The Story of Joseph: Tests and Preparation for Promise

Good morning, everyone. Today is the final message in our series, "This Is Just a Test." My heart in bringing this series is to equip all of us to recognize that God is growing, building, and maturing you right now. When we ask for discernment and wisdom, we can see from His perspective what He is doing in us—and then we know how to respond.

Let me be clear: if our only responses are blaming someone else or blaming God, we know we're in trouble. Everything God wants to do in your life through His promises requires work and partnership with the Lord.

Singing for Joy at the Work of His Hands

We've just been singing, "I sing for joy at the work of your hands." This is the heart posture we need—to reach a place where we can sing for joy at the work the Lord is doing in our lives, even when we don't understand it.

Today, we're going to take a whistle-stop tour through the story of Joseph in Genesis 37–50. This is one of the most inspiring stories in the Bible, and interestingly, it follows the same story arc found in nearly every Hollywood film: someone is called, they go through a test, they face an enemy, they overcome, and they win.

Joseph's Call and Initial Dreams

Joseph begins at seventeen years old, one of many sons of Jacob and Rachel. His father shows obvious favoritism, giving him a coat of many colors. More significantly, Joseph has two prophetic dreams in which God reveals that his family will one day bow down to him.

Being young and excited about God's promise, Joseph tells everyone. Can you imagine? His brothers hear this and grow in jealousy, hatred, and resentment. When their father sends Joseph to check on them, the brothers plot to kill him. Instead, they throw him into a pit and then sell him into slavery through Midianite traders. To deceive their father Jacob, they dip Joseph's coat in blood and report that he's been killed.

Slavery in Egypt: Faithful in Obscurity

Joseph is taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guard. Despite his circumstances, the Lord is with him. He serves faithfully, God causes him to prosper, and Potiphar sees his integrity and promotes him over everything in his household.

But then Potiphar's wife repeatedly tries to seduce Joseph. He refuses each time, honoring both God and Potiphar's trust. Angry at his rejection, she falsely accuses him. Potiphar, hearing her lies, throws Joseph into prison—for a crime he didn't commit.

Think about this: the promise over Joseph was that he would be great and his family would bow to him. Yet every step of his story looks the complete opposite. There is nothing in what I've told you that sounds like a man called by God.

The Prison: God's Presence in Darkness

In Genesis 39:21, we read:

While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. The warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in everything that he did.

Notice that being with God does not mean we escape accusation. False accusation is a heavy burden. One of the greatest gifts our church brings to the world is that we are people of truth—we speak what we see the Father doing. How we speak to one another, what we think about one another, is a huge marker of whether we're being Jesus. Accusations will get louder, but the truth of what God says about each of you will get louder too.

Leading Without a Title

While in prison, Joseph doesn't sit on his bed asking, "God, why me?" Instead, he is faithful, walks in integrity, and his gifts make room for him. He rises to effectively run the prison.

Here's something profound: Joseph was leading without a title. He had no name badge; he was just Prisoner 462. Yet he was leading the people God put around him. Jesus modeled what true leadership looks like—He washed feet. He showed that real leadership isn't a race to the top; it's a race to the bottom. We lead by serving one another.

There is something so beautiful about seasons where God's goal is to get us alone with Him. Joseph shows us that we can demonstrate faithfulness in obscurity, excellence through hardship, and stewardship even of the smallest responsibilities.

The Test of Timing: Genesis 40

When I first read Genesis 40 deeply, I literally shouted out, "No way. No way is this true." But it is.

Two officials—the cupbearer and baker of Pharaoh—offend the king and are imprisoned in the same place as Joseph. Both have dreams the same night. When Joseph sees them dejected, he asks why they look sad. They explain they've had dreams but no one can interpret them.

Joseph says, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams."

The cupbearer describes his dream: he sees a vine with three branches that bud, blossom, and ripen into grapes. He squeezes the grapes into Pharaoh's cup and puts it in his hand.

