Mark continued his series on Joseph’s life this morning, looking at Genesis 39:21-40:23. At this point in Joseph’s life, he is in prison, having been falsely accused of raping Potiphar’s wife, but God’s hand is still on him and he is actually right in the place God wants him for the next part of God’s plan to be fulfilled.
If Joseph had not been put in prison, he would not have met the cup-bearer and the baker and would, ultimately, not have met Pharaoh. He was in the right place at the right time for the next ‘God-instance’ to occur – God clearly engineering the situation, for Joseph was there to serve these two men and they had their dreams on the same night. In prison, Joseph had continued to use his God-given gifts of administration and organisation. God gives practical as well as spiritual gifts and all are needed. Now, Joseph has the opportunity to use a spiritual gift (interpreting dreams) to help other people.
God clearly brought these two people into Joseph’s life so that he could minister to them through his own life experiences and giftings. God gives us gifts and brings us to situations where our God-given practical and spiritual gifts can be used to bless others, and even when we feel we are not in the ‘best place’, God still brings people to us who are in need! God served these two men (using his practical gifts) and also interpreted their dreams (using his spiritual gifts.)
Joseph clearly recognised (Gen 40:8) that interpretations belong to God; he knew that glory and power belong to God alone. He understood that he was merely the conduit, God being the source. We are channels of blessing, not makers of blessing and we do not own the gifts God has given to us. We need to acknowledge God as the Giver of all gifts and give all praise and glory to Him alone. Nonetheless, a key factor in Joseph’s success was not only his humility and his willingness to give God the glory, but his willingness to use the gifts God had given him.
It must have been difficult for Joseph to interpret dreams, given that the last time he had done this, he had ended up being sold into slavery by his brothers! It would have been easy to keep quiet – to ‘zip it’ – and let the opportunity pass. The favourable interpretation to the cup-bearer must have seemed easier to give, but the baker’s reaction can have hardly been favourable towards Joseph! In the same way, it takes courage to speak out what God tells us to, for our past ‘failures’ often hinder us from doing what God tells us to do the next time. Joseph chose to use the gifting, even though the conditions for spiritual growth must have seemed limited in a prison! He recognised that with great gifting comes great responsibility and he chose to use his gifting because of his confidence in God.
The results of this step of faith did not look encouraging, however. Nothing seemed to happen. The cup-bearer forgot him. He was still in prison, in exactly the same position as before. The interpretation of the dreams proved accurate, but he remained languishing in prison, which must have been disheartening. Nonetheless, God had not forgotten Joseph and was still at work in this situation. It was simply that God’s timing was not yet right.
When the time is right, the dreams God has planted in our hearts will become reality. In the meantime, even when nothing seems to be happening, we have the ongoing choice to ‘zip it or not.’ We choose to obey God and use our practical and spiritual giftings wherever we are. The rest is up to God, but He will always honour faith and obedience.