Have you ever felt forsaken or forgotten, like no one cared? You are not alone. Most of us have known what it is like to feel forgotten, forsaken, and mistreated at some point in our life. And if you haven’t, you need only to be patient!
Before we reach the end of Genesis 40, this is exactly how Joseph will be tempted to feel. This is a chapter where Joseph becomes completely forgotten by everyone, everyone but God. What we will learn in this chapter is that even when we have been mistreated and it seems that we have been completely forgotten and forsaken, God remains “with” His people.
By way of reminder, I want to repeat again the two explanations that God being “with” us meant last week. First, that God being with us means that He is not only there, but is active. He is at work for our good and His glory. Second, God’s being with us also means that He is there showing us “hesed” in the midst of what we are walking through. He is showing covenant loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, goodness, mercy, love, and compassion.[1]
The question that this chapter will answer for us is: how are we as the people of God supposed to express our hope and faith in God when we feel forsaken and forgotten?
I. In Our Suffering, We Express Our Faith in God by Looking Outward (40:1-19)
a. Serving Those Around Us (1-4)
[40:1] Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. [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.
In our trials, there is an incredible temptation to focus inwardly and think only of us. This is especially true when it seems that we have been forsaken and forgotten. We want to sit around licking our wounds and feeling sorry for ourselves. F. B. Meyer called this the “gratification of lonely sorrow.” Now that is an interesting statement, isn’t it? What is gratifying about lonely sorrow? Self-pity is, because it screams to the world, “What about ME? Stop and take notice!”
Joseph makes the most of his time in prison by serving others rather than feeling sorry for himself. We will see shortly that this was a genuine service and not just a job. Joseph cared about Pharaoh’s chief officers.
Learn something from this passage: every trial you experience will put others in your circle. They may have been there all along or they may become part of your circle as a result of your suffering, but you will find others around you. This is one of God’s ways of networking! The question is this: will you look outward or inward in your suffering? Will you look for ways to serve others that God has put in your circle in the midst of your suffering or will you crawl into the corner of your own pity party?
b. Pointing Those Around Us to God (5-8)
[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?” [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? Please tell them to me.” (Genesis 40:5-8 ESV)
Here we see another aspect of what it means to have an outward focus in our suffering: pointing others to God. This is what Kent Hughes calls Joseph’s “God reflex.” When tempted, Joseph pointed Potiphar’s wife to God (39:9). When he gets opportunity with these prisoners, He points them to God. And he will do the same thing with Pharaoh too (41:16). Joseph’s words here remind us of Daniel’s in Daniel 2:28, where he seizes the opportunity to tell king Nebuchadnezzar that when there wasn’t a man in Babylon who could interpret the king’s dream, there was “a God in heaven” who could!
Joseph is pointing these prisoners to the only One who can help them in their plight and is doing so with great confidence. He knows his gifts and is ready, willing, and confident to use them to serve others as a way to point them to God.
c. Speaking the Truth in Love to Those Around Us (9-19)
[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 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. [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.”
[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.” (Genesis 40:9-19 ESV)
The final way that we see Joseph looking outward in His suffering is in His speaking the truth to others around Him. In one case this meant encouragement; in the other it meant saying some truly hard things. How easy would it have been to make up something to tell the baker? Joseph tells him the truth. As Chuck Swindoll says, “He was not winning friends; He was representing God.”
Have you ever considered that we, like Joseph, have a message of good news and bad news to tell? The bad news is that we are all rebels before God and that there will literally be hell to pay. The good news is that God loves rebels and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for them in their place and that they can be saved from God’s wrath by repenting and putting their faith in Jesus. Are you faithful to telling that news to others, even when it is hard?
Whom do you find in your circle of suffering? Church, God desires to showcase His all-satisfying worth in our suffering. He wants a watching world to learn that His steadfast love is better than life (Ps. 63:3). This is what an outward focus preaches to that watching world: that we are rich even in our suffering and are willing to share our treasure through serving and speaking.
II. In Our Suffering, We Express Our Faith in God by Looking Upward (40:8-23)
a. Hoping in God’s Truth (8-22)
[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. [23] Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. (Genesis 40:20-23 ESV)
There are two ways that this passage encourages us to look upward in faith, and the first way is to hope in the truth of God. The truth that I am speaking of is this truth of God’s being “with” us. We are to hope in the certainty of providence.
This pair of dreams in Genesis 40 is the second of three pairs of dreams in the Joseph story (Joseph’s, the prisoner’s, and Pharaoh’s). One can’t help but remember the first pair of dreams when they read these, and I think that we are meant to. These two dreams are meant to remind Joseph of his own two dreams and are a reminder to him that God is making good on the dreams He gave to Joseph through the dreams He is giving to others. Joseph can be certain that God will bring about his dreams just as he did the dreams of these two prisoners. God’s providence is certain.
So these dreams remind us that God is still “with” Joseph even when everyone else has forsaken and forgotten him. The way this chapter ends begs us to ask the question of whether or not God had forgotten Joseph too. He has not forgotten His servant. He is “with” him still. That is the truth that gives rise to hope in Joseph’s life and ours as well. God is always “with” us, working for us and showing steadfast love to us, even when we feel forsake and forgotten by everyone else. You are never forsaken or forgotten.
b. Hoping in God’s Timing (20-23)
The second way that we are encouraged to look upward in this chapter is by hoping in the timing of God. There is one very important difference between Joseph’s pair of dreams and the other two pair of dreams that we see in the Joseph story. The dreams of the prisoner’s and the dreams of Pharaoh both included a time frame for fulfillment. Joseph’s dreams included no such time frame. This is because God wants Joseph to trust Him and His timing in the fulfillment of his own dreams.
Consider this: had Joseph not been betrayed, he would not haven ended up in Egypt as a slave. Had he not ended up in Egypt as a slave, he would not have been falsely accused and imprisoned. Had he not been falsely accused and imprisoned, he would not have met the chief cupbearer. Had the chief cupbearer remembered Joseph and got him out, he would not have been waiting in prison when Pharaoh had his dreams of the coming famine and would not have been there to interpret them. And had he not been there to interpret those dreams, God’s people along with the rest of the known world would have starved to death.
Friend, God’s ways are not our ways. They are higher and they are better (Is. 55:8-9). God uses the suffering of Joseph to mold Joseph into a spiritual warrior, to save His people, and to save the nations.
Are you willing to hope not only in the truth of God but also the timing of God, even if it takes a while? Are you willing to trust Him? That is the most important issue in your life.
The reality is that you are never forsaken or forgotten by God in your suffering. On the contrary, you can be certain that God is “with” you. And one thing that He is doing is molding you into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, so that you can be a showcase of His all-satisfying worth to a watching world. This is the message of 1 Peter 3:14-16: “But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”
Consider also James 1:2-4: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
There is one who is greater than Joseph who can identify with feeling forsaken and forgotten. His name is Jesus Christ. As He hung on the cross, He cried out to His Father, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) Jesus was forsaken so that we could know that we never would be. His work on the cross has paid for our sins and brought us near to God. And those who have been brought near will never be far again! Believe that. Breathe that. Walk in that truth. Never let go of the truth that God will never let go of you. And if you have never given your heart and your life to Jesus Christ, I invite you to come to Him today and embrace the God who will never leave you or forsake you. You will not find a love like that anywhere else in this universe.
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