God’s Perfect Plan: Embrace the Wisdom of His Timing

Shared on December 4, 2024

God has a plan! Yes, God has a plan for you and you must learn to trust in God’s timing because God has a blessing for those that wait. What is the last thing a child of God should do? The last thing a child of God should do is rush ahead of God. Join Pastor McCrary for this week’s bible study!

Commentary Introduction

God has a plan that He is going to keep and that He will execute at the time He desires.  Do you trust God’s timing?  Do you trust in God’s perfect plan?

“God will never leave nor forsake you,” are the words Moses shared with the children of Israel (Deut. 31:6,8).  Those same words should live in the hearts of all who believe in the Lord today.  So, do you believe that God will never leave nor forsake you?  Do you ever believe that the Lord forgets about you?  

God’s Perfect Plan

When we last saw Joseph, he was still sitting in an Egyptian prison after Pharaoh’s chief butler had been freed and the baker hung.  Joseph hoped that the butler would tell Pharaoh about his imprisonment but after the baker was killed, the butler did not remember to do so (Gen. 40:14-15, 20-23). 

Now, it could certainly be a bit understandable if Joseph grew upset about his still being in prison.  However, here is where I want to remind you that God had a plan in place for Joseph – remember those dreams!  Had the butler immediately remembered Joseph and the Pharaoh freed him from prison, it’s possible Joseph could have immediately returned back home.  There is a purpose that Joseph was now waiting in prison in Egypt, and that purpose will now begin to be revealed.

Troubling Dreams of Pharaoh

Genesis 41 opens with Pharaoh having troubling dreams.   In his first dream, as he stood by the river, Pharaoh saw two groups of seven cows.  One group of cows were fine looking and healthy, while the other group of seven was ugly and unhealthy.  He watched as the unhealthy cows devoured the healthy group and it caused him to wake up (Gen. 41:1-4).

Pharaoh fell back off to sleep and had another disturbing dream.  In the second dream, he saw two groups of seven heads of grain.  The heads of grain within one group were plump and good while in the other group the heads were thin.  Then, like in the first dream, he watched as seven thin heads of grain devoured seven plump heads of grain (Gen. 41:5-7).

The dreams troubled Pharaoh and he sent for all the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men so that they could interpret his dreams (Gen. 41:8).  However, he ran into a problem – none of his people could interpret his dreams.  Again, I repeat to you, God had a plan and His plans are always fulfilled!

Who to Turn to for Help and Clarity

These opening verses give us a bit of insight on Pharaoh, and also more insight on the culture of Egypt.  I’m not going to spend too much time on this thought but I do want to mention it.  First, this Pharaoh is not the same Pharaoh of Moses.  By the time of Exodus 1:8, after Joseph and that generation had died, we’re told a new king had risen over Egypt that didn’t know Joseph.

Something else I want to point out is that we also get a taste for the fact that neither Pharaoh nor the Egyptians worshiped the Lord.  When you are this deeply troubled in your spirit, the last thing you should do is send off for magicians.  No, when you’re that troubled in your spirit, you should turn to the Lord.  

The “wise men” Pharaoh sent for maybe were wise in the Egyptian ways but they  had no understanding of the Lord.  The book of Proverbs makes it clear that true wisdom is to fear the Lord and seek to understand how to please Him.  As the proverb states, “The fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Prov. 1:7).”  Pharaoh’s wise men did not consult the Lord as they nor the magicians could interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.

Something that you should certainly do is make sure that you’re surrounded by those that know how to consult the Lord.  You see, those that are in fellowship with the Lord and know how to consult Him are wise.  Whenever your spirit is troubled you should consult the Lord, personally, and then seek wise counsel around you (if necessary).

Pharaoh Turns to Joseph

With Pharaoh’s magicians and wise men being unable to interpret his dream, Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the land, found himself in a hopeless position.  The chief butler now remembered Joseph and how Joseph had helped him and the chief baker to understand their dreams (Gen. 41:9-13).  Joseph was sitting in that prison for a purpose and a reason – for God’s plan. 

Joseph’s long wait

Now, here is where I need to show you just how long it had been before the butler remembered Joseph.  We are told in Genesis 41:1 that Pharaoh had his dreams at the end of two full years.  To be clear, these two years are in reference to how much time had passed since the close of the previous chapter with the butler having been freed from prison.  

It is safe to say that Joseph spent at least two years in prison just waiting for something, anything, to happen.  The reason why I say ‘at least two years’ is because Joseph had been in prison some unnumbered amount of time before butler and baker were sent to prison (Gen. 39:20 – 40:4).  I would speculate anywhere from a few days to just a few months.

Have you ever experienced such a wait before in your life?  Take it from my personal experience of waiting to receive a phone call about a kidney transplant for 5 years, it is not easy to do.  It takes a great deal of faith to endure such a way in days both awful and not so awful.  It takes a great deal of faith and patience to keep pushing forward in hope when all hope seems lost.

When God Moves

Finally, after two years of waiting, the butler remembered Joseph and Pharaoh sent and called for him (Gen. 41:14).  Scripture tells us that Joseph was quickly brought out of the dungeon, shaved, and changed into new clothes.  I would say that I could only imagine what Joseph was going through but I don’t have to imagine.  I know exactly what it’s like to be in one place on a Saturday evening hoping for a kidney transplant, only to receive a call that night and by Sunday morning have a new kidney.

Let me just say this from my own personal experience- when God’s plan kicks into action for you, things just move flawlessly.  What do I mean by that?  I look back on those five years of doing dialysis and they were the longest five years of my life.  I prayed endlessly about my condition and to be honest, there were moments where I thought the day would never come.  

On an evening, while preparing a Mother’s Day sermon, when I had essentially conceded the time would come when it comes, I received a phone call.  I was half paying attention to the phone call before I realized what the nurse, or whomever it was that called, had been saying.  It was a rush to get to the hospital that night, and again, by the next morning, on Mother’s Day, I had a new kidney.

Five years came to an end in what now seems like an instant – a blink of the eye.  There aren’t too many days that go by that I don’t think about the day of that call and transplant without a smile.  Each time that I think about it, I think about just how quick it was that my trouble was washed away.  

That is just how the Lord works – He is concise and orