3.071 Remember Joseph

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as savory salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you'll serve.

Have you ever had that person that when you're talking about a challenging day or a rough time, they have absolutely had it worse than you? Perhaps this is an episode, an opportunity that you could just politely share with them because I think as we look at Joseph's story, he's got a pretty good list of bad things that happened to him. And it could get really, really simple for him to give into the bad things happening to him.

Let's look at this list really quick. We are reading this week Genesis chapters 37 through 41. And if you haven't been following along, we're in Joseph's story.

He's been sold and now he's been stuck in prison after achieving chief, basically, chief status at Potiphar's house and then thrown back into prison after false accusations. Let's look at the list really quick here. Joseph has been betrayed by family members, sold into slavery.

He has been stripped of his leadership opportunities at Potiphar's, including sexual temptations from Potiphar's wife and false accusations from that same woman. He has been thrown into prison. And while in prison, and I don't know that he necessarily made friends with the people whose dreams he interpreted, that Chief Butler and Chief Baker, I don't know how close they were in friendships, but we do find out that the Chief Butler just flat out forgets the service that Joseph rendered him.

That's a pretty good list, my friends, of stacking up bad days back to back to back. And yet we don't ever read in the story here of Joseph getting down in these challenges. In fact, if anything, it appears that Joseph continually remembers and turns to the Lord.

And so to those that perhaps always have some story worse than your story to tell or to share, you could simply help them remember Joseph. Let's take a look at our verse for today here and see if we can add something to it on the backside. Our verse is in Genesis chapter 40, very last verse here.

As Joseph has been interpreting some dreams, he does seem to have the gift of revelation here when it comes to dream interpretation. That's going to be a key factor with Pharaoh. But it says here in verse 23, "Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forget him." And I think that's such a perfect kind of summation of what's going on with Joseph.

It seems like everyone either forgets him or wants to forget him from their lives. If you didn't have an opportunity to see President Uchtdorf's video in there, go in and "Come, Follow Me" this week. Check out his video.

He said something that really stuck in my heart as we were doing this with family scripture study. I don't know if this is a direct quote, so forgive me with that. But he said, "The Lord did not forget Joseph because Joseph did not forget the Lord." And we have repeatedly through here, Joseph turning to the Lord, remembering the Lord.

So my friends, in those difficult days, as hard as it may be, perhaps come back to these chapters in Genesis and remember Joseph's perspective as he goes through these hard times. I would be feeling very badly if any of the single things that happened to Joseph happened to me in my life. He had them stacked on top of each other and yet continually turned to the Lord.

I hope that you and I, as we're studying this and as we continue through the Old Testament this year, that we can at times, especially in our difficult times, remember Joseph. That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are too.