Joseph interprets: "The three branches are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position as cupbearer."

Then Joseph adds something critical: "But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness. Mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison."

The baker also has a dream, but his interpretation is grim—he will be impaled within three days.

Both interpretations come true. Pharaoh restores the cupbearer to his position. He impales the baker. And then...

The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph. He forgot him.

I cannot believe it! If I were in prison facing death, and someone interpreted my dream correctly, and I was restored to the Pharaoh's court, I would absolutely remember them. Yet the cupbearer forgets.

The Hidden Test of Divine Timing

Here's what I propose: The Lord removed the memory from the cupbearer's mind because there was one more test Joseph needed to face.

When Joseph told the cupbearer, "Remember me and get me out," Joseph was essentially saying, "I want you to get me out, not God." And God, in His loving hands, saw this. There was a shift from dependence on God to dependence on man's favor.

If I were Joseph, I would have packed my bags that day. I would have cleaned my cell and whistled because I knew I was getting out. The cupbearer was out because of me, and he'd remember me. I would have written speeches in my mind about my faithfulness and my connections.

But the Lord was teaching Joseph: "I will get you out, not man. You must trust only in Me."

Joseph had no one to put his faith in other than God. In seasons where we believe, "Surely now God will act," we often add our own plans. We say, "Lord, how we're going to get out of this together. I have this connection. I have this idea."

But God delights in proving Himself as the faithful, miracle-working God. We believe we can fulfill the Lord's promises through our own striving, but we must partner with God through surrender, cooperation, abiding, yielding, and letting go. Anything other than God's plan is not His plan.

Gifts are impressive because they point to how good God is, not how good we are. A spiritual gift, a position, a talent—it's like receiving a Christmas gift. The gift is amazing, but it just points back to how amazing He is.

Dying to Our Timelines

Joseph's final test was dying to himself—knowing that no matter how great and gifted he was, he could not get himself out of prison. He had to die to his timing and to everything in his life.

The way through this test is learning to become fully dependent on the Lord and nothing else.

We can't rely on people for our breakthroughs. We trust God's timing, not human favor. Promotion comes from the Lord, not our connections. Joseph learned that deliverance is God's job, not man's.

In Genesis 41, we read: "When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream."

Two more years! After Joseph packed his bags. After he believed he was getting out. After he'd surrendered to the cupbearer's help.

Joseph had to die to his plans again and fully rely on the Lord.

Pharaoh's dream was significant—seven years of abundance followed by seven years of drought. The interpretation would save the nation of Egypt. And because of the wisdom and integrity Joseph had cultivated through all these tests, Pharaoh elevated him:

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger, put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second in command. Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

Joseph went from prisoner to ruler in one conversation.

The Principle: Your Trials Prepare You for Your Promise

The prison was Joseph's preparation for the promise to be fulfilled. Your trials, hardships, and challenges are how the Lord grows and matures you so the promises over your life will be fulfilled.

This is a weighty topic—submitting our timelines to the Lord. I have the privilege of speaking to many of you, and there's always a desire in us to say, "I acknowledge the Lord is in this, but could we make it a 48-hour thing? That would be great."

But surrendering our timings is part of dying and surrendering to Him.

The Altar Call: Surrender Your Timelines

I believe godly ambition is beautiful. But it can unknowingly become selfish ambition if we're not careful. And if we ever end up telling God what to do with our lives, we've gone too far.

True surrender is the heart of a son or daughter knowing that our heavenly Father not only sent His Son to die for us but is perfecting us. Jesus is our author and perfector. With Him as the head of the church and we as His body, our surrender says, "Lord, You have our lives."

When we say "You are our Lord and Savior," we know about the Savior part. But lordship covers everything about our lives—our calendars, our time frames, our wants and desires, how we want certain seasons to end or begin, our careers, our families.

Father, in the true spirit of lordship, we surrender our calendars and time frames. Where we've held onto a timing, we put it in Your hand. We surrender. And we sing for joy at the work of Your hands.