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.
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35 thoughts on "Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dreams"
I identify so much with Joseph’s story that when I get to Heaven, I hope to hear him tell the story himself. I’ve been in the PIT of severe depression. I’ve been in the mental PRISON that is severe anxiety. Two things that, during a 9 year period of my life, dominated my every thought, action, word, relationship, and choice. God rescued me from both the pit and the prison which were entrapping me. He brought me to the PALACE of His presence. While I still have struggles with mental illness, I am not enslaved to it. It is not the overruling part of my life. I am living in abundance, light, joy, and health.
Praise God! Thanks for sharing.
OH how God wants our best, if only we are able to keep our eyes on Him as the chisel as painful as it feels chips away the un-needed to reveal Him master piece in us.
In another reading I am doing, Matthew Henry says “Extraordinary helps are not to be expected where ordinary means are available…If we go on as far as we can in the way of our duty, God will direct and enable us to do that which we cannot do on our own…(and,) They who follow God in the dark shall find that light is still reserved for them.”
I see each of these true in Joseph’s life. He lived step by step, and God directed and enabled according to His plan what Joseph was unable to do on his own. As Joseph traversed through the darkness, he was given light enough for God’s call on him.
Lord, with the gifts, talents, abilities, and circumstances You have given, and allowed, may I move forward, directed and enabled by You, in Your strength and power. When it is dark, You are still working, I am not alone, I will trust. The other thing I read by Matthew Henry, God was, “We should be glad for everything that shows us the way to Christ.” Lord God, whatever the circumstance, please help me find the position in body and soul, of thankfulness and worship of You. Amen.
Joseph is recognized by Pharaoh as “a man who has God’s spirit in him.” Isn’t that remarkable? A heathen acknowledged the holy! Two years in prison had not eliminated Joseph’s relationship with his God. What happened to Joseph was not fair, was not right and yet he remained faithful. Isn’t that remarkable?
Yes, so it is for us as well – the waiting for rescue is wearying and often discouraging. But we have God’s spirit within us. We can draw on His strength and take comfort in His presence. He will see us through. Not only is that remarkable but it is absolutely true.
I want to be recognized as a woman who has God’s spirit in her! I pray it is so.
♥️
From the pit, to prison, to the palace, God was with him the whole time! He is with us too, and He is always good!
Joseph’s story always makes me thankful for my God who doesn’t leave us in the pit. I love the way God takes Joseph from his lowly position and brings him to the highest position in the Kingdom with only the King to answer to. And, that is what Jesus does with each of us, meets us right where we are with grace, forgiveness, and love and makes us a place in His kingdom. A place where we are invited in as family, welcomed into relationship with the King. Loved unconditionally and beyond measure. Praying my words and actions bring glory to God and that the in the waiting asked of me I too would draw closer to Jesus.
Thank you for these words. I’ve been in a period of waiting… and waiting… for what feels like forever. I know that God is good; I know that he hears us when we cry to him. I know he’s listening to me now. He’s speaking. He will never leave us alone.
I’m in a period of waiting as well. I will pray for you!
I’m right there with you guys.
However, I just read a passage in
Jordan Dooley’s “Own Your Everyday,”
I’m right there with you guys.
However I just read a passage in
Jordan Dooley’s “Own Your Everyday,” I just had to share.
“What if we simplified how we viewed success so that everyday felt not like a waiting game but instead like an intentional day on the path to walking out the life we’re made for?”
A perspective change may help us trust God’s plan and make our waiting a bit easier.