This is an old posting from my yahoo 360 blog…it is old and tired, but I want to save a copy so I am putting it here.
OK, I am ready for my Miracle
Genesis 40:5-15
Each 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.
When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so sad today?”
“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.”
So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.”
“This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. Within 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. But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. For 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.”
Will you pray for with me and for me?
If you look at my wife and I you might assume that we are reasonably intelligent people. But that would be a false assumption. You see, when we bought our home a few years back it had pink …PINK. We hate pink. So we saved for a whole year until we could buy new carpet. Now the smart thing to do at the time would have been to get a fairly neutral brown or beige carpet that would hide stains well. But for some reason beyond my current comprehension, we choose white. White carpeting…white…we knew we wanted kids…what were we thinking?
Things went well for a couple of years. But then all that changed the night of the Hawaiian Punch Incident. Jenn and I held a Bible study at our house every Tuesday. After the study everyone hung out around the dinning room table to share snacks.
On this evening particular Jenn was out of town. The study went well and we were enjoying our weekly fellowship. But then it happened. It was almost in slow motion. The bottle of Hawaiian Punch (now referred to as the forbidden beverage) fell over. We tried to stop it, but it went right onto the floor.
I did not panic at first, because after all, I had Scotchgard. In the store they pored liquid onto the carpet and just blotted it up with a towel. I blotted the red stain…it turned pink. I diluted with water…it was pink. I quickly ran to the store and bought $40 worth of carpet cleaning products…pink, pink, pink. I was up until midnight pink…pink…pink.
Then…the phone rang. It was Jenn. I might have said light pinkish hue…it was pink. She was red! My life was over. I was desperate. I needed a miracle.
The next morning, in an act of desperation, I called a carpet cleaner. He said pink was bad. $100 service call no guarantees.
I was desperate…I said come on by. The two guys arrived. I don’t mean to prejudge, but they couldn’t have been paroled more than two days prior. They took one look and remarked…your wife is going to kill you. I thanked them for their insight. I asked if there was anything they could do…they said they would try. They added the first chemical…PINK. They added the second chemical…still PINK. I planned my funeral…they put a sheet over the stain and started ironing. Great, I may be stupid but I know that heat sets a stain.
And then a miracle occurred! When the sheet was lifted the stain was gone. Completely gone. I thought about kissing the guys…I decided that might not be the right response. I paid them, thanked them profusely and sent them on their way.
This morning they read to you a passage from the book of Genesis, where Joseph is in prison. Joseph is an interesting guy in the Bible. He is definitely one of my favorite Old Testament heroes. Many of you know the story of Joseph. Joseph came from a fairly big family. He was one of twelve brothers and was his father’s favorite. In fact, his father loved him so much that he gave Joseph a very nice coat. You know the story, Joseph and the amazing Technicolor dream coat.
Well Joseph was loved not only by his father, but more importantly he was chosen by God for a special mission. God had big plans for him. And he shared those plans with Joseph in two dreams. In the first dream Joseph and his brothers were all bundles of wheat. And in the dream the brothers’ wheat bowed before Joseph…the wheat. In the second dream he saw the Sun and Moon (his parents) and eleven stars (his brothers) bowing down before him.
Wow! Joseph had it made. He was loved by his dad and by God. And God had big plans for his life. Recipe for success right? Well sort of. Joseph had all the right stuff but unfortunately it was not God’s time. That and he was a bit of an idiot. Joseph was a guy.
Now in the New Testament, Mary gives to give birth to the Son of God. God sends Angels to announce his birth and shepherds come and worship him. Does Mary get all puffed up? No, the Bible says she, “ treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”
Joseph…well he takes another approach. He takes his father’s love and God promise of blessing and…ponders them in his heart alright, but then he promptly tells his brothers and family, “who da’ man?” (Ben’s revised standard)
Joseph had a recipe for success, but his sense of timing was lousy and had disastrous results. Joseph begins a long and painful cycle in his life.
His brothers, out of hatred and jealous, sell him into slavery and tell his father he is dead. Joseph learns quickly that God has his own timing.
Now as a slave Joseph does quite well for himself. His master puts him in charge of the house. You might think OK, Joseph learned his lesson, time for God to bless him. Nope, instead he is wrongly accused of rape and thrown into prison. Some blessing.
This is where Joseph’s true character starts to show. He is no longer the cocky kid. Prison is probably the last place he wants to be. But he does not let the situation destroy him. He manages to get on the warden’s good side and Joseph ends up running the joint. Literally. (Get it prison…joint…running?) Ah, never mind.
Which brings us to this morning’s scripture. Joseph interprets the cupbearer’s dream. And he makes the simple request that the cupbearer, remember me and tell the king to let him out of prison. Genesis 40:20-23.
Now 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…in the presence of his officials: He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand, … just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.
The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he FORGOT him.
Man…have you ever been there? Expecting a miracle only to have your hopes dashed. Surely God sent the cupbearer as a miracle to set Joseph free. I would have gone insane. I mean, admittedly Joseph did not act very brightly when he was seventeen. But he was no kid now. His stupid stunt was long behind him and he was had been living an exemplary life since then. But instead of a miracle, it almost appears the God has forgotten about Joseph. You would think that Joseph would turn his back on God, but somehow he manages to keep his faith.
