Passage: Genesis 40

The Big Idea

Stuck in prison for something he didn’t do, Joseph didn’t sink into self-pity. He noticed two sad fellow prisoners, went to them, asked what was wrong, and pointed them to God, who alone could meet their need. He spoke both the good news and the hard news. Then the cupbearer forgot him for two more years. Why would God allow that? To teach Joseph, and us, to hope in Him alone, not in the arm of flesh. Real hope is trusting God at all times and knowing He will never fail you.

Hope When It’s Hopeless

We desperately need hope. Hopelessness is one of the worst things a person can experience.

G. K. Chesterton wrote that hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all; it’s only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.

Paul says we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen isn’t hope. If we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it eagerly and patiently (Romans 8:24-25).

The Heart of Ministry (Genesis 40:1-4)

Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker offended their master, and he threw them into the same prison where Joseph was. The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to them, and he served them.

Hope leads to ministry. And the heart of ministry is serving. The word minister means servant.

Jesus’ way of leadership looks nothing like the world’s (Mark 10:42-45; John 13:12-17; Philippians 2:5-8). He calls us to be:

Servants, not lords over others.
An example, humble, like a child.
Willing to be the younger, the last and the least.
Without force, without selfish ambition, without concern for reputation.

The Way of Ministry (Genesis 40:5-7)

One night the cupbearer and the baker each had a dream. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw they looked troubled. He asked, “Why do you look so sad today?”

Joseph shows the heart of a shepherd, the heart of Jesus.

He came to them

He didn’t stand off proudly, waiting for them to come to him. He had work to do, but he set it aside for these men.
Go out of your way to come to people. Show them they matter more than your job or your phone.
Be willing to listen. We’re all on our phones too much; we’ve lost the art of real conversation. Put down the phone and slowly back away!
Jesus said the Son of Man came to save the lost. A shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to find the one, and rejoices when he does (Matthew 18:11-14). What makes Jesus happy? Saving sinners, and that means going after them.
Coming to people takes vulnerability. Hurting people hurt people. You may get hurt.

He looked at them

Joseph could have stared at himself: “Why am I here? Why is my life so hard?”
Jesus said that anyone who follows Him must deny himself, take up his cross and follow (Matthew 16:24).
Real biblical counsel isn’t built on self-esteem. It’s built on dying to self. That’s where real life is found.
Joseph’s focus was on others. That takes selflessness. It would have been easy to steer the conversation toward his own situation.

He asked a caring question

“Why do you look so sad today?” Not “What’s up?” or “How about that game?” But: I care about you. How can I serve you? Jesus never thought of Himself first.

The Spiritual Work of Ministry (Genesis 40:8)

They said, “We each had a dream, and there’s no one to interpret it.” Joseph said, “Don’t interpretations belong to God? Please tell me.”

God is teaching us about grace here:

They had a spiritual need. They knew their dreams mattered, but they’d only looked to people for answers.
God has the resources to meet it. “Interpretations belong to God.” Whatever your spiritual need, whether brokenness, loneliness, grief, guilt, shame, poverty, persecution, pride or any sin, Jesus can and will supply what you need by His grace, as a free gift.
Joseph was willing to serve as a go-between. “Tell me. I know God gives dreams, and I know God cares about you. I’ll go to Him with you.” In a small way, he acted like a priest, showing them how to approach God for help. Jesus does that for us perfectly (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Good News and Hard News (Genesis 40:9-19)

The cupbearer described a vine with three branches that budded, blossomed and produced grapes. He squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and handed it to Pharaoh.

It was a message a cupbearer would understand. God isn’t trying to hide His messages, but He does invite us to come to Him humbly to understand them fully. That’s why Jesus taught in parables (Matthew 13:10-16).

Joseph said, “The three branches are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will restore you, and you’ll put his cup in his hand again. But remember me when things go well for you. Please mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of here. I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and I’ve done nothing to deserve this dungeon.”

No one could have guessed that three branches meant three days. It was revealed by God.
Joseph had no doubt. Three days is easy to test! He asked God in humility and faith, and he trusted the answer God gave. Ask God, and trust what His Spirit shows you (James 1:5-6).
Joseph shared his heart with the cupbearer. They had a friendship now. This wasn’t scheming; it was honesty with a friend.

