Joseph's path from slavery to success was lined with trouble and injustice. but with God directing each step, Joseph's journey was a triumph of faith. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah examines God's perfect will and timing in Joseph's life. and offers practical tools for gaining that eternal perspective in your own life.
Here's David to introduce today's message from prison to palace. You know, Joseph lived his life in many arenas. He started out in a pit. Um Then he went. to prison.
And then he ended up in a palace. In all of those things, the one thing that's true in this story is the Lord was with him. And that's a wonderful story because that reminds us it's true for us as well. No matter what situation we find ourselves in. God is there with us.
He's the fourth man in the fire, if you will. And he was that for Joseph. We're going to talk about that a little bit in just a few moments when we turn to the 41st chapter of the book of Genesis. and discuss part one of From Prison to Palace. We are very excited that at the end of this calendar year, we're taking a conference cruise to the Caribbean, actually the Eastern Caribbean.
And we'll be sailing on America's Konings Dam, leaving December the 27th and coming back January 3rd. That's right. We'll be on this beautiful cruise ship over the New Year's Day. And we'll have Michael Sanchez and Uriel Vega and perhaps some others with us as we celebrate the new year together. If you've not ever done one of these with us, you owe it to yourself to come and join us because it is a great way to wind down the old year and get ready for the new year.
It's just a wonderful way to do that. And that's why we do it at this time of the year, to give us that advantage. You can come with us. We have a great start for a great congregation, but there's room for you. Make sure you get started with all this process by going to DavidJeremiah.org.
And right now, let's uh let's take part one of From Prison to Palace from Genesis chapter 41. Chris Gardner's world had crumbled. Once a man with dreams of financial success, he now found himself homeless. on the unforgiving streets of San Francisco, his young son Into. The harsh reality of public restrooms as bedrooms and Park benches as dining tables became their norm.
But each morning, as he stood in long lines at daycare centers, he reminded himself. that this was just a chapter. It wasn't the entire story. His unpaid internship at a prestigious brokerage firm was his lifeline. a chance to rewrite his future.
Days blurred into nights as Chris juggled his responsibilities. He would race from work to pick up his son. their nightly search for shelter becoming a grim routine. But Chris refused to let circumstances define him. He poured his heart into the internship and his determination caught the eyes of his superiors.
As months passed, Chris's resilience paid off. The firm offered him a full-time position, a Turning Point that set his life on a new trajectory. With renewed vigor, He climbed the corporate ladder, eventually founding his own brokerage firm. Today Chris stands before crowds as a multimillionaire. and motivational speaker.
He shares his story of transformation. He tells how he turned homelessness into hope. How he turned despair into determination. I was homeless, he said, but I wasn't hopeless. I knew a better day was coming.
That's a great story and you might remember the movie. It was called the pursuit of happiness. and it is also an echo of Joseph's life. For all the trials that he faced, he was at rock bottom. But Joseph knew that a better day was coming.
He knew that each challenge he faced was just a chapter, not the entire story. In our previous glimpse into his life, We saw Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt. There God blessed his work, and he quickly found favor with his master Potiphar.
However, after refusing the persistent advances of Potiphar's wife, and fleeing from her. She falsely accused him of sexual assault. And as you know, Joseph ended up in prison. That's kind of where we left him last time we were Together. But even there, The Bible says the Lord was with him.
Joseph didn't go to prison alone. Genesis 39, 21 to 23 says, The Lord was with Joseph. and showed him mercy. And he gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison.
Whatever they did there, it was his doing. And the keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, The Lord made it prosper. Joseph was still in prison at age 28. when two new prisoners arrived in the jailhouse.
The king's baker and the king's butler. Their story is told in Genesis chapter 40. Both of these men had dreams, as you remember. And Joseph interpreted their dreams. Without going back over all the details, let me just review with you the bottom line.
Joseph told the butler that within three days he would be restored to his position in the palace. And the news wasn't so good for the baker. Genesis 40, 19, Joseph told him, within three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head from you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh from you. And that's exactly what happened. Joseph made a request to the butler before he went back to work.
He said to him, when you return to palace duty, Speak to Pharaoh on my behalf. But look how chapter 40 ends in verse 23. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph. but forgot him. I can only imagine how Joseph must have felt every day.
as he waited for the butler to do what he had promised to do. He'd been in bondage from age 17.
Now he was almost 30 years old. And his one big break, his one and only hope. just never materialized. The butler, never remembered him. He must have felt like giving up.
like we feel sometimes when It seems like the Lord has delayed his answer to our very important prayer. we must remind ourselves that denial is not the same as delay. When God delays, He's up to something as we're going to see in this story. And Joseph never gave up. The Lord had a perfect calendar laid out in advance for Joseph.
And there wasn't a wasted day anywhere on that calendar. Everything was unfolding according to God's timetable. and Joseph remained resolute in God's will. How many of you know the one thing we got to remember when we're going through stuff is that God isn't working off the same page we are? He's got a little different script than we have, and a totally different calendar, if you want to make that point.
