It
May Not Be Time Yet
Verse of the day: Genesis
40:14-15 “But remember me
when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to
Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. 15 For indeed I was stolen
away from the land of the Hebrews; and also I have done nothing here that they
should put me into the dungeon.”
We
see a few things in these verses that tell us much about where Joseph’s heart
is in the midst of these difficult circumstances. First, in the midst of Joseph
being a blessing in the life of someone else, we see a hint of discouragement
in his own. For each of us who know the Lord, there will be times when our circumstances
will get us feeling down about what God is allowing us to go through. This does
not mean that we do not trust God, and that will be truly reflected by what we
do when God presents us with an opportunity to serve, and be a blessing to,
someone else. It is often during our toughest times that God presents us with
opportunities to serve Him. Our ability to serve in the midst of discouragement
comes from knowing, believing, and acting on, the Scriptures which tell us to
be mindful of the things of others, and think of others as being better than
ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4). We can do this when we trust God enough to bring
our own cares to Him for Him to take care of (1 Peter 5:7). We see from Joseph’s
conversation with the butler that he is probably a bit discouraged. He is
possibly thinking that the dreams he recounted for his brothers and father may
never become reality. To add to this, his interpretation of the butler’s dream
is to come to fruition in just three short days, in contrast to all Joseph has
suffered since the telling of his own dreams. Yet, we also see that in spite of
his disappointment, he has already set his mind on a path of forgiveness toward
those who have unfairly caused him harm. In recounting what has happened to him
in verse 15, he does not mention that his brothers were the ones who sold him
into slavery; and he does not specifically accuse Potiphar, or his wife, for
his false imprisonment. More importantly, he does not blame, or point a finger
at, God. We also observe that Joseph was humble and not driven by ambition,
from his statements. He is serving Pharaoh’s butler whom he knows will be
reinstated; yet, he does not ask the butler to tell Pharaoh of his God-given
ability, or seek a position of prestige within the house of Pharaoh. Joseph
simply wants to be relieved of the circumstances God has allowed him to be in
for the time being. Once again, it is normal for us to want to escape difficult
times. However, it is really about how we trust God to handle them as we go
through them, in spite of our desires. We see that no matter how much we try to
plan and scheme our way out of a situation or circumstance, we will not prevail
until God says it is time. Just a few verses later we read that the butler was
released, and reinstated, but he forgot about Joseph (v. 20-23). God kept
Joseph in prison until the timing was perfect, unbeknownst to Joseph, for his
opportunity to be elevated to exactly where God wanted him to be, in order to
use him to rescue God’s people from the great famine that was coming. 1 Peter
5:6-7 read, “Therefore humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Whatever
difficult circumstances we are enduring now, we must be ready to serve and be a
blessing to someone else. We must trust that in God’s time He will bring us to
the end of whatever we are going through, knowing that at the end of it all we
will be better off for it. He may be preparing us to come face to face with
someone who did us wrong, and God is trying to bring us into a mindset of
forgiveness (Ephesians 4:31-32; Colossians 3:12-14). Our faith will be stronger,
and God may very well be preparing us for a God-sized task that is far bigger
than us, and anything we could imagine. We just have to believe that God’s
timing is always perfect for whatever He has planned for our lives; for even
the smallest of tasks will yield great heavenly reward when done in God’s way,
in accordance with God’s time and will.
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