When the baker heard the good interpretation, he shared his dream: three baskets of bread on his head, and birds eating Pharaoh’s baked goods from the top basket. Joseph said, “The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you, hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh.”

Joseph was faithful to share the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), good news and hard news.
How many preachers will happily deliver the cupbearer’s message but skip the baker’s?
Think of the Lord’s Supper. The cupbearer is connected to wine, a picture of the new life we share with Jesus. Everyone loves to talk about that. The baker is connected to bread, a picture of Jesus’ body broken for us, and of our own will being broken and surrendered to the Father. There’s a lot of talk in the church about Jesus’ blessings and very little about dying to self. But following Jesus means both.

Forgotten (Genesis 40:20-23)

On the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, he threw a feast. He restored the cupbearer to his position and hanged the baker, just as Joseph said. But the cupbearer didn’t remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Why would God allow that? It seems cruel.

Joseph needed to learn that God was his only hope, not his friends, not the arm of flesh.
God is jealous for our hearts. He doesn’t want us trusting in anything else.
Paul said they felt they’d received the sentence of death, so that they would rely not on themselves but on God, who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9). God is willing to let us suffer to teach us to trust Him.
Success could easily become an idol, so God lets challenges convince us He’s our only hope. “My hope is in You” (Psalm 39:7).
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God (Psalm 20:7).

When you think you’ve had enough, God is often just getting started. Sometimes it’s when we surrender to a life that may never change (“I trust You anyway”) that God brings the trial to an end, because it has done its work.

God’s purpose isn’t to destroy you or hurt you. He’s your loving, wise Father. But there is a curse in trusting ourselves, like a child who ignores his father’s warning to stay out of the street.

Jeremiah says:

Cursed is the one who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns from the LORD. He’s like a shrub in the desert that doesn’t see when good comes, living in parched, salty land (Jeremiah 17:5-6). Why am I so dry? Because I’ve been hoping in the arm of flesh.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD. He’s like a tree planted by water, sending roots to the stream. It doesn’t fear when heat comes; its leaves stay green; it isn’t anxious in drought and never stops bearing fruit (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

When I trust and hope in the Lord instead of myself, I’m stable, watered, rooted, unafraid, green, unanxious and fruitful.

The flesh, our fallen nature, can never be reformed or improved enough to please God. The only hope is for it to be put to death with Christ and replaced by His new life in us (Romans 8:7-8; Galatians 2:20).

Living with Hope

Joseph went through so much. Why? Because God wanted to bless and use him. But God doesn’t bless flesh. He brought Joseph through all of this so Joseph would always know it was about God, not himself, so God would get the glory. Then God was free to lift up His servant in due time.

Paul says whatever was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4).

God wants to use Joseph’s story to change your life.
Trust God. Focus on people. Live with hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

He’s the God of hope.
He wants you overflowing with hope.
He gives it by the Spirit’s power, as you believe.

Will you believe?

That your life isn’t a mistake.
That nothing is in your life outside your heavenly Father’s will.
That God loves you.
That God wants to use you to serve others during your short time on earth.

George Müller, who cared for thousands of orphans by prayer alone, said that even when our situation seems impossible, our work is to hope in God. Our hope won’t be in vain, and in the Lord’s own time, help will come.

Grace Takeaway

Joseph served others from a prison cell and pointed them to God, then was forgotten by the one man who could have helped. But God hadn’t forgotten him. Whatever has let you down, it may be God’s gentle way of moving your hope off people and onto Him. Hope in God. Serve the people in front of you. Help will come, right on time.

For Discussion

Have you ever been to jail or visited a prison? Do you know someone who has?
Why do you think God placed Joseph in prison? How would you feel if you were wrongly imprisoned or mistreated? Does God allow these things to happen to His children?
What promises can we hold on to when we don’t understand what God is doing?
How does Joseph show us how to live with hope? What does a hopeless life look like?
Dig deeper: the hope of Jeremiah.
– Read Lamentations 3:1-20. Which complaints do you most identify with? Why did his soul sink?
– Read Lamentations 3:21-26. What attributes of God gave Jeremiah hope? What did he do with those truths?
– Read Lamentations 3:27-41. What advice does Jeremiah give us? Can you find five recommendations?

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It’s Really About Hope