cupbearer dropped the ball. He forgot about Joseph… but how long did Joseph have to wait before God made it right. The next verse tells us.
Genesis 40:1(a) (NKJV)
1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years,…
Two full years. For two long years, God put Joseph on hold! Surely Joseph thought God had abandoned him after Joseph had done everything right. But God had not abandoned him! God’s plan was working perfectly (in God’s perfect timing). But there is no way Joseph could’ve known that and there is no way you and I can know that. But that doesn’t mean that God is not at work. He is at work in your life! And we must decide whether we believe that God is at work, or not. Do you believe it?
The question is do we believe God, or not. And every time we say, “Why, God?” it’s a sign of unbelief. We’re saying, “God, I don’t trust you. I don’t trust your plan because it’s not working out like I would want it to.” Instead, we need to say, “God, I trust you. I’m just going to take this step – ouch. I trust you, God.” You need to take the next step.
Paul says in Philippians 1,
Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
The work God started in you – he is continuing, and he will continue it – until it is finished.
God started that work
God is continuing that work
God will finish that work – on the day you see Jesus Christ (and not a day sooner).
Guys, don’t get disillusioned! God is at work, no matter what you see, think, or feel. Don’t get disillusioned with God. That thing you’re in right now, that circumstance, trial, situation, God is at work in it for your good.
But if you get consumed with questioning, demanding, and doubting God then you will never be able to join him in the work that he’s doing in the midst of that trial. We serve a great, awesome, loving God who is at work, and we must join him in the work he’s doing… And we join him by doing the same thing Joseph did… by walking with God, no matter the condition of the path, by doing what is right, no matter what the situation. I hope to talk more about “Walking With God” next week. But for today, let me remind you of the verse we keep going back to.
Colossians 3:17 (ESV)
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
And remember, in the name of means in accordance with the nature and character of the Lord Jesus.
Joseph’s life screams this truth out to us.
Whatever you do, in word or deed, (regardless of your circumstances or situation) do everything in accordance with the nature and character of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
For two long years, Joseph had to decide whether to stomp his feet and demand an answer from God or continue to do what was right, regardless of his situation. I know Joseph chose to trust God and join God in his plan. I pray that we would do the exact same thing.
The reason I had to slip out is I had to get up at 3:30 am, along with David, my son, and a number of other guys to participate in my first extreme hiking event with some very extreme guys (they don’t consider it “extreme”). The reason I bring it up is for most of the ten hours that I was wondering if I was going to live through the day, I was talking to God, and I’d like to share a few things that became painfully clear to me during this extreme hike – most of which relate to this study. As I do this, I’d like to ask you to pick the lesson that I learned, that most applies to your life.
1). It became painfully clear to me that a guy my age, that’s as “well-fed” as me, shouldn’t do extreme hiking without some serious conditioning.
2). It became as painfully clear to me that there are both strenuous switchbacks and glorious meadows and vistas in our walk with God (a switchback is a trail straight up the mountain).
But here’s the part that sometimes we don’t want to hear: I only got to walk through the glorious meadows and vistas because I made a “no-turning-back” decision to make it one step at a time through the strenuous switchbacks. If I had blamed God for the strenuous switchbacks or demanded that he removed them, I would have never experienced the glorious meadows and vistas, and the same is true in our walk with God.
3). It became painfully clear to me those who designed the path I was on, designed it to be hard for a while, then easy for a while, hard – then easy. And I painfully recognized that God does the same thing with the path he’s designed for me. There have been hard stretches and no-so-hard stretches. The question is, have I made a “no-turning-back” decision to stay on the path God has designed for me… even when I have leg cramps and I’m dehydrated, and I’m not sure how many more steps I can take, am I going to stay on his path for me? Trusting that the not-so-hard always follows the hard.
How about you? Have you made a decision to stay on the path that God has laid out for you? Are you just “in for life”? Are you in for good? Are you on the path, do you trust the One who has designed the path? And are you going to stay on it – hard or easy – when it’s hard knowing it’s going to be easy, and honestly, when it’s easy knowing that there’s another hard section to come? But the question isn’t is that path hard or easy. The question is, are you going to stay on it? Are you committed to the One who’s designed the path and are you going to keep taking that next step knowing that he designed it well?
