Remembering The Forgotten
Opening Prayer
Holy God, move me to hear the freshness of Your Spirit within words that may be familiar. I want to honor You by paying attention.
Read GENESIS 40
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.
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 favorable 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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“… give thanks in all circumstances…” (1 Thess. 5:16). These are words much easier to read about than to live them out! Paul had to live out these words while in jail in Rome.
As I enjoyed eating Sunday lunch, Ahmadi’s recounted experiences in a humid Middle Eastern jail seemed another universe away. “We stood underground in total darkness,” he told us, “over seventy of us. We only knew the time when someone brought us food twice a day. It was hell…” He could speak no more. Now a Masters student in the West, he remembers his friends still living the nightmare.
What must it have been like for Joseph in an Egyptian prison? Far from home, missing his family (or some of them, at least!), wondering if his beloved father was OK. The son once wrapped in the radiant colors of his specialty coat is now shrouded in blackness. The lad protected from sweaty farm work by parental indulgence is abandoned in a clammy jail. A brief interlude when his dream-deciphering gift offers the prospect of release serves only to mock his hope. The wine taster is yet another person who lets him down, adding to the stack of injustice. For a person with Joseph’s vibrant imagination and creativity, the bleakness and futility of his circumstances must have been unbearable. “What a waste!” we say when we contemplate hours, days, months and years of languishing in the jails of impossible situations: illness, unemployment, depression, grief and
family impasse. “I trusted my life to the Lord, but I am forgotten.” Part of the torment of waiting is that we don’t know why or when it will end.
Joseph is not consumed by his distress, however. His natural charisma and managerial skills emerge from the pit to be endorsed by the jailer. His sensitivity and care reach out to troubled fellow inmates. His God-given discernment of dreams is offered freely and with integrity. Faithfulness, rather than forsakenness, has the last word. Despite all appearances, God has not forgotten Joseph—or Ahmadi’s compatriots—or you.
Apply
Where in your life are you feeling imprisoned? What is your prayer for release? What do you sense are God’s answers to your prayers?
Closing prayer
Loving Lord, I think of those in prisons of evil regimes who are enduring injustice, suffering and pain. As You were with Joseph, I pray that You will reveal Your presence to Your suffering children.
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.