SPEAKER_00 0:07

Today we're continuing our meditations on the book of Genesis, particularly on Genesis chapter forty-one. Now this is a continuing story of Joseph, and Joseph's life is full of drama. He was his father's favorite son, Genesis 37. He was hated by his brothers and ultimately sold as a slave and Egypt, uh, where he was falsely accused of misconduct, Genesis 39, and he was imprisoned without any signs of hopeful future. Now we come to Genesis 41, which records the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, having a strange dream. Verse 1. After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamt that he was standing by the Nile. Now the Bible mentions two whole years going passing by as a sort of a matter of fact. But the psalmist remembers how physically and emotionally Joseph suffered in prison. Psalm 105. Joseph was sold as a slave, they bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons till what he foretold came to pass, till the till the word of the Lord proved him true. So for Joseph, who had high hopes of being proven innocent and being released from prison, the two years must have felt like twenty years. Time is a strange thing, isn't it? When we suffer, it feels like time standing still. Now we often view delays as divine absence. But this chapter reveals that God is not absent in our suffering. It is true though, I think, um that God never seems to be in a hurry. But we've learned that God is always on time. Now, in fact, the delay is even necessary for us. Theologian A. W. Pink um once said waiting is not just a period of time that elapses before we get what we want. It is the process by which God prepares us for what He has for us. Now God often takes us to a place where we don't want to be. It's a prison or or some sort of a suffering where we receive blessings we could not fathom on our own. Personally, I wish it weren't so, but that's how it is. One of the most profound examples of this is Joni Erickson Tada. Now in 1967, a diving accident left her a quadruplegic at just for uh 17 years old. She was she went from being an active athlete to being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Joni's testimony captures this Joseph-like perspective. After over fifty years in a wheelchair as a quadruplegic, she has often remarked that she would rather be in her chair knowing God than on her feet without God. She describes her paralysis not as a tragedy that sidelined her life, but as a severe mercy. Severe mercy. It echoes a hard but beautiful truth. The place where we feel most restricted is often where God is doing his most expansive work. Joseph's story is a blessing because it ultimately points to Jesus Christ. Joseph foreshadows Jesus Christ as follows. He is stripped, sold for silver, and cast into a pit. He is raised from a tomb, the prison, to the right hand of power. And he becomes the source of bread for a dying world. Now, even though Joseph is foreshadowing Jesus Christ, uh let us also remember a vital distinction, and that is Joseph's suffering was necessary to form his character. However, Christ, already perfect, suffered not to be improved, but to atone for the lost. Joseph's suffering produced a leader while Christ's suffering produced redemption. That's a major uh distinction, isn't it? The God who remembered Joseph in a forgotten cell is the same God today who raised Christ from a sealed grave and who is walking with us. Joseph eventually named his son Ephraim, saying, God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. Now remember that God did not wait for the season of sorrow to end before bringing fruit. God brought fruit within the sorrow. So if you find yourself in a season where delays feel like denials and silence feels like absence, remember that your waiting is not wasted. The same God who remembered Joseph in a forgotten cell is the God who raised Jesus Christ from the sealed tomb. He is not absent in the silence. He is not late in the delay. What feels like confinement may indeed become the place where faith deepens, pride is humbled, and grace bears unexpected fruit. No delay is long enough to derail what God has decreed. Remember, God is up to something, and He's up to something good. You're never forgotten in Christ Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

In Egypt's dust and is reign until the word of Trump escape. He said within the prison's name and turned his face toward the light. Take it to the Lord. We bring it to the Lord in our weakness, in our shame. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Take it to the Lord. Can we find a friend so faithful who will love our success? Take it to the Lord in prayer. Take it to the bread. We bring it to the Lord in our weakness, in our shame.