There’s one other thing that I painfully learned in my first extreme hike… and this one was the hardest to take, and this story directly relates to our text today. There’s no doubt in my mind God gave it to me to share with you.
4). It became painfully clear to me that only God knows how long there is left on the path that he has you on. As I was in “never say die” mode forcing my body (which was wracked in pain) to take just one more step, then just one more. I was seeing mirages of the parking lot that was my salvation from this path I was on.
Just then, two young boys and their father passed me, and as they passed me one boy said, “Just two hundred more…” and I said, “Excuse me?” (Hoping to cling to any shred of hope.) And he said, “Just two hundred steps from the bottom.” And I said, oh! Thank you, God. You’ve sent an angel to encourage me. I can make it just two hundred more steps, and so I began counting the steps, to be encouraged, straining my eyes to see the parking lot come into view.
And so, I counted one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, three hundred and something… and when I was sure I had taken at least two thousand more steps, I thought, man, that kid is a bad counter! And then I became disillusioned. What I thought was my encouragement suddenly slipped away, and I was left alone on the path God had me on.
Today, we’ll see that exact same thing happen to Joseph. That’s how I know that kid wasn’t from the devil – he was from God because suddenly I understood some of Joseph’s pain. Now, after I had wallowed in my disillusion for about thirty minutes, God sent one of our extreme hiking leaders trudging up the trail to find me (or make sure I was still alive). And he came with cool water and real encouragement and suddenly this difficult and painful path was over! And I even survived to tell the testimony and give God glory for it!
But my biggest lesson was this: only God knows how many more steps there are on this path he has you on. No kid who can’t count, no positive motivational speaker, no pastor, book, or video – only God knows. The question is, will you trust him to get you home? Will you surrender your idea of when this path should be over and let God decide, trusting him, and joining him in his plan?
Let’s pray that we would leave this study on Joseph with a new commitment to surrender to God’s plan and God’s timing and a new commitment to join God in the work he’s doing.
We left Joseph doing everything right regarding Potiphar’s wife and getting thrown into prison for it, and we saw Joseph do the right thing even after being wrongly imprisoned, and we saw that the Lord was with Joseph even in that terrible situation. Genesis 39 and the second half of verse 23 tells us:
Genesis 39:23(b) (NLT)
23 … The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.
And so, we left that message thinking, okay. Tough situation. But God’s going to come through for Joseph because it’s God’s plan, right? Right! Yes, it’s God’s plan, but… in God’s timing. And sometimes after we learn to accept God’s plan, then, we have to learn to accept God’s timing.
In Genesis Chapter 40, the life-changing lessons of Joseph continue.
Genesis 40:1 (ESV)
1 Some time after this (Joseph being thrown in prison), the cupbearer of the king of Egypt (Pharaoh) and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt.
These were both very important positions in the Pharaoh's court. The cupbearer actually tasted all the food for the king, not only for poison but to make sure it was to the king’s taste. The baker prepared much of what the Pharaoh ate, and what he prepared, the cupbearer would first taste. And these two committed some offense against the Pharaoh and so, he throws them into prison.
Genesis 40:2-4 (ESV)
2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,
|3 and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined.
4 The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.
We live in a microwave, fast-food society. We don’t like to hear, “for some time” – how long is this going to continue? For some time. How long is the Lord going to leave me in this? For some time. How long do I have to stay on this path? For some time. A lot longer than we typically want. It’s not good enough for you if you want to set the time frame yourself. Why do we need to know how long? Because we want to make our own decisions. But God knows how long you’re going to stay on the path, and these two were for some time in custody.
Now, these two officers were some of Pharaoh's closest men. They were with him every time he ate, and suddenly, they’re in prison under the care of Joseph.
Now, under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for Joseph to reach the Pharaoh. It would be like you and me reaching, not just the President of the United States, but like us reaching Queen Elizabeth. It was never going to happen unless God orchestrated some miraculous set of circumstances… seemingly just like the circumstances developing here. And so, for some amount of time Joseph was “attending” to these men. And he had to start thinking, “Wow. I’m taking care of two of Pharaoh's highest officers. I wonder if God is somehow at work here?”
