In our current teaching series on “Questions from the life of Joseph” we come to Genesis 40 where Joseph is in prison, not because he did wrong, but because he did right (life is not fair!).

Earlier, Joseph was thrown into a pit by his brothers, with no hint of what the future might hold for him. Now, he’s in prison, and he still has “no inside knowledge” regarding how, when, or if he will ever get out. We see Joseph waiting to see what will happen next.

Waiting is perhaps the hardest discipline of the Christian life. Most of us hate to wait—and yet, probably all of us are waiting for something at this very moment.

• Waiting for our prayers to be answered.

• Waiting to find out what God wants us to do.

• Waiting for grades, to graduate, or to be accepted into College or University.

• Waiting for a positive answer from the bank.

• Waiting to lose weight, or start a new job.

• Waiting for the right person to come into our life.

• Waiting for a loved one to come back to the Lord.

• Waiting to begin feeling better.

• Waiting for a difficult situation (the Pandemic) or relationship to be resolved or healed.

Warren Wiersbe says this about Joseph’s time in prison: “God permitted Joseph to be treated unjustly and put in prison to help build his character and prepare him for the tasks that lay ahead. The prison was a school where Joseph learned to wait on the Lord…He learned God’s delays are not God’s denials” (Be Authentic, p. 111).

While he was waiting on God, Joseph remained faithful to God, ready for whatever God had for him to do, and he lived boldly.

Joseph’s experience in prison reminds us God doesn’t keep time the same way we do. God is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 90:2). And “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).

A.W. Tozer said it this way: “God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work.”

Our Redeemer is working on our behalf—God is working a plan, it’s just not being worked on our schedule! If we let God be God, all will be well!

“They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint”(Isaiah 40:31).

Are you—am I, willing to wait for God?

We continue this powerful sermon series on Sabbath. Hopefully, the Pandemic will ease in the coming weeks allowing us to meet on our campus again. Until then, please join me online at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday for more insight into the life of Joseph.

Duff