Now the Bible says in Philippians 4:19, “…God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” But too often I think sometimes what we hear is, “I am a Christian so God will supply all my needs, all my wants, and make my life smooth going.” I know I have been guilty of thinking that way.
My wife and I have been going to Floris for a little over 6 years now. And for much of those 6 years, we have been heavily involved in the ministries of Floris. So when my wife found out she was pregnant, I naturally assumed that everything was going to go smoothly. Seems logical…God created and sustains the universe. But I taught Sunday school. So clearly He owes me one. (pause)
Of course I am kidding (heh…right?). But deep down I think we all have the expectation that our actions will translate into good fortune and that when things go bad, God will miraculously transform the situation. But sometimes, God has other plans for our lives.
My son Ethan was born with an incomplete digestional tract, a deformed spine, and numerous other medical problems. At first I took all the bad news in stride. I spouted off little platitudes about how God was going to take care of our family and how God never gives us more than we can bare.
But as the months drew on, and we faced surgery after surgery after surgery, it started to take its toll. We constantly prayed for a miracle. “God heal my son.” But the news got worse there was also nerve damage. We asked for Divine intervention. We got food allergies. And I started to think, “How Dare You!” In my darker moments I shook my fist at God. “After all I have done. How dare you. Why have you abandoned my family? Why would you be so cruel to a child?” “Show me you are God and send us a miracle.” It is easy to fall into that trap.
But God does not abandon us. And he never abandoned Joseph. Throughout his slavery and subsequent imprisonment, God watched out for Joseph. When he was a slave, God brought him favor with his master. And when he was in prison, God made the warden take a liking to Joseph.
Now He did not miraculously destroy the prison. Joseph had to serve two more years after the cupbearer left. But He was there. He was there.
And God did not abandon my family! While I occasionally still have dark moments, I am beginning to see God’s miraculous fingerprints on my life. Within hours of my son’s birth hundreds of people were praying for him. When he was 4 days old, he had his first surgery. Our closest friends just happened to come by for a visit and stayed late into the night with us until he was out of the OR. For three solid weeks after we came home from the hospital, food just miraculously arrived at our doorstep.
Months later the people were still stopping me in the halls of Floris and telling me that they pray for Ethan every day. Every day. That is a miracle.
Then came darkest day when Ethan was having his 4th surgery. He was in a lot of pain and could not eat for 72 hours post surgery…all we could do was distract him by walking the halls of the hospital pulling him along in a wagon. It was then, when I had reached end of my rope, that God performed a miracle and sent us Patty Morrell. Only to me she was not Patty Morrell, she was Emanuel, God with us.
And she could not supply what I wanted. I wanted complete and total healing on the spot. But she brought what I needed, tangible evidence that God still cared. God’s timing was perfect. She brought Ethan a toy (just a milk jug with clothespins) and walked the halls with us for over two hours until Ethan fell asleep. Now it takes 5 minutes to circle the children’s wing of Fairfax hospital. That means she did over 40 laps with us. She did not have any sage advice, but she was there. Now she did not carry me to Jesus as Cheryl’s song went today. She carried me AS Jesus. And when she left, I had the strength to go on.
So don’t tell me there is no God. I have seen the miraculous transformation in the hearts of people around me and you have too. He causes people to bring food bags once a month for the hungry. He is in the heart of a lawyer helping immigrants with their paperwork. He compels a nurse to go to Africa to work in an orphanage. He upholds tireless pastors who push us to be holy. He encourages a teenager to cook eggs for the homeless. He is in the heart of a preschooler singing “Jesus Loves Me” on a Sunday morning. And sometimes He moves an unassuming woman to walk the hospital corridors with an arrogant man who has lost sight of everything that is important. That my friend…is a miracle.
I do not know the future. I have no idea what my son’s future will hold. But I am convinced…absolutely convinced that God has his future in his hands. And regardless of whether or not God heals him, I am also convinced that Ethan will take the name of Jesus to places that I will never go.
Two years after the cupbearer leaves prison, he finally remembers Joseph. Joseph quickly goes from being a prisoner accused of rape, to the second in command of Egypt. God did have a plan. It was finally the right time. And through Joseph, God miraculously saves the family that will one day become the nation of Israel from starvation. God steps in at precisely the right moment and blesses the world.
You may be here this morning and feel like you are in prison forgotten by God. You may have lost someone close to you. You may be dealing with prolonged illness. You may have lost your job and you may be facing bankruptcy. What you are dealing with may make my problems may seem trivial. But if you remember nothing else about this morning, remember that God has not left you. He loves you very much and He has a miraculous plan for your life. Sometimes, tt may not seem that He is there. But I challenge you to look around and see him in the hearts of those around you. He is there and at the right time you will know it.
Maybe you are here this morning and everything in your life is perfect. You may be blessed beyond your comprehension. If that is you, I challenge you to look around and see the suffering in this world. God may be blessing you, at this time of your life, because He wants to bless someone through you. You may be someone else’s miracle. Maybe like Patty Morrell, you can be Jesus to someone. Go! Be Jesus to someone.
Shall we pray?