And then in the next verse it happens, and Joseph has got to see it from a mile away because it starts with a dream, and we already know about Joseph and dreams. Things tend to happen with Joseph and dreams.
Genesis 40:5-7 (ESV)
5 And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation.
6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled.
7 So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” [NLT = Why do you look so worried today?]
And then you know Joseph couldn’t help but grin when they told him…
Genesis 40:8 (ESV)
8 They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? (referring to the fact that he is a servant of God) Please tell them to me.”
Now, as Joseph interprets the first dream, watch how he must see the doors starting to open for him.
Genesis 40:9-13 (ESV)
9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me,
10 And on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes.
11 Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed (squeezed) them into Pharaoh's cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.”
12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
13 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh's cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer.
Wow, Joseph! You’ve still got the gift of dream interpretation. But then, Joseph’s mind races. He puts together all these “coming events of the dream” and he thinks quickly, here’s my chance (my opportunity) I better help God out here… So, then he says,
Genesis 40:14-15 (ESV)
14 Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house.
15 For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”
Joseph says to the cupbearer, please, do me a favor. Put in a good word for me with the Pharaoh and help get me out of this place. And then he adds a little personal testimony to seal the request. He says, “Listen, I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and I haven’t done anything to deserve being in this pit.” Now, that’s what pretty much everybody in jail says… but for Joseph, it’s actually true!
There’s also something very interesting in the Hebrew word selection at the end of verse 15. The Hebrew word used here for pit is the same Hebrew word used for the pit Joseph’s brothers threw him into. And last week, we agonized with Joseph that he was in the same trial, the second time around. And here, the Holy Spirit uses the same Hebrew word to convey perfectly where Joseph is at emotionally. We can feel Joseph pleading, “Man, I’ve been in this PIT before. I was kidnapped here and I’ve done nothing to deserve this.” And it’s true, Joseph had done nothing to deserve this. And so, (it appears) God has given Joseph a “tailor-made” chance to get somebody to do something about it.
Certainly, that’s what Joseph was thinking. This guy got thrown in prison, here, now! The keeper of the prison put me (a Hebrew slave) in charge of him! And now, he has a dream (which is my specialty)… Everything just seems to be orchestrated perfectly by God, and even the timing seems perfect… Oh! Wait a minute, uhhh, Joseph, about that timing issue…
See, Joseph certainly would think that he sees God’s plan coming to pass. But… as far as that timing issue goes, that might not be as clear as we assume. Sometimes we sense God’s hand on our lives and we think, okay… this is it! Get ready for lift-off. But maybe God would say to us, be glad that you see my hand. But don’t assume you know my plan or my timing. Sometimes, when we see God at work, it doesn’t mean we can see his timing.
Joseph must’ve thought, man. This must be God, and it was God. But it was God on God’s terms and in God’s timing. Not God on Joseph’s terms and in Joseph’s timing. And we can’t assume we know God’s timing even when we see his hand. As soon as our terms don’t pan out as we think, we quit. We get off the path. That’s what we do. We’ve got to stay on the path. We’ve got to trust God and his timing. Only God knows how long that path is.
Now, the baker is watching this whole thing go down and he sees that the cupbearer got a favorable interpretation, so he asks Joseph to interpret his dream.
Genesis 40:16-19 (ESV)
16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head,
17 and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.”
18 And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days.
19 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”
Whoops! The baker wasn’t so happy as the cupbearer. Joseph spoke the truth in his interpretation. Unfortunately, the baker would sleep even worse that night! But now, Joseph was seeing it all starting to work out! God had set it all up, and certainly, God would bring it to pass. Ohhh! The cupbearer was going to be released. He’d speak up on Joseph’s behalf and everything was going to be good again. Just three days and everything was going to be alright.
Genesis 40:20-22 (ESV)
20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand.
