After Joseph had graciously interpreted the dreams of the chief butler and the chief baker and had requested the chief butler to “think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house” (Gen. 40:1414But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: (Genesis 40:14)), we read, “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.” Well was it for Joseph that he did, for Joseph was not to have his way. God’s way was far better and filled with far more blessing than he could ever have asked for or thought. “Two full years” Joseph waited in prison, and we do not read of his growing weary or impatient over his adverse circumstances.
He was in perfect innocence as to the charge which brought him there, and “the Lord was with Joseph” (Gen. 39:2121But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. (Genesis 39:21)). Circumstances are no barrier to the Lord’s presence with His people, whether they are in poverty or riches, honor or shame, so long as there has been faithfulness to Him and a good conscience retained; hence Joseph’s composure and success. Hebrews tells us to be “satisfied with ... present circumstances; for He has said, I will not leave thee” (Heb. 13:55Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5) JND), while at Philippi Paul provides an example of one rejoicing in most adverse circumstances. They might put him in the inner prison and make his feet fast in the stocks, but neither devil nor man could stop the flowing of that fountain of living water springing up within, and the Lord was with him. Peter, too, in Acts 5, is seen rejoicing in suffering for the sake of His name, having been beaten for his faithfulness. Everything depends on how we get into the circumstances we are in, as to what we suffer or enjoy while in them. Thus two men may be in the same circumstances outwardly, yet the Lord, in this sense, may be with only one of them.
God Is Faithful
The Lord was for Joseph, too, as well as with him; it could not be otherwise. And though the chief butler forgot him, He did not. What a comfort it is to know that we never are in any circumstance, whether we get there rightly or wrongly — through sin or through faithfulness — but that God can give us a right and a triumphant way out of it. It will call for self-judgment and confession if it is through sin, much patience and waiting upon God in either case, but it is written for every trial, “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13). If we wait for Him, He leads in triumph.
Joseph waited, like the blessed One of Psalm 40, who, when the right moment came, could say, “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit. ... Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust” (Psa. 40:1-2,41<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. (Psalm 40:1‑2)
4Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. (Psalm 40:4)).
Had Joseph gotten his way when he made the request of the butler, very likely he would have been restored to the place that he had lost, and most probably not so much as that, but when God’s time came, he was brought forth from prison to sit among princes.
His Heart — His Hand
Little do we know how much we often lose because of our natural readiness to resort to some expedient of our own, when we miss the incomparable blessedness of being fed by the “integrity of His heart” and guided by the “skillfulness of His hand.” Peter, with all his activity, could never have achieved anything nearly so wonderful as what took place for him when he was in prison and absolutely powerless to put into practice any plan of his own. But this condition of helplessness made him a fit subject for a greater manifestation of power in his life than ever before. It was God’s opportunity; He could bring in His resources now that Peter had none. For such opportunities, I believe, God often waits in vain; we fill them up ourselves, and the desired result does not bring forth the worship that would have resulted, had we allowed God to work.
The Great Change
Pharaoh dreamed, and the butler remembered his fault, in the forgetfulness of his benefactor two years before. No one having been found able to interpret the dreams, Joseph came to the chief butler’s memory. Pharaoh sends for Joseph, and he who had been Pharaoh’s prisoner was almost immediately found Pharaoh’s counselor. He exchanged the dungeon for the “second chariot” and the faithful rule of the prison for governor “over all the land of Egypt.” “And they cried before him, Bow the knee.”
Are we not often very foolish in the things for which we sometimes make request? And do we not often seek untimely escapes out of circumstances that we consider hurtful? Such ways only add to our troubles and hinder Him whose eye is always watchful and whose way with us is always in blessing. May this knowledge inspire in each of us increased confidence and patience! Joseph’s way might have led to deliverance from prison; God’s way led not only out of suffering, but also to the greatest honor.
Pharaoh not only decked Joseph with honor, but also gave him Asenath, daughter of Potipherah priest of On, as his wife, to share his honors. The pit and prison were his lot alone; Asenath was not with him there. So it is said of Christ, “He was taken from prison. ... He shall divide the spoil with the strong” (Isa. 53:8,128He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. (Isaiah 53:8)
12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)). He suffered alone, but the church (and Israel too, by and by) will share with Him the spoil. He was the only One who could pass under the judgment of God and come out of it, having settled its every claim, but we share in His victory! The Lord give our hearts to worship more and more, in such boundless love as this!
It is precious to us — and surely gratifying to Christ — to entertain the consciousness in our hearts of what we are to Christ. In Ephesians 5 we are told that He “loved” and He “gave.” What He gave is the measure of the love — “Himself.” The same love occupies itself now with its precious objects, which it nourishes and cherishes, till the day arrives of the consummation of His ways of love and grace with us. Soon He will fully gratify His own heart’s desires and affection by presenting to Himself the object He loved and for which He died.
F. T. Heath (adapted)