Year 7, Day 39: Genesis 40

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Genesis 40 intrigues me.  He we see Joseph seemingly do all of the right things.  He is faithful in prison.  The captain over the prison respects Joseph so much that he seems to ask Joseph to mentor these two servants of Pharaoh who are imprisoned.  Joseph even interprets the dreams correctly!  Yet what does all of this get him?  The cupbearer is restored, the baker is hung, and Joseph continues to rot in prison.  It’s easy to read through this story and wonder what the point is.

It’s actually worse than that.  It’s easy to read through this story and think that God isn’t loyal.  After all, shouldn’t God reward Joseph for doing the right thing?  Shouldn’t God have arranged for Joseph’s release from prison?

Naturally, these questions are wrong.  However, in exploring them we find out the mistake that they represent.  Each of these thoughts is rooted in Joseph being the focus.  But Joseph isn’t the focus.  He never is and he never should be.  The focus is God.  The focus is God’s glory.  He is the focus, not some human.  This story is about how God can redeem and rescue us, not how we deserve to be rescued.

That really is the crux of this story.  Joseph remains in prison because the time is not right for God to rescue and redeem him.  God has plans for Joseph.  God desires to save him.  In fact, we know that He will save Joseph.  But the time is not now.  God’s plan is not for Joseph to know rescue imminently.

This is a really important lesson for us to learn in our own lives.  God desires to impact our life.  But He does it on His timing, for His agenda, so that He maybe glorified.  It isn’t about our worth and our deserving nature.  It is about Him and His glory.  The next time we feel like God has not been fair to us, we need to remember that the only reason we have that thought is because we have put our focus on ourselves rather than God.

For the record, Joseph himself doesn’t make this mistake.  We don’t see Joseph complaining about God’s lack of faithfulness.  Joseph remains strong and faithful even when he feels forgotten in prison.

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