Trusting God's Plan in the Waiting: Lessons From the Life of JosephSample

FORGOTTEN

“The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”  (v43)  It just hurts reading the verse.  Oh, how we can relate!    

• God, why am I still single while everybody else has gotten married?    
• God, nobody likes me.  I have no real friends.    
• God, please take this pain away.  I can’t live like this anymore.    
• God, I need a job.  No one wants to hire me.    
• God, would you please heal me of this cancer?    
• God, do you even hear me?  I feel like you don’t care about me.

Nobody wants to be forgotten. We want to be seen, heard, and loved. It’s why many use social media because deep down inside, we like the attention or likes we get when we post something. We seek affirmation in texts, tweets, emails, and calls to friends and family. And it’s the reason we want to leave a legacy when we’re gone so we aren’t forgotten.

Poor Joseph WAS forgotten by the cupbearer. And this was after he flat out pleaded for the guy to remember him. He knew the cupbearer was his “get out of jail free” card. Do you have a person or thing that you’ve made your key to being jailbroken? It’s the person or thing you’ve elevated above God as the means out of your wait.  Many times we think, if I could just be married, just have a kid, just get a job, just be healed, I’ll be good then.

Friend, although Joseph didn’t feel it at the time, God had not left him. He was right there with him in the jail. He heard every prayer, saw every tear, and orchestrated events to fulfill Joseph’s purpose in life, it just took some time. God does not work on our timetable or at our beck and call. He is strategic with precision timing and as we see tomorrow, God can take our long wait, and quickly make something happen in His timing. After all, His timing is perfect! 

Questions:    

• Have you ever felt forgotten?  What were the circumstances?    
• Who or what is your “get out of jail free” card?     
• Do you think there was a purpose in the cupbearer forgetting Joseph?