Joseph or Cupbearer

Remember the story of Joseph and when he was in prison with the baker and the king's cupbearer?  Well, I was reading that a few days ago and something with how it ends has been gnawing at me.  Let me set the stage.

Joseph is in prison with these guys.  They have dreams and ask him about it.  He tells them their dreams.  For the cupbearer, he tells him in three days he'll be restored and asks that when that happens, if the cupbearer would mention him to Pharoah and get him out of prison.  Then it's the baker's turn and Joseph tells him that in three days, Pharoah is going to skewer him on a pole and let the birds eat him.  Oh goody.

Both guys ended up having what Joseph said happen to them.  So what's the problem?  Verse 23.

"The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him."

Whoa!  What the?  This guy complains about not understanding a dream, tells Joseph - who explains it to him, it comes true and the dude just goes along his merry way like nothing ever happened.  Then it smacked me.  I do the same thing.  I wonder what's going on and what God's got planned.  Somehow, he reveals the future to me or at least reassures me that everything is going to be alright.  Then things turn out (just like He said) and I go on my merry little way thinking nothing more about God until I need Him sometime later.  It never occurred to me that God might actually need me to do my part - and not wait 2 more years like the cupbearer did before he "remembered" Joseph.  Duh!

God has done so much in the past couple of years since we started this church - again and again.  He's answered specific prayers - for finances, meeting locations, staff, encounters, all kinds of stuff.  And time and again, I've seen it, rejoiced, and then gone on my merry little way without really remembering him - without really setting Him free from the "prison" He's in - unknown, unproclaimed, unshared with the rest of the city.  It's not until some time later, when something jogs my memory, that I turn back to Him.  Man, that's weak.

I just wonder....what would Discovery be like if I was more like Joseph instead of the cupbearer?  Imagine that.  What if we remembered Jesus sooner rather than later?  What if we made His goal, our goal all the time?  This church, this city, state, country....the world...would be set free from the prison it's in.  Just don't let it be said of me...

Jason, however, did not remember God; he forgot him.