Genesis 40 has been in my thoughts quite a bit recently. Genesis 40 tells the story of the king's cup bearer and baker who both wind up in prison with Joseph. They each have a dream for which God provides Joseph an interpretation for his fellow prisoners. Joseph informs the king's cup bearer that in 3 days he will be restored to his position and Joseph informs the king's baker that in 3 days he will be executed.
I have been thinking a lot lately about 2 employees that used to work for us in one of our appointments. They each had been employed for a while and they each had had some discussions with various supervisors over the years about their employment. There was a significant incident involving both of them. ER needed to be called. A decision needed to be made. One, it was decided, would be returned to their position. One, it was decided, would not.
I imagine that this is similar to the two employees of the King of Egypt in Genesis 40. It seemed to be that the two employees were rightfully concerned about their future and that neither knew what would happen or why.
There are many times in life when we are waiting and quite concerned. We might be waiting to see our boss to see if we are reprimanded such as in the case before us today. We might be waiting to see if the police officer who has pulled us over will give us a ticket. We might be waiting to see if our sports team wins their game. We might be waiting to see if we are chosen for a scholarship or a bursary. We might be waiting to see if we get a raise or a job. There are many times when we are very concerned about what will happen.
There are many times when what will happen, however, has gotten to a point where it is entirely out of our control and all we can do is wait. It is a tough spot.
Hope is the key to making it through. We need to survive until we thrive. The encouragement I have for us is that God will somehow work things out - eventually. I do believe that. True the baker's life came to its end (everyone in that story has now long passed!). True the cup bearer did not recommend Joseph to the king (like he promised) so that he might be released from prison. Joseph remained in jail until much later. But God worked all this for good in the long run - eventually.
With the two Salvation Army employees. I believe the one who was let go, went onto or will go onto much better things. She has much to offer but had certainly run her course at the Army.
God not only restored the cup bearer but He did eventually free Joseph (even though the cupbearer didn't help!) and He even helped the king, Pharaoh and all of Egypt to be delivered from a famine, saving many, many lives in the process. There is no way Joseph, the cup bearer, Pharaoh, or anyone else could have seen this coming. Out of the darkness came light.
Today, I would like to encourage us to persevere. It may seem like you are locked in a prison. It may seem like you are there through no fault of your own. It may seem like everything is hopeless - but I do want to encourage you in this: one thing that no one can take away from you is hope! Tomorrow is a new day and we can keep hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. And God can use our hope to give us the strength to persevere so that we can survive until that day when we will finally thrive.
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