Yesterday we saw Joseph back in the pit again, even though he didn’t deserve it. He had learned enough to trust in the timing of God, instead of his own timing. Today we’ll see that it’s very easy to go back to making you own timing instead!
Genesis 40:1-15
1 Then it came about
after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of
2 Pharaoh was furious
with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.
3 So he put them in
confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same
place where Joseph was imprisoned.
4 The captain of the
bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them; and they were
in confinement for some time.
So we see the cupbearer and the baker (these were the official food testers for the King) put in prison with Joseph, and Joseph is demoted to the slave of two nobles. According to Egyptian law, princes were given a slave, even in prison. Joseph has to work for TWO of them! Potipher, the captain of the bodyguard, is still trying to make Joseph miserable.
But notice, we still see no complaining from Joseph. To complain in adversity is to complain about the plan and timing of God!
5 Then the cupbearer
and the baker for the king of
6 When Joseph came to
them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected.
7 He asked Pharaoh's
officials who were with him in confinement in his master's house, "Why are
your faces so sad today?"
Notice, Joseph didn’t say, “you think you have it bad, look at my situation!”
8 Then they said to
him, "We have had a dream and there is no one to interpret it." Then
Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me,
please."
Look at Joseph trusting in God! He still has confidence that God is with him. He’s objective, and not wrapped up in his own problems.
9 So the chief cupbearer
told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, "In my dream, behold, there was
a vine in front of me;
10 and on the vine
were three branches. And as it was budding, its blossoms came out, and its
clusters produced ripe grapes.
11 "Now
Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes and squeezed them into
Pharaoh's cup, and I put the cup into Pharaoh's hand."
12 Then Joseph said
to him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three
days;
13 within three more
days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you
will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand according to your former custom when you
were his cupbearer.
Now Joseph makes his big mistake. Remember, even spiritual champions fail sometime! Look what he says to the cupbearer:
14 "Only keep me
in mind when it goes well with you, and please do me a kindness by mentioning
me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house. (Joseph is impatient. He wants
the CUPBEARER to get him out of this jail)
15
"For I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I
have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon."
Now Joseph is self-absorbed! He’s defending himself, and depending on the influence of man instead of on the influence of God. In a single moment, he abandons the faith in God that he had used so magnificently before. He’s saying, “Keep me in mind, only Pharaoh can get me out of this jail, God has forgotten me!” Joseph has stopped waiting on God’s timing, and switched to his own plan.
This failure costs Joseph two more years in prison:
Gen 40:23-41:1
23 Yet the chief
cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
41:1 Now it happened at the end of two full years that
Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he was standing by the
You see what happens when you depend on man, instead of depending on God? God’s timing is always perfect for our lives.
Psalms 118:8-9
8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
Than to trust in man.
9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD
Than to trust in princes.
To complain in adversity is to doubt the perfect timing of God.