Devotion for Friday, September 4th
Kevin Peterson
Devotional Text: Genesis 41 (To read and even listen to this text for free, click here.)
Verse in Focus: “So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh. Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, ‘I remember my offenses today. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.’ Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph...” (Genesis 41:8-14a).
Related Verse: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O LORD my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, ‘I have prevailed over him,’ lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me” (Psalms 13:1-6).
Devotional Thought:
Two years. Did you catch that at the beginning of chapter 41? Two years have passed since Joseph interpreted the dream of Pharaoh’s cupbearer. For two years, Joseph has continued to languish in prison for something he didn’t actually do. To be sure, he’s not treated like any of the other prisoners. Because the Lord has been with Joseph, everything that he has touched has prospered—sort of like a King Midas of Greek mythology fame, except without the negative consequences. Like Potiphar before him, the jailer has placed Joseph in charge of pretty much everything. The downside, of course, is that he can’t ever leave—he’s still a prisoner, just with perks.
Two years is a long time to be forgotten. Sure, being the jailer’s right hand man had its benefits. But how discouraging it must have been to wait for freedom that wasn’t coming. I really do wonder if he did have all his stuff ready to go when the cupbearer would come back to get him out. The thrill of excitement that he must have felt as the cupbearer left his cell for the last time to go re-take his place next to Pharaoh! “Surely, he will plead my case!” he must have thought. “The cupbearer’s being sent down here to prison was no accident. And neither was that dream. This is the Lord’s doing! Any moment now, they’ll come to release me too!”
To be so certain that God was behind the circumstances must have made the waiting seem that much tougher. As the days turned into weeks, and then months, I wonder if he began to second-guess it all. I wonder if he began to question what God was doing. It was obvious that the Lord was still with him, what with being the jailer’s “go to” guy on the inside, and all. And yet, he had been so certain about seeing God’s hand in bringing the cupbearer to him. He was so certain that the cupbearer was his divinely appointed “Get out of jail free” card. Yet, here he still sat, in prison, two years later.
“How long, O Lord, how long?” Joseph’s instincts about God’s activity and the arrival of the cupbearer, of course, were right on target. Where Joseph was off was when it came to God’s timing. Joseph is not all that different from any of us, really. How often do we get that timing thing wrong, as well? Timing things right is such a part of our lives, you’d think we’d have a better handle on it when comes to God. But we don’t. You can’t ask a girl to marry you on the first date, even if she’s the one your heart is set on. Things must be done in the proper order. Time must be spent wooing and courting (how’s that for some old fashioned terms!). And when the time is right, and only when it is right, do you ask the big question.
And yet we, metaphorically speaking, expect God to pop the question right up front and skip rapidly to the “And they lived happily ever after.” What a load of bovine turf builder! As the Creator of Time, the Lord is also the Master of it—as Joseph is about to find out. God strikes only when the iron is hot, to borrow another metaphor. And his timing is always impeccable! Blessings on your day!
Vaya con Dios!
Pastor Peterson
REMINDER: You can check out previous email devotions from Shepherd of the Valley Devotions by going to http://groups.google.com/group/salmonlutheran
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