Don't Be a Cupbearer

Gen. 40 - the last verse of this chapter is SO depressing: The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. The verse says he did not remember him (and then to drive the point home says it again in a different way - ("he forgot him")). I think everyone probably has a story when you had hoped a person would remember you, but didn't. Someone gets tickets to a game and told you they would take you next time, but then they invite someone else. Ugggh. So what's our response to this? I say - don't be a cupbearer. First of all, keep your word - have integrity - if you told someone you would do something, do it. Second, why not send a "shout out" today to someone who lifted you up in your past - a person who, when you look back over your life was there at a critical time and pushed you in the right direction. I did this 2 weeks ago. It's a great way to communicate that you have not forgotten what they did. For some of you, this could/should be your parents.

Gen. 41 - nice promotion - Joseph goes from inmate to vice-president (really COO) of an empire in about 10 minutes. On a side note, the language of the Bible is so rich if we'll pay attention. The first verse (following the last verse of the previous chapter - see above) says that 2 full years had gone by. It's not just a time stamp - if it was, it would've said 2 years went by. Instead, it says 2 full years went by. That's 730 days (and maybe more) of sitting there battling thoughts that God has forgotten you and doesn't have a plan for your life. That's about 12,000 waking hours of questioning where you went wrong - retracing every decision you had made until the day your brothers chunked you in a well and then sold you as a slave.

Gen. 42 - verse 4 says: But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. You know you've got a dysfunctional family when dad can't send one of his sons with the others sons because he's afraid they will kill him (as far as he knows, they've done this once).