GLEANINGS - GenesisSample

Are you willing to wait for God?

The single most important fact about Genesis 40 is that both at the beginning as well as the end of the chapter Joseph is in prison for no fault of his.

Joseph is waiting because there is nothing else he can do. He can’t get out of prison, he can’t appeal his sentence, and he certainly can’t escape.

Waiting is perhaps the hardest discipline of the Christian life. Most of us hate to wait. Have you ever felt like you were in this position like Joseph: Things are bad, so you pray, God is silent, years go by and nothing happens? You feel forgotten. Even though all those things were true for Joseph, he remained faithful to God and to his duties.

How does Joseph utilize his time while he is waiting?

1. He did not squander his energies in self-pity. One piece of evidence of this is found in verse 4: ‘And the captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them. He does not focus on himself but on others.’ He’s not paralyzed by the situation but overcomes it. He could have been bitter, but he didn’t turn away from God. Joseph wasn’t blinded by self-pity. By caring for the needs of those in prison, Joseph shows us what to do when we are waiting.

2. Joseph does not give up on his dreams or on the God who gave him the dreams. Joseph’s willingness to interpret the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker shows us that he has not yet given up on his own dreams. He didn’t say to them “My advice is, forget about those dreams. They don’t mean anything. I had dreams of my own once and look where I am now.” And he doesn’t say, “I’m an expert in dreams. I can figure this out for you.” Rather than giving in to despair or relying on false optimism, he points the men to God: “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (v. 8)

3. Joseph does not lose his faith in God. What enabled Joseph to endure his adverse circumstances was an absolute and unshakeable confidence in the fact that God was with him in his suffering. Twice in the previous chapter, we are told that God was with Joseph. Faith is like a muscle, the more we use our faith, the more it is strengthened.

What is the purpose of waiting?

God has a precise purpose and reason for putting His children in trying circumstances. God is developing the character of Joseph through His two favorite classrooms: disappointment and delay. Disappointment is a tool to break our pride that causes us to think that we know how our lives ought to go better than God does. Delay reveals to us that God doesn’t keep time the same way we do

APPLICATION QUESTION:

What is the most severe trial you have undergone to this point? Looking back at that trial today, can you see how God was working through it? Take time to reflect on God’s goodness and grace to you.

QUOTE:

Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given. G. Campbell Morgan

PRAYER:

Lord, help me not to be impatient but wait on You for Your solutions to my problems. I know that in Your time You will make all things good. Amen