And when we try to hold God to our ideas of what should happen, we always get disappointed. God is not obligated to do things the way we want them done. The first thing we notice in God's dealing with Joseph are his ways. In opening verses of chapter 41, we see the ways of God. A reminder to us that God does use strange and wonderful things to accomplish his task.
Even though Joseph was in prison, God was working behind the scenes. The Lord had not forgotten him, although it seemed everyone else had. I just think about that. His brothers forgot him. Potiphar and his wife forgot him.
Even the butler, who was dream Joseph had interpreted had forgotten him. But God had not forgotten him. God was orchestrating events behind the scenes. to help Joseph realize his dreams. through Pharaoh.
Let's pick up our reading in chapter 41 in the first verse. And it came to pass at the end of two full years. That Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he stood by the river. and suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows. Fine looking and fat.
and they fed in the meadow. And then seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt. And they stood by the other cows on the bank of the river, and the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine-looking and fat cows.
So Pharaoh awoke, he slept, and dreamed a second time, and suddenly. Seven heads of grain came up on one stalk. Plump and good. And behold, seven thinheads blighted by the east wind sprang up after them, and the seven thinheads devoured the seven plump heads. And that was his dream.
Notice that Pharaoh literally had two dreams. one about pasture animals and one about agriculture. In Egyptian culture Dreams were really critically important. And believe it or not, men and women, dreams are still very important in the Middle East. If you connected with Iran, for instance, and what God is doing there, you would be scarcely Able to find any report that doesn't contain something about a dream.
God is using dreams. I don't understand it. I can't explain it. I'm not going to try to give you a biblical foundation for it. I just know it's true and it's happening.
And it goes back to this time when In Egypt, dreams communicated deep truth. and to have two disturbing dreams in one night. That must have been really a freak out for Pharaoh. The dreams themselves were quite simple. There is even a similarity to them.
A prosperous set of sevens is destroyed by a poverty-stricken set of sevens. One dream had to do with flocks and the other had to do with crops. But Pharaoh did not know what the dreams meant.
So he called his Braintrust and told them about the dreams.
Now none of the wise men, sorcerers, or magicians, knew the meaning. And let me just tell you this, not surprising. When unbelievers try to interpret what God has done, they never get it right. They never get it right. They don't have any way to get it right.
They're on the wrong frequency. When we go after humanistic counseling, we get what we deserve. For not going. to the things of God. The Lord was working in the heart of Pharaoh to prepare a place for Joseph.
And he wanted somebody to reveal the meaning of the dream, but all he got were excuses. and in aptness obsessed with understanding the meaning, Pharaoh became exasperated with his counselors. And the butler, who was standing there watching all the Egyptian wise men fail, came up with this suggestion. It's about time. Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying, I remember my faults this day.
When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker. We each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream.
Now, there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams to us. To each man he interpreted according to his own dream, and it came to pass just as he interpreted it to us.
So it happened. He restored me to my office. And he hanged him. God orchestrated all these events. Just think about it.
the sale of Joseph into slavery. His unwarranted imprisonment. the interpretation of the butler's dream. Joseph being forgotten. Pharaoh's dream, the butler suddenly remembering what Joseph had done.
Everything was put together at the perfect time.
so that Pharaoh would say, Go get Joseph and bring him to me. And in verse 14, we read: They brought him quickly out of the dungeon, and Joseph shaved and changed his clothing and came to Pharaoh. God knows what he's doing, my friends. You may not understand it, but God does.
so often. If we understand it, it's probably not God. God does things in amazing ways. We find out later it was God, He was up to something. He knows exactly what he's doing and he always does the right thing.
One thing we can know for sure about the Lord is this: He has perfect. Timing. Just at the moment when Pharaoh had a need that no one close to him could meet, the Lord. arranges to have the only person who knows about Joseph. The only person standing right there in that Setting The baker knew about Joseph, but he was dead.
He couldn't help him. Potiphar probably knew about Joseph, but he had locked him up to protect his wife's reputation. The jailers knew about Joseph, but they were never around Pharaoh. The butler was the one who best knew of Joseph's ability to interpret dreams and he It just happened, he just happened to be standing there. What a coincidence.
Pharaoh was brought into the setting that God had prepared. and God had worked out every detail.
Someone once told me, the more I pray, the more coincidence I have. Have you ever noticed that? God is at work, and sometimes we think it's just coincidental, but it's God doing his thing. The Lord not only has perfect timing, He uses perfect tactics. Consider this situation for just a moment.
And measure your own situation by it if you happen to be in one of these places. If you were God, How would you get the most powerful man in the world to listen to your counsel. If you've ever tried to Give advice or information to somebody who knows it all. You know the problem you have. Pharaoh was the number one ruler in the world at that time.
He was King of everything. and it would not be easy to get him to listen to you.
So the Lord gave Pharaoh a problem he could not solve. It troubled him because he couldn't find the answer to it. He tried every resource possible. He talked to everyone he could find, all of his brain trust. And then he just basically said, Isn't there anybody who can accurately interpret my dream?
And with that, God was ready to push Joseph into the picture. His tactics were perfect. Here's how one author describes the intersection between the ways of God. And the details of our lives. Here's what John Piper wrote: He said: Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven.
Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph.
Well, it's to help us feel in our bones, not just know in our heads, that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He's plotting the course and managing the troubles. With far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ. What is it that Paul wrote to the Romans?
He said, God makes all things work together for good. To those who love God and are called according to His purpose. What you don't understand, this little happening, that little happening, that circumstances, why am I here? Why am I here now? God has got it under control.
He's working all things together. And it's like he's stirring the pot. And when it's all done, It will be the perfect Will of God. Let's notice the wisdom of Joseph. In Genesis 41, 15 and following.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I've had a dream. and there's no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream to interpret it. Not only had God been preparing Joseph and shaping him to the kind of man. who could be the prime minister of a great nation, he was preparing Pharaoh.
And the king was frantic about his dreams, so now he's ready to listen to this lowly slave who just got out of prison a few minutes ago and just had time to shave before he showed up. and share the wisdom that comes from God. I am so impressed with Joseph's first words.
So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh a An answer of peace. Joseph predicted Egypt's future. and gave the credit to God. Joseph points out on several occasions that he knows God is behind all that's going on in his life.
And God is the one to explain it to Pharaoh. That's why we read in verse 25 of chapter 41. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. That's why we read in Genesis 41, 32. The thing is established by God.
The Lord was the one behind every event and it was God's will for Pharaoh to know what was about to happen. Pharaoh had two dreams. And as I understand the culture of that time, the doubling of a dream was a sign that what was about to happen would be both crucial and quick.
So he quickly told Joseph the content of his dreams, and Joseph says. Pharaoh, you didn't have two dreams, you just had one. They mean the same thing. And then he explained the meaning of the dreams to the king, In this succinct paragraph, this is what he told him. The seven good cows are seven years.
and the seven thin and ugly cows which come up after them are seven years. Indeed, seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt. but after them seven years of famine will arise. and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will deplete the land. Thus Pharaoh finally had his question answered.
He now understood what God was going to do in the future. and that the Lord had chosen Joseph to reveal that future to him.
So Joseph predicted Egypt's future. And then Joseph proposed a solution to the problem. In verse 33, imagine Joseph, he's just out of prison. I like to think about this story, and it so intrigues me. He just got shaved, he just got washed.
Maybe there's still some. moisture around his face. He's standing in front of the most powerful man on earth. And he's answering this man's questions. If that had been me, I probably would have been very quiet, and after answering the questions.
slipped back to my cell But Joseph had become bold. And he didn't stop with telling the king what was going to happen. He followed that by telling the king what to do about what was going to happen. And this is what he told him.
Now, therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man. and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land to collect. one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt. in the seven plentiful years.
and let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming. and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh. and let them keep food in the cities. Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt. that the land may not perish during the famine.
That's his plan for the years that are coming. And it's very interesting that it was not only A plan that was the whole nation. But it was geographically oriented. They put the food in food centers in the major cities so when the famine came the food would be close and available to those who were hungry. The famine is coming and the people are to double their tithe to the government.
Instead of giving 10%, they need to start giving 20%. And the king ought to put somebody in charge. to make sure this whole operation functions. You might think that Joseph was laying out a plan for his own self. But I don't think so.
I don't think Joseph had a clue. that he would be chosen for that position. I mean, he just got out of jail. Nor did he have the audacity to believe that in one day he could be promoted from prisoner to prime minister. That just doesn't happen.
Joseph simply offered the wisdom the Lord gave to him. both in the interpretation of the dream and in the proposed solution. Pharaoh must have thought to himself, hey, that's a great idea.
Well, where am I going to find somebody who can organize such a big project? I don't know anybody like that. Then he looks down at the man standing right in front of him and realizes this is the only guy who could interpret his dream out of all the brain trust in the whole land of Egypt. and the only one who could solve his greatest problem, and bing, the light went off in his head. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Inasmuch as God has shown all this to you, There is no one as discerning and wise as you.
Wisdom has been described as knowledge put into action. It is the ability to make sound decisions even in unprecedented situations. Hey, isn't that the kind of wisdom we really need right now? Because it seems like. Everywhere you look, we're going through unprecedented times.
And how do you know what to do when you've never been there before? Maybe nobody's ever been there before. You trust God for wisdom, and He's promised it to us. In James chapter 1, he says, If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. What a wonderful truth that is.
Well, uh we're in the midst of this message about Joseph's journey from prison to the palace, and we'll get back to that tomorrow on the Friday edition. I hope you'll be with us then. In the meantime, don't forget to. Make sure you get your copy of this year's beautiful calendar. It's one of the most uh Often requested resources that we make available during the year.
This year's is beautiful. I have it in my hands. It's following in his footsteps. It's a 14-month calendar that you can begin using in November of this year and get all ready for the holidays and have it ready for you for the entire year. It's yours for the asking when you send a gift of any size to Turning Point during this month.
For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series God Meant It for Good, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of our beautiful new 14-month calendar, following in his footsteps, and deepen your faith daily throughout 2026.
It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and New King James Versions. Available in your choice of durable and attractive cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website, davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us tomorrow as we continue the series God Meant It for Good: The Story of Joseph on Turning Point.
