Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers due to their jealousy of him. He remained true to God through adversity and troubles. He found favor in running the household of an Egyptian official, Potiphar. Then Potiphar’s wife lied about him and he was thrown in jail. Still, Joseph remained true to his faith in God. He found favor even in jail and gained a position of authority. It was from jail that we continue reading about Joseph in Genesis 40.
1Then it came about after these things, the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt offended their lord, the king of Egypt. 2Pharaoh was furious with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker. 3So he put them in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, in the jail, the same place where Joseph was imprisoned. 4The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them; and they were in confinement for some time. 5Then the cupbearer and the baker for the king of Egypt, who were confined in jail, both had a dream the same night, each man with his own dream and each dream with its own interpretation. 6When Joseph came to them in the morning and observed them, behold, they were dejected. 7He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in confinement in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?” 8Then 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.”
9So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, “In my dream, behold, there was a vine in front of me; 10and 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.” 12Then Joseph said to him, “This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days; 13within 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. 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. 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.”
16When the chief baker saw that he had interpreted favorably, he said to Joseph, “I also saw in my dream, and behold, there were three baskets of white bread on my head; 17and in the top basket there were some of all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” 18Then Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; 19within three more days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off you.”
20Thus it came about on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21He restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; 22but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
There are two aspects of this scripture which truly speak to me. The first is fairly obvious. Joseph remains faithful to God despite years of continuing struggles. One could easily complain and get bitter and give up… or get mad at God, blaming Him. Joseph did none of these things. He suffered through challenge after challenge, each time finding favor with God and man. God was able to then use Joseph in a powerful way because of this, as we will see as we continue to read later in Genesis. Joseph saves all of Egypt and his own family and is ultimately reconciled to his family. This was only possible because of his faith, patience, endurance, and good attitude through it all. His life stands as powerful testimony to living for God and trusting Him even thousands of years later.
The second aspect that is a bit more subtle is as follows. Though God can choose to speak to us or work through us any way He sees fit, He often demonstrates consistency in how He relates to each of us. For example, God gave Joseph a gift in receiving and interpreting dreams. He experienced it as a youth, to the envy of his brothers, but later it is still the same gift that God continues to use while Joseph is in jail with the baker and the cupbearer. God will use dreams again with Joseph later in Genesis when Joseph is released from jail by correctly interpreting dreams for Pharaoh. Ultimately this consistent gift of interpreting dreams had significant impact on Joseph’s life.
The lesson for us is to consider when we have seen God working in our lives we should look to recognize patterns and expect it is likely that God will continue to speak to us or work through us in a consistent pattern. If you feel God guiding you through dreams, or through your scripture study times, or through other Christians… look for patterns which may indicate how God chooses to communicate to you. It may help you to recognize future encounters and messages from God. When you hear from Him, verify that what you think you are hearing lines up with what the Bible says to be sure it is from God rather from Satan or our own selfish desires. Then obey.
The same can be said for using the spiritual gifts that God gives each of us. Once we recognize how God has blessed us and how He works through us, we should try to honestly assess what gifts He has given us and consistently try to use them to glorify His kingdom!
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