22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
Perfect! Everything is working perfectly. Joseph is packing his belongings and standing by the cell door… any minute now… any minute. Joseph saw God’s hand, but he couldn’t see his timing.
Maybe it’s the same way in your life. Maybe you see God’s hand, but you’re waiting at the cell door, “Come on, God! It should have happened by now. The way I had it all figured out, it should be all done by now.”
And then we see the grand finale of (this part of) God’s plan in the last verse of Genesis Chapter 40.
Genesis 40:23 (ESV)
23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
WHOA! That is not supposed to happen. That’s now how it’s supposed to work, God! What do you mean, forgot him? How could he just forget him? Why would he just forget him?
We are Joseph and we would say, “How could this happen, God? How could this happen?” Or here’s the bigger one. And we love to ask this question – Why, God? Why would you allow this to happen to me?” “I saw your hand. I know you’re at work, then how could it go this way? How can it take this turn?”
We get so obsessed with wanting (and even demanding) to know the how and the why of God’s plan for our lives. But, like we said last week, we don’t get the answers to the how or why questions. We only get the answer to the what question (as in – what should we do about it).
We can’t have the answers to the how or why questions. Because God says in Isaiah 55,
Isaiah 55:8 (NLT)
8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
And since we can’t think like God and we can’t even imagine his ways, then we can’t have the answers to the how or why questions (we couldn’t understand them anyway). In the life of faith, we only get the answer to the what question.
The what question is, what was Joseph supposed to do now? He’s become disillusioned, even worse than me on that trail with the bad counting kid. Two thousand steps instead of two hundred? What do I do, God? And God says, “take another step.” “I know, but it hurts.” “Take it anyway, I’ll give you the strength. Take that step right there. Don’t worry about it. I designed this path, I know when it ends, I know where it ends. Your job is to take the next step.”
Oh, Joseph, the cupbearer let you down. He forgot you! You got dropped again. Your expectations are shattered! What are you going to do now?
Okay, hold on a moment. So, the cupbearer dropped the ball. He forgot about Joseph… but how long did Joseph have to wait before God made it right. The next verse tells us.
Genesis 40:1(a) (NKJV)
1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years,…
Two full years. For two long years, God put Joseph on hold! Surely Joseph thought God had abandoned him after Joseph had done everything right. But God had not abandoned him! God’s plan was working perfectly (in God’s perfect timing). But there is no way Joseph could’ve known that and there is no way you and I can know that. But that doesn’t mean that God is not at work. He is at work in your life! And we must decide whether we believe that God is at work, or not. Do you believe it?
The question is do we believe God, or not. And every time we say, “Why, God?” it’s a sign of unbelief. We’re saying, “God, I don’t trust you. I don’t trust your plan because it’s not working out like I would want it to.” Instead, we need to say, “God, I trust you. I’m just going to take this step – ouch. I trust you, God.” You need to take the next step.
Paul says in Philippians 1,
Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
The work God started in you – he is continuing, and he will continue it – until it is finished.
God started that work
God is continuing that work
God will finish that work – on the day you see Jesus Christ (and not a day sooner).
Guys, don’t get disillusioned! God is at work, no matter what you see, think, or feel. Don’t get disillusioned with God. That thing you’re in right now, that circumstance, trial, situation, God is at work in it for your good.
But if you get consumed with questioning, demanding, and doubting God then you will never be able to join him in the work that he’s doing in the midst of that trial. We serve a great, awesome, loving God who is at work, and we must join him in the work he’s doing… And we join him by doing the same thing Joseph did… by walking with God, no matter the condition of the path, by doing what is right, no matter what the situation. I hope to talk more about “Walking With God” next week. But for today, let me remind you of the verse we keep going back to.
Colossians 3:17 (ESV)
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
And remember, in the name of means in accordance with the nature and character of the Lord Jesus.
Joseph’s life screams this truth out to us.
Whatever you do, in word or deed, (regardless of your circumstances or situation) do everything in accordance with the nature and character of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
For two long years, Joseph had to decide whether to stomp his feet and demand an answer from God or continue to do what was right, regardless of his situation. I know Joseph chose to trust God and join God in his plan. I pray that we would do the exact same thing.