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“When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing by the Nile,” NIV

The Bible speaks about both waiting on the Lord, and waiting for the Lord. Waiting for Him can take great patience.

“When two full years had passed…”

Looking back, two years seem to whizz by. A memory from May 2019 pops up on ‘Facebook’ and you think, ‘Could that really be two years ago? Really? But if from today you know you have a further two years to wait for something you really want to happen…well, it might feel like an eternity away.

Actually, Joseph had to wait much longer than two years for the fulfilment of his dreams. Warren Wiersbe makes this point:

‘God invested thirteen years in making a man out of Joseph; when it comes to building character, God is never in a hurry.’ ‘With the Word’, p.42.

PRAYER: Lord, please help me to wait with patience for the answers to my prayers; and in the waiting enable me to not be wasting the precious time I have each day. May I redeem it.

“The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.” NIV

I knew a sincere Christian lady who greatly admired a man – a church leader – who was also a close friend of her family. She had admittedly put him on a pedestal, and when she discovered he had fallen morally, she was so dejected she almost lost her faith.

People will disappoint you. Realise it. You too will probably disappoint some folks along the way. Although our aim should always be to bless others, at times we will let them down.

Of course, there will be those occasions where people are disappointed by what we  say/do or don’t say/don’t do, and it’s their problem not ours. There isn’t much we can do about that. My greatest concern lies in the potential to disappoint others through my sin or weakness. I know we all will.

Only of Jesus can we say: ‘He is not a disappointment.’

Joseph was let down by a man he helped in prison, and Matthew Henry’s observation is helpful:

“The chief butler remembered not Joseph, but forgot him. Joseph had deserved well at his hands, yet he forgot him. We must not think it strange, if in this world we have hatred shown us for our love, and slights for our kindness. See how apt those who are themselves at ease are to forget others in distress. Joseph learned by his disappointment to trust in God only. We cannot expect too little from man, nor too much from God. Let us not forget the sufferings, promises, and love of our Redeemer. We blame the chief butler’s ingratitude to Joseph, yet we ourselves act much more ungratefully to the Lord Jesus. Joseph had but foretold the chief butler’s enlargement, but Christ wrought out ours; he mediated with the King of Kings for us; yet we forget him, though often reminded of him, and though we have promised never to forget him. Thus ill do we requite Him, like foolish people and unwise.”

PRAYER: Lord have mercy upon us for all our sin, weakness and failure, and enable us to so live that we do not needlessly disappoint anyone.

^“6 When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, ‘Why do you look so sad today?’⁸ ‘We both had dreams,’ they answered, ‘but there is no one to interpret them.’Then Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.’⁹ So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, ‘In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, ¹⁰ and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. ¹¹ Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.’¹² ‘This is what it means,’ Joseph said to him. ‘The three branches are three days. ¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. ¹⁵ I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.’¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favourable interpretation, he said to Joseph, ‘I too had a dream: on my head were three baskets of bread^{] 17} In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.’¹⁸ ‘This is what it means,’ Joseph said. ‘The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹ Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.’²⁰ Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: ²¹ he restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand – ²² but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.²³ The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”NIV

‘Give them what you’ve got!’

That was the advice of an older, wiser pastor, freely shared with two rather ‘green’ Bible college students who were being let loose on his church for a couple of weeks.

‘Just give them what God gives you.’

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you” (1 Corinthians 11:23).

In prison, Joseph did not sit in a corner moping. He’d had a raw deal for sure, but he was even reserved and  circumspect in talking about it (15). He didn’t point the finger or name names. As we have already seen, there in the jail he was available to serve these men, using the gifts God had given him (8), and giving all the glory to God.

Matthew Henry makes this excellent point:

“The chief butler’s dream foretold his advancement. The chief baker’s dream his death. It was not Joseph’s fault that he brought the baker no better tidings. And thus ministers are but interpreters; they cannot make the thing otherwise than it is: if they deal faithfully, and their message prove unpleasing, it is not their fault.”

Joseph was faithful to ‘give them what he’d got’, without tinkering under the bonnet of the message. He didn’t change a thing. It is not the messenger’s place to dilute or alter the message.

“To the one we are the smell of death; to the other the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.” (2 Corinthians 2:16, 17).

One more thing, Warren Wiersbe points out that although Joseph was temporarily forgotten (23), the fact that he could interpret the dreams of the baker and the butler indicates that he understood the meaning of his own dreams. He knew that one day his brothers would bow before him.

⁶ When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. ⁷ So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, ‘Why do you look so sad today?’NIV

“When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected” (6).

He saw.

For most people who are in grief, or pain, or some form of suffering, it means a lot to them if someone notices, and shows that they do. It is one thing to see another’s troubles; it is quite another to move towards them in some way – to at least try to be of help (7). Joseph not only saw their dejection; he also said something which showed that he saw (and that he cared).

