Connecting Scriptures:  Psalm 27:14, 33:20-22, 62:5, 130:5, Proverbs 20:22, Isaiah 30:18, 40:31, 64:4, Lamentations 3:25 

Static.  Motionless.  Still.  

Joseph was in prison.  The favorite son of Israel has, for all intents and purposes, hit rock bottom.  At least he was put in charge of it?  The Lord has given him favor even here, among what appears to be “white collar” criminals.  Still, prison is prison.  I am sure he felt like his life was slowly wasting away.  He even expresses the unfairness of the situation and the truth that he shouldn’t be here, “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.”  Isn’t that the joke, everyone in prison claims “innocence”?  Of course we know, he really was.    

Hope arrives in the transformation of dreamer to dream interpreter.  Joseph knew the power of a dream.  How it can affect you positively and, in his case, quite negatively.  His dream put him in a pit and up for sale.  Nevertheless, he knew that God spoke in dreams and that He alone held the power to make sense of them.  So when his charges, two men who had gotten on the wrong side of Pharaoh and ended up under house arrest, are disturbed by strange dreams, Joseph knows just who to ask.  

The big point of todays scripture is that God never wastes our waiting.  If we love Him and seek Him, years that may seem lost and useless, really turn out to be our training ground.  Joseph remained steadfast, holding on to who he knew God to be.  In the slow and steady waiting, Joseph is used by God.  While the cupbearer and baker did forget him, God did not.  We will see that in the next chapter.  Waiting on the Lord can be the most glorifying thing you can do.  It reflects His image in us, as God himself is patient and long-suffering.  The Joseph that walked into that prison would not be the same one that comes out in chapter 41.  To wait is to be refined.

Questions for Reflection:

1.  What seasons of waiting has God led you into?  

2.  What can we glean from Joseph’s example of God’s purposes in our waiting?

3.  How does it encourage you to know that God doesn’t waste any of the years that seem wasted?