God never forgets and his timing is always perfect.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is February 7, 2025 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called Forget Me Not. Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Genesis 40, Mark 10, and Job 6.
Please open your Bibles to Genesis 40.
When the lovely Mrs. Whitacre and I were first married, we lived in Virginia. There was one quiet Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Whitacre was out with her mom and sisters and I needed to run to Home Depot from something or other. Got my shoes on, grabbed my keys, and got to the front door… and stopped. I had this nagging sense that I was forgetting something. I had my hand on my doorknob and I just stood there a moment wondering, “What am I missing here?” And then it dawned on me: “My newborn son is asleep upstairs!” It was Mrs. Whitacre’s first outing without the baby. I’m a dad now! I have one job: keep that kid alive until his mom gets home. I almost forgot someone!
Our Scripture for Students today is another story of forgetfulness. But where I remembered my son before I even got through the door, the character we are going to read about today was forgotten for two whole years.
This is a little bit longer reading, but it will be worth it. Please follow along with me as I read Genesis 40,
1 Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt.
2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,
3 and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined.
4 The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.
5 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.
6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled.
7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?”
8 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.”
9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me,
10 and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes.
11 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.”
12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days.
13 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.
14 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.
15 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.”
16 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,
17 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.”
18 And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days.
19 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.”
20 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.
21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.
22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.
23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
I’m sure you’re familiar with this story and we’ve just been reminded from our reading: Joseph is in prison because he was framed by Potiphar’s wife. Sometime after he was thrown in prison, the king’s cupbearer and baker each did something to offend Pharaoh and they were thrown in prison, too. They each have dreams, which Joseph interprets very accurately. The cupbearer is restored to his position, as his dream predicted. But the baker is executed, as his dream predicted.
To these guys, Joseph seems to have this amazing ability to interpret dreams. They don’t understand that this is a gift from God that he empowered by his Spirit in order to accomplish his purposes in Joseph’s life. I’m sure Joseph recognizes this, but he is still very human in his request in verse 14 and 15. He simply asks the cupbearer to remember him when the cupbearer gets out of prison and to put in the good word with Pharaoh. And he gives a brief explanation of why: he explains that he was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews and that he didn’t do anything worthy of being thrown into prison. At the end of verse 15, he describes prison as “the pit,” which probably tells us a lot about how unpleasant it was to be there.
You would think that the cupbearer would be grateful to Joseph for the interpretation of the dream and would do what Joseph asked, remembering Joseph and mentioning him to Pharaoh. But you would be wrong. Look at verse 23: Moses wants to be so sure that we get the point here that he tells us what happened twice: the cupbearer did not remember Joseph. That should have been enough, but he goes on: but forgot him.
We can only imagine how disappointing this must have been to Joseph. This was his first break, a real chance to get out of prison. But it depended on someone else, who let him down. And yet, as we’ll read tomorrow, this was all part of God’s big plan to work salvation through Joseph. The cupbearer might have forgotten Joseph, but God didn’t. As bad as it might seem to Joseph and for Joseph, every piece of this story unfolds exactly as God intended it to.
Joseph’s story can be a great encouragement to us. On the one hand, it is totally unique, the very special account of how God is working through one man to save an entire family and eventually—the entire nation of Israel. On the other hand, what God has done on a big stage in orchestrating the salvation of Israel, he also does on the small stages of our lives every day. If there is some part of your life that you feel like is out of control, or forgotten, or couldn’t possibly work together for good, remember Joseph. The cupbearer might forget, but God never will.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!