Scripture: Genesis 40:14, 23; 41:1, 9–14
“Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.” — Genesis 40:23 (KJV)
Joseph had already spent years suffering for things he did not do. His brothers sold him because they hated the dreams God gave him. Potiphar’s wife lied against him because he refused her advances. Potiphar sent him to prison without hearing his side of the story. Then, Joseph helped the chief butler, and he made one simple request: “Think on me when it shall be well with thee.”
Joseph was not asking for a palace. He only wanted the butler to tell Pharaoh that an innocent man was being held in prison. The butler was restored exactly as Joseph had interpreted, but once he returned to the comfort of the palace, he forgot Joseph in prison. The chapter ends with: “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.”
It is easy to read that verse quickly because we already know how Joseph’s story ends, but Joseph did not know. He woke up the next morning expecting that the butler might speak. Each sound near the prison entrance could have meant that someone had come for him. But nobody came; days passed, then weeks. Eventually, Joseph must have realised that the man he helped had moved on with his life.
Sometimes, one reason people feel forgotten by God is when someone hurts us, lies against us, refuses to help us or forgets a promise, and we wonder why God allowed that person to have so much power over our lives and because God did not stop it, we begin to hold Him responsible for it.
God was not the author of every evil thing that happened to Joseph. His predicament were results of human decisions, and the Bible does not support them by calling them the will of God.
Years later, Joseph said to his brothers, “Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.” Two intentions were at work in the same story. His brothers intended to destroy him, but God refused to allow their intention to determine his end.
Some people are angry with God over things people did to them. God is blamed for the abandonment, the betrayal, the abuse of power and the injustice because He did not step in when expected. However, the heart of God should not be judged by the behaviour of those who hurt us. Their actions reveal who they were in that moment; they do not reveal who God is.
God may permit people to make decisions He does not approve of, but He does not surrender the conclusion of His children’s lives to them. What they did may change a chapter, but it cannot cancel what God has determined to do with the whole story.
But two years later, Pharaoh had a troubling dream that the magicians and wise men of Egypt could not interpret it. Suddenly, the butler remembered the prisoner he had left behind. The delay changed the nature of his release. He did not simply walk out of prison as a free man; he came out to stand before Pharaoh. By the end of that day, the prisoner had become governor over Egypt. What looked like forgetfulness was timing.
There are moments when we ask God to remove us from a painful place, but He is also arranging where we will enter when we come out. We want the door to open immediately because we can only see the suffering on this side of it. God sees what will be waiting on the other side. Sometimes, the answer is delayed because freedom alone is not the whole answer.
This does not make waiting pleasant. Joseph still spent those two years in prison. He still had mornings when nothing made sense. He still had to serve faithfully in a place he did not deserve to be. The purpose hidden in the delay did not make the prison comfortable.
Maybe someone has forgotten you; someone who promised to help has stopped picking up your calls, or someone who benefited from your kindness has moved on without looking back. Those who know the truth have remained silent while you carry the consequences of what you are innocent of.
The butler forgot Joseph, but God did not need the butler to remember one day earlier than the day appointed for Joseph’s lifting. When that day came, the same man who had forgotten him became the person who mentioned his name before Pharaoh. People may forget you, but they cannot forget you beyond God’s timing.
Do not let someone else’s failure make you conclude that God has abandoned you. Your story is not waiting helplessly in the hands of the person who forgot you; it is in the hands of God.
Prayer
Lord, remember me where men have forgotten me. Cause those who can help me to remember me at the appointed time. Where rejection, betrayal or delay has kept me down, arise and change my story. Do not only bring me out of this situation; take me into the place You have prepared for me. Let my life show that even when people forgot me, You never took Your eyes off me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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