In the Bible story of Joseph, the horizon of his life was darkened. Remember he had been betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and thrown into the prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The resilience of the man keeps coming through as he had served faithfully in Potiphar’s house and here in prison. He had even served these two political prisoners i.e. the baker and cup bearer in correctly interpreting their dreams. He had one small request of the cup bearer to “remember him when he was restored”. True to his interpretation the baker was killed.
It will be two full years later that Pharaoh’s dreams would spark this forgetful cup-bearer’s memory and he would recommend Joseph as the dream interpreter to Pharaoh. And so we can go on presuming at the human level of this narrative that this is about our human failures and how our memories can be stirred with the requesite triggers.
But the grander narrative of Joseph’s story is about the planning and providence of God which Psalm 105 gives us a glimpse of when it tells us that God, “called for a famine on the land of Canaan, cutting off its food supply. Then He sent someone to Egypt ahead of them i.e Joseph, who was sold as a slave.”
At the human level we have all those involved reacting to the emotions and circumstances of jealousy, hatred, lust and selfishness. But at the divine level these human responses are all being driven according to a plan to achieve a divine goal.
So the forgetfulness of the cup-bearer introduces us to the intentional forgetfulness of God. Not that He can ever have a memory loss. And not in the way that we think of forgetfulness but it can certainly seem in dark moments and places of our existence such as where Joseph was that not only has family, friends and colleagues forgotten you but God too seems to have forgotten, has no use for you and has consigned you to life in prison. Many of us like Joseph would conclude that God has forgotten him or her after one year into the cup-bearer’s forgetfulness.
However, in seasons of divine forgetfulness, in those times when we think even God has forgotten us and possibly has no more use for us He is actually working in us to will and to act in order to fulfill His good plans and purposes for our lives.
It’s what we see at the end of two years when Joseph stood before Pharaoh. Not only was he prepared to fulfill the purpose of interpreting dreams but ready for a grander purpose that God had been planning all along to make him the economic leadership of the nation, the fulfillment of prophetic dreams and the saving of his family. It was why Joseph rightly acknowledged toward the end of the story to his now reconciled brothers, ‘you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, for the saving of many lives’ (Gen 50:20)
Have you been forgotten by family, friends, leaders, colleagues? Are you the one that nobody remembers to invite to the events that you really want to be at? Are you in a dark and gloomy situation thinking that there is no more usefulness for your life? Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus took our place in the darkest moment of human history on the Cross when even the Father turned His face away so that as a child of God there would never be a moment when God would turn His face from you. If it feels like He’s forgotten you, that your prayers are not going past the ceiling then take courage God is preparing you through this tough season. He is getting you ready for some big plans. He loves you and He is never going to let go those promises, only get you ready for His plans and purposes. For He is not a man that He should lie.
So be of good cheer this year, beloved. Lift your head and thank Him for His love and care. When God opens a book of remembrance for His own, all things begin to work together for their good. Haman meant evil for Mordecai but it worked together for Mordecai because a book of remembrance had already been opened unto him.
Those who benefited most and supposed to help Joseph forgot him. But thank God, He is not a man. The Bible declares that God remembered Joseph. I pray that this year the good Lord will remember you for good. Never mind if men forsake and forget you. Where you cannot go God will give you voice. He will bring you out of obscurity into the limelight, in Jesus name.
(Gen 40; Phil 2:13)
Shalom!
