Have you ever felt forgotten by people, maybe even by God? Genesis 40 tells us about Joseph in prison, waiting, hoping, and being left behind.
Genesis 40 (ESV)
Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.
And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”
So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. Only remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. For I was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the pit.”
When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.”
On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
The Joseph story slows down here. Joseph is not in a palace, he’s in prison. He’s waiting. He has been waiting, probably for years. He meets two men with dreams, and God gives him the interpretations. For the cupbearer, it’s good news. He will be restored and find his way back into Pharoah’s good graces. Unfortunately for the baker, it is bad news. He will be executed.
As he leaves, Joseph pleads with the cupbearer: “Remember me when it is well with you.” But the chapter ends with the devastating line: “The chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.”
Can you imagine that? Joseph had done everything right. He had been faithful to Potiphar, resisted temptation, interpreted dreams truthfully. And yet, he sits in prison, forgotten. But here’s the key: forgotten by men does not mean forgotten or forsaken by God. The Lord was with Joseph, even in the silence. God was working out His plan, even when Joseph could not see it.
Of course we see this most clearly in Jesus. On the cross, He too was abandoned by His friends, mocked, forgotten, left to die. In fact, Scripture tells us that Jesus cries out that his Father too had forsaken him. Jesus went through the ultimate forgottening so that God could remember us. But even though there was silence in the prison of the grave, God was working the salvation of the world.
The truth is, we may feel overlooked, unappreciated, or forgotten. But in Christ, we are never forsaken. God’s steadfast love holds us fast and he is at work in us even when we cannot see it.
Prayer
Father, thank You that You never forsake Your children. Thank You for Jesus, who was abandoned for us so that we might never be left alone. Strengthen our faith when we feel forgotten. Help us to trust that You are at work in silence as much as in action. In Jesus’ name, Amen.