{"id":16560,"date":"2021-07-09T22:00:58","date_gmt":"2021-07-10T05:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_39_11-23-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-07-10T12:52:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T19:52:37","slug":"genesis_40_1-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/genesis_40_1-23\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Do With Bad News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Genesis 40:1-23 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 40:1-23.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 40:1-7 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time,
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0each of the two men–the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison–had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-7: Pharaoh sends his chief cupbearer and chief baker to prison where they meet Joseph.\u00a0\u00a0After some time in the prison together, one day Joseph notices that both\u00a0\u00a0the chief cupbearer and chief baker are looking dejected, so Joseph asks why.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If Joseph had not moved on from his painful past, he likely would not have asked the other prisoners why they looked so sad, for Joseph would be too consumed by his own world of hurt to think about how others are doing. I believe the fact that Joseph asks how these two officials are doing speaks to Joseph\u2019s own resilience and his ability to look past his own hurts to the needs of others. It was because of his relationship with God, more than anything else, that enabled Joseph to move past his hurts to care for others and help them.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0A healthy relationship with God will enable you to move forward from past hurts and enable you to reach out and care for others.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 40:8 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 8: Was Joseph claiming to be God? No. Was Joseph implying he had a special relationship with God and an ability to interpret dreams? Yes.\u00a0\u00a0Joseph, as we will see, had a prophetic gift of interpreting dreams and was able to use this gift to help people in need.<\/p>\n

Let this be a reminder that\u00a0God has given you a set of talents and gifts that you can use to help people in need as well<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Like Joseph, may you know what those gifts are and have confidence to use them to help others<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Genesis 40:9-19 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me,
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat away your flesh.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 9-19:\u00a0\u00a0Joseph interprets the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker.\u00a0\u00a0The interpretation of the cupbearer\u2019s dream brings good news for the cupbearer, but not so for the baker and his dream.\u00a0\u00a0What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God has a unique destiny for every person.\u00a0\u00a0Just because God works in your neighbour\u2019s life in a certain way does not mean He will necessarily work the same way in your life, unless of course God Himself has already promised to do so.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know how the baker responded to Joseph\u2019s dream interpretation.\u00a0\u00a0If it was me, the discouraging news would lead to me to get on my knees and humble myself.\u00a0\u00a0May that be our approach whenever we receive bad or discouraging news.\u00a0\u00a0Whenever you receive bad news, let that bad news bring us to the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0Let us humble ourselves before the Lord, knowing that He will lift us up in due time (1 Peter 5:6).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis 40:20-23 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials:
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand,
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 20-23:\u00a0\u00a0Just as Joseph had predicted in his dream interpretations, on the third day the cupbearer is restored to his position of influence while the baker is hanged.\u00a0\u00a0Yet despite doing nothing deserving of being in prison, and despite requesting the cupbearer\u2019s help to get him out of prison, the cupbearer forgets about Joseph and thus Joseph ends up staying in prison for longer.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0We may ask people to help us and they may agree, but sometimes people can disappoint us too.\u00a0\u00a0Our ultimate hope needs to be not in the people around us but in the God above us.\u00a0\u00a0People may forget their promises and responsibilities, but God never forgets His promises and responsibilities.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0As Psalm 145:13 says, \u201cGod is faithful to His promises and loving toward all He has made\u201d.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You are always faithful to Your promises.\u00a0\u00a0Thank You that because of Your love and power in my life I don\u2019t need to be controlled by my past hurts. Instead I can move forward and help others with the gifts You have given me.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Genesis 40:1-23.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Genesis 40:1-7 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker,
\n3\u00a0\u00a0and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time,
\n5\u00a0\u00a0each of the two men–the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison–had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own.
\n6\u00a0\u00a0When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected.
\n7\u00a0\u00a0So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16560"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16561,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16560\/revisions\/16561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}