Bible reading: Genesis--The Life of Joseph

It seems all my posts this week have been on patience and waiting! I had one more for today to share.


In my Bible reading I am just finishing the story at the end of Genesis about Joseph and his life. This has always been one of my favorite stories because of all the lessons we can learn from it for our lives today. This time when I was reading I noticed something I don't remember reading before at the beginning of Genesis 41. After Joseph interprets the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker, it is another TWO years before Pharaoh has his dream. TWO years! This made me think about Joseph. What was he doing during this long stretch of time? How did he spend his days in prison? He'd asked the cupbearer and baker to remember him, which they did not do at the time. It was two years later that the cupbearer remembered Joseph and recommended to Pharaoh that maybe he could interpret his recent dreams.


I try to imagine how Joseph's life must have been to be despised by his brothers and then sold to travelers to end up living in an unfamiliar place. Yet God used Joseph where he was to touch lives and eventually help his family. He was wrongly accused and put in prison for it. He stayed there a long time until he was remembered by the cupbearer.


How does this relate to my life today? I like to think of Joseph as an example of patience and obedience as he waited on God. We don't see that he did anything in prison to try to get the attention of the king or to remind the cupbearer of the promise to remember him. I can see myself trying to pass a note or say hey, remember this, what about me? We don't see that from Joseph, at least we don't read of it in Genesis. I can see myself trying to guess what was going to happen or try to make it happen on my own time. I am encouraged by this story of waiting. When the time was right Joseph was remembered and he was released from prison to become a man of high importance in Egypt.


I want to encourage you today as you wait to remember that God's timing is perfect. It probably isn't going to happen in our time. We need to remember God has a reason for the trials we go through as we wait and we need to be patient as we wait for him whether that is a day, month, or two years.


Hope you have a nice weekend. Have a day of blessings!