Hey Carpool Crew! I'm Pastor Justin, and today we're back for episode 4 of our journey with Joseph. Quick recap. Yesterday we left Joseph in an Egyptian prison, falsely accused, forgotten by everyone except God. The Lord was with him there. He was running things in the prison the same way he ran things in Potiphar's house. But he was still in prison. Innocent. Faithful. Stuck. Today, the door cracks open. Let me ask you something. Have you ever waited for something so long you started to wonder if it was ever going to happen? You wanted to make the team and the year kept ending without your name on the roster. You prayed for something for so long you couldn't even remember when you started praying. You did the right thing for so long without anybody noticing that you started to think nobody ever would. Waiting is hard. Waiting on God when you can't see what He's doing is one of the hardest things a kid or a grown-up can ever go through. Joseph waited a long time. Buckle in, because the math is going to make you stop and think. Joseph was seventeen when his brothers sold him. The Bible tells us in Genesis 41 that he was thirty when Pharaoh finally lifted him up. Do that subtraction with me. Thirteen years. Thirteen years of slavery, false accusation, prison, and being forgotten. Thirteen years between the dream God gave him at seventeen and the moment that dream actually started to come true. Thirteen years. If you're nine years old listening today, that's longer than your entire life so far. If you're twelve, that's most of your life. The point is, thirteen years is a long, long time to keep believing God is going to do what He said. Now let me tell you how the breakthrough finally happens, because the way God works it out is wild. While Joseph is in prison, two important men get thrown in there with him. Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and Pharaoh's chief baker. Quick context, because these jobs sound smaller than they were. The cupbearer was a trusted official close to the king. He tasted the king's drink to make sure it wasn't poisoned. He was someone who had real face time with the king. The baker oversaw all the king's food. Both of these men, somehow, made the king mad and ended up sharing a cell with Joseph. One night they both have weird dreams. Different dreams. They wake up troubled. Joseph notices and asks them, "Why do you look so down today?" They say, "We had dreams and there's nobody here to interpret them." Joseph says, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams." Now pause. Joseph doesn't say, "I've got a gift, let me show you." He doesn't make himself the hero. He immediately points up. Interpretations belong to God. That posture, after thirteen years of hard, is a clue about Joseph's heart. He's not bitter. He's not chasing his own reputation. He's available to God in the place God has him. He interprets both dreams. The cupbearer is going to be restored. Good news. The baker is going to be executed. Hard news. And Joseph asks the cupbearer one favor. "When it goes well for you, please remember me. Tell Pharaoh about me. I haven't done anything wrong. Get me out of here." Three days later, both interpretations come true exactly the way Joseph said. And then the Bible drops one of the most painful sentences in this whole story. Genesis 40, the very last verse. "Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him." Forgot him. The one person who could have spoken Joseph's name to the king walked out of that prison and forgot Joseph existed. And here's the brutal part. The next chapter starts with the words, "After two whole years..." Two more years. Two more years of prison after Joseph thought freedom was right around the corner. The Bible doesn't tell us how Joseph felt during those two years. But you can imagine. Anybody who has waited and waited and waited for something can imagine. Then comes the dream. Pharaoh's dream. He sees seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the Nile, and then seven skinny, sickly cows come up after them and eat the fat cows. Then he sees seven full, healthy heads of grain growing on a stalk, and seven thin, scorched heads come up and swallow them. Pharaoh wakes up rattled. He calls in all the wise men of Egypt, all the dream interpreters, all the magicians. Nobody can tell him what it means. That's when the cupbearer finally remembers. He says to Pharaoh, basically, "I have to confess something. There's a Hebrew kid in your prison who interpreted a dream for me two years ago and got it exactly right." So Pharaoh sends for Joseph. The Bible says Joseph was rushed out of the dungeon, shaved, given clean clothes, and brought before the king of Egypt. I want you to picture that for a second. One day Joseph is in a prison cell. The next day he's standing in the throne room of the most powerful man on earth. That's how fast God moved when God was ready to move. Pharaoh tells Joseph the dreams. Joseph immediately says, "I cannot do this. God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer." Again. He points up first. He doesn't take credit. After all those years he could have said, "Yes, Pharaoh, I'm your guy, watch this." Instead he says, "God is the one who interprets dreams." Then Joseph tells him. Both dreams mean the same thing. Seven years of incredible plenty are coming to Egypt. Then seven years of devastating famine. The famine will be so severe that the years of plenty will be forgotten. And then Joseph does something kind of bold. He doesn't just interpret the dream. He gives Pharaoh a plan. "Find a wise and discerning man. Put him in charge of Egypt. Have him collect grain during the seven years of plenty so the country has enough to survive the seven years of famine." And Pharaoh looks around the throne room and says, where am I going to find someone like that? Then he looks at Joseph and says, basically, you. You're the guy. Listen to Genesis 41:39-40. "So Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.'" Joseph went from cell to throne in a single day. Thirty years old. Second in command of all of Egypt. Pharaoh gives him a signet ring, fine clothes, a chariot, a new name, and a wife. The dream God planted in him at seventeen, the one his brothers laughed at, the one his dad rebuked, was now the literal reality of his life. Here's what I want you to feel about this. God's lifting Joseph up wasn't late. It looked late from where Joseph was sitting. It looked impossibly late from where the cupbearer forgot. But it was perfectly on time for what God was going to do next. The famine was coming. Joseph had to be in position before the famine arrived. God knew the timeline that mattered. Joseph didn't. That's the One Thing today. God's promotions come at God's pace, not yours. Carpool Crew, this is huge. Sometimes you've been waiting on something for a long time. School. A friend. A change at home. An answer. A breakthrough. And it can feel like God forgot. It can feel like the cupbearer just walked out and never said your name. Hold the line. God didn't forget you. God is preparing the room you're going to walk into next. And when He's ready, the move is going to be faster than you expected. Joseph went from prison to palace in one day, but only after God had been working on Joseph for thirteen years. So here's what I want you to do. Be faithful in this room while God prepares the next one. Don't waste the wait. Don't get bitter while you're waiting. Don't try to force your own promotion. Trust God's pace. Thanks for riding along today on Carpooling with Heroes of the Bible! Next time, we close out our journey with Joseph. The brothers who sold him are going to show back up. And Joseph is going to face the most surprising choice of his entire life. I'm Pastor Justin. I'll see you tomorrow.
