Has God Forgotten?

Has God Forgotten
Genesis 37-40
“Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him.”
Has God forgotten?  That must have been a question that plagued Joseph for 13 years.  It is one thing for man to forget, but does God forget?  The story of Joseph begins with a dream and then seems to end in a nightmare.  In chapter 37, we find Joseph given two dreams that originated from God.  In both dreams, the implication was that Joseph would rise to prominence over his brothers and family.  For a 17-year-old, the dreams must have brought excitement and anticipation that God was blessing and giving him the promise of a prosperous and successful future. However, rather than his brothers accepting the prophecy and encouraging Joseph, they become angry and jealous.  It is bad enough that Joseph seemed blessed by God, but to rise in preeminence over them was unthinkable.  Even Joseph’s father rebuked him and ridiculed the dreams.  Their resentment soon turned to jealousy and then murderous hatred as they plotted to kill Joseph. However, their greed was greater than their bitterness, so when the opportunity arose, they sold him as a slave to traveling Midianite traders.  In doing so, they gained some pocket change (20 shekels of silver would be worth about $200 today), they got rid of Joseph and his dreams, and could still claim innocence of the guilt of his death.  For a young man of 17, the betrayal of his brothers and the prospect of a life of slavery must have been devastating. Joseph went from the joy of God’s blessing to the despair of rejection and adversity.
For the next 13 years, the story would repeat again and again.  Joseph would seem to experience God’s blessing and rise to a position of influence, only to have the rug pulled out from underneath him.  He had been falsely accused of a crime and then forgotten in the confines of a prison.  When the cupbearer forgot about Joseph, and Joseph languished in the prison for another two years, he must have felt abandoned and ignored not only by the cupbearer but also by God.
We accept Christ and read of the promises that God will pour out his blessings upon us. It is easy to find joy in the Christian life when things are going well.  We sing the praises of God and share the praise of God’s blessing.  Yet what happens when life suddenly turns dark and our circumstances foreboding?  When cancer strikes unexpectedly, when we lose our jobs and the bills start to pile up, when adversity seems like the waves of the ocean constantly pounding against us, we begin to question God and doubt His goodness. How can we praise God when heaven seems silent and indifferent to the struggles we face in life? While we know the whole story, how God used these events to orchestrate Joseph’s rise to preeminence, Joseph did not have such perspective.  Faith is not celebrating God’s blessing when we see His plan unfolding for our good.  Faith trusts God’s promises and blessing even when He takes us into the valley of adversity.  Faith is recognizing that God’s blessing and goodness do not protect us from hardship but assure us that even amid our hardship, His plan for us is still unfolding to position us where He can pour out His blessing.  God’s grace does not prevent adversity, but it operates to achieve what is good through our adversity.  When it seems God has forgotten and His promises are abandoned, then is when we know that God remains the unseen hand orchestrating the events to position us where we can fully realize His blessings and promises.  Even when Joseph experienced false accusation, he maintained his obedience to God.  This is when faith becomes most evident.  Are you going through a time of trial and difficult?  Are you questioning God and His promises?  God has not forgotten, and adversity is just the pathway leading to His blessing.