Genesis 40:23 “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”
Joseph’s falsely accused, imprisoned. Pharaoh’s cupbearer gets thrown into the same dungeon. Has a dream. God gives Joseph the interpretation: Pharaoh will reinstate the cupbearer in 3 days. Happens.
Joseph’s falsely accused, imprisoned. Pharaoh’s cupbearer gets thrown into the same dungeon. Has a dream. God gives Joseph the interpretation: Pharaoh will reinstate the cupbearer in 3 days. Happens.
An unforgettable turn of events. Only, ironically, it’s exactly that: forgotten. After interpreting the cupbearer’s dream, Joseph had said, “When all goes well for you, remember I was with you. Please show kindness to me by mentioning me to Pharaoh & get me out of this prison.”
Two years pass. By our reckoning, that’s 730 days. 730 unseen sunrises & sunsets. 17520 hours to toss in the night & brood in the day, cells of bitterness multiplying like cancer in your bones.
Genesis 40:14 is careful to tell us Joseph wanted out. We often imagine that those
Genesis 40:14 is careful to tell us Joseph wanted out. We often imagine that those
who have done remarkably well in harsh circumstances were somehow immune to the pain of it. They had more tolerance, we reason. Had more congenial personalities. Heartier than we. “God knows I couldn’t take it.” They were the kind that didn’t mind it so much. Joseph minded.
He wanted out. Genesis 40:23 tells us of the cupbearer’s oversight toward Joseph not just once but twice. The narrator wants to make sure it sinks in:
“Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”
Passive: he did not remember him.
Active: he forgot him.
“Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”
Passive: he did not remember him.
Active: he forgot him.
The circumstances may not have been ours but opportunity for similar embitterment almost certainly has been. There are people who could’ve come through for us. Maybe we weren’t so much in a bad way as we were right there, waiting in the wings, primed for that opportunity.
Maybe you were the best person for the job. Maybe it was a book a big shot so easily could’ve endorsed & didn’t. Maybe it was a promise or plan & the person forgot he/she ever made it. You’re not sure they didn’t forget on purpose.
They did not remember you.
They forgot you.
They did not remember you.
They forgot you.
They’re out there living their best life & you’re still down there in the dark. What are you going to do with that? Something jumped out at me in my reading this time that I can’t remember catching before. Genesis 40:14, Joseph says to the cupbearer “ when all goes well for you,
remember that I was with you. Please show kindness...”
Wait. We’ve heard those words somewhere before. Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelites. They transported him to Egypt & Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officers, bought him. Bought a human for himself.
Wait. We’ve heard those words somewhere before. Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelites. They transported him to Egypt & Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officers, bought him. Bought a human for himself.
And we’re told, “the Lord was with Joseph.” Then Joseph, after bringing nothing but blessing to Potiphar’s household, is falsely accused of trying to rape his wife. Thrown into the dungeon. Gen 39:21 -> “But the Lord was with Joseph & extended kindness to him.” 40:14 once again:
Joseph to the cupbearer: “But when all goes well for you, remember that I was with you. Please show kindness to me...”
The theme here is, if I may make up a word, “with-ness.” “Remember that I was with you.” The cupbearer would forget for 2 long years that Joseph was with him.
The theme here is, if I may make up a word, “with-ness.” “Remember that I was with you.” The cupbearer would forget for 2 long years that Joseph was with him.
It’s a wonder he remembered at all. We’ve had people never remember. But that’s really not the question on the table here, is it? The question is, will we and do we remember that the Lord was with us? And that the Lord showed kindness to us.
I’m not sure we ever truly realize
I’m not sure we ever truly realize
that the Lord is with us - I mean really with us, right there, as close as our breath, as the skin wrapped round our bones - until no one else is. I’m not sure we know the kindness of the Lord until we have known the unkindness of others.
Can you, can I, handle being forgotten?
Can you, can I, handle being forgotten?
When that person is -or those people are- no longer with us, are we so increasingly embittered about the absence that we miss the Presence?
You are not dependent on any person remembering you. The Lord remembers you. The Lord is with you. The Lord wants to spend time with you.
You are not dependent on any person remembering you. The Lord remembers you. The Lord is with you. The Lord wants to spend time with you.
The Lord has not forgotten.
“Remember when all goes well for you that I was with you.”
When you’re covered in people once again, remember the One who was with you when nobody was around.
“Remember when all goes well for you that I was with you.”
When you’re covered in people once again, remember the One who was with you when nobody was around.
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