Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams

BY Erin Davis

Of all the drama and intrigue contained in Genesis 41 and 42, these four words capture my attention the most: “after two whole years” (Genesis 41:1, ESV). Joseph sat in a foreign prison, innocent of the crimes he was accused of committing—for two whole years. That’s a long time to wait for your rescue, a long time to wonder if a savior is coming, a long time to pray for God to come through. Except, on God’s redemptive timeline, it isn’t. When God decided to restore Joseph, it happened in the blink of an eye: “Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit” (v.14).

Though I know the stories in God’s Word aren’t about me, I can’t help but identify with Joseph. I’d go all in on the bet that you can identify with him too. Here we sit, longing for our rescue. We’ve got heartaches and breaks we want mended. We’ve got needs we cannot meet for ourselves. We’ve got broken bodies, broken homes, and broken cultures. There are times our fallen world feels like a prison. In Christ, we have been made new (2 Corinthians 5:17), but it doesn’t always feel like it. We are still waiting for complete deliverance from our brokenness, and we have been waiting our whole lives. And yet… “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet… the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

Whatever it is that you’re waiting for God to do, whether you’ve been waiting two years or two decades and even when the wait feels like it will last forever, there is hope worth holding on to. Someday, when Christ returns for His bride, we will exchange prisons for the fullness of His presence, pits for His perfect peace.

The wait often feels like it’s lasting too long—except, on God’s timeline, it isn’t. Watch for Jesus with hope that is rooted in expectation, knowing that the wait, no matter how long, will not have the last word.