Can you imagine being falsely imprisoned for who knows how long, and then realizing you had a way out?!
I’m sure Joseph felt this excitement as he interpreted the butler’s dream down in the prison.
Because the dream meant the butler was going to make it out just fine and be restored to his place by pharaoh’s side!
So immediately after interpreting this dream, he asked the butler to put in a good word for him with the pharaoh.
He explained that he was an innocent Hebrew who had been sold into slavery and who hadn’t done anything wrong.
And so what did this butler do when he was restored to his position by the pharaoh’s side?!
“Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him”. (Genesis 40:23)
And it wasn’t until TWO YEARS later that the pharaoh had his own dream and the butler thought, “Wait a second, I should have mentioned this guy I met in prison earlier.”
TWO YEARS.
I’m not sure what kind of inspirational thought this is, but I couldn’t get this practical lesson out of my mind as I studied:
Sometimes, people just forget.
They forget to do things that they’ve promised, even things that seem especially important to us.
And sometimes, we forget.
We forget to reach out to that old friend after receiving a prompting.
We forget to check up on that person that we said we would.
We forget to make that next temple appointment.
Life is messy and mortal, and even with the best of intentions, people will forget stuff.
Sometimes it’s just good to remember that we all need grace because we all forget.
And yet, even if we have to wait for 2 years for someone to remember we even exist, God can always make miracles happen.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