In a recent article in ‘the Spectator’, someone who had been through a significant, loss wrote about how we are just not good at dealing with grief in this country. She observed that although there will always be some who move toward you in your bereavement, the majority do not. They move away, or keep their distance.

Probably in the case of most people, it’s not that they don’t care. They just don’t know what to do, or say. They are afraid to cause more pain. Or perhaps they are embarrassed. Or…who knows what? We may have so many complex reasons for not getting too close to the agony.

But Joseph not only saw the sufferers and their suffering; he also moved towards them, and used his gifts to help.

There is something powerful about the ministry of presence. You don’t have to have all the answers. (Remember, Job’s comforters were at their best when they just sat with him!) It will mean something to someone in pain if you not only notice, but go on to take the next step in their direction.

Some time ago, I wrote down two quotes from F.B. Meyer about Joseph’s ministry in prison. He is right, of course, to point out, that whatever troubles you may have yourself, there is great blessing in reaching out to serve others:

‘He was quick to sympathise and comfort – quick to notice the traces of sorrow, because he had sorrowed; able to sympathise because he had wept; adept at comforting because he had been comforted of God. We gain comfort when we attempt to comfort. Out of such intercourse we get what Joseph got – the keys which will unlock the heavy doors by which we have been shut in. Light a fire in another’s heart, and your own heart will be warmed.’

‘A new interest came into his life, and he almost forgot the heavy pressure of his own troubles amid the interest of listening to the tales of those who were more unfortunate than himself. Do not nurse your grief in lonely brooding; arise and minister to someone; do something in the world…’

PRAYER: Lord, give me eyes to see the needs around me, and the courage to move towards them, relying on the power of your Spirit to use me to be a blessing.

“Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³ and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.After they had been in custody for some time, ⁵ each of the two men – the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison – had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.”NIV

“…and each dream had a meaning of its own” (5).

You might say each life has a meaning of its own. It has its own pathway and its own outcome.

On Monday morning, I was out of the house early, going for a run. For much of the time I saw no-one. That was fine, being by myself, going at my own steady pace. But after a while I was overtaken by a younger woman and she was soon out of sight. That was where comparison could have set in. But if it was likely to, I quickly dismissed it. She was probably close to half my age anyway; and even if I am passed by fellow 64 year olds, what does it matter? I’ve never been fast. I am a ‘plodder’. I’m not training for the Olympics, I’m just jogging for health and fitness (and it has the fringe benefit of clearing my mind and clarifying thinking). I think I got what I needed to out of the run. I didn’t have to win.

Comparisons are odious. This is what Peter discovered when he got inquisitive about John’s destiny. Basically Jesus told him to mind his own business, and to just get on with following Him (John 21:18-21). Jesus had a tailor-made purpose and destiny for Peter. It was different to John’s. Yes, they were both disciples of Christ. They had so much in common. But different life stories were being written by the Divine Author.

God was also writing different scripts for the 2 men Joseph met in jail. One had a happy ending; the other did not.

The truth is that as no two snowflakes are the same, no two people are the same either. John Stott once wrote something like this: ‘We are not to imagine that we have all been mass-produced in some celestial factory.’

Indeed!

“Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³ and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.”NIV

“Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined” (verses 2,3).

Reading the passage again this morning, I saw something I don’t think I’ve seen before. Pharaoh “put” these two servants in the same place where Joseph was being kept. But the sub-text is that God “put” them there. This was a divine appointment. It was God’s intention that these men should meet Joseph; that Joseph should meet them. The Lord saw to it that their paths would cross for a time, and Joseph was able to speak into their lives.

Many years ago, walking through Leeds one day, I felt I should move across the city in a different direction to the one I’d originally intended. As I did so, I encountered a young couple from the church. I think they were amazed to see me, and said  ‘We were just on our way to phone you! We need to have a chat.’ Some may say, ‘Well what a coincidence!’ Maybe it was. But I prefer to see it as a ‘God-incidence’. I believe in a God who arranges our diaries and sets up meetings we may never plan. (Sometimes in places we wouldn’t choose either!)

PRAYER: Sovereign Lord, this day and every day may I be so led by you that I find myself in the right place at the right time, so that I meet the people you want me to meet and speak the words you want me to say. Please make me a ‘channel of blessing’ today.

“Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. ² Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, ³ and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. ⁴ The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them.”NIV

“The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them” (4).

I heard a well known preacher say something like this: ‘The best place to serve the Lord is wherever He sets you down.’

Whether in Potiphar’s home, or in the prison house, Joseph served where he was put.

Joseph was still carrying responsibility in prison. He had different tasks, and was working in a different location, but he was still willing and able to serve. Even in prison, it would seem, his leadership qualities were recognised.

We can be so fixated on our circumstances being far from ideal that we miss the opportunities to serve. May God forgive us. They are always there, if we but have eyes to see them.

PRAYER: Lord, please give me eyes to see every opportunity you give me to serve – especially when life is not turning out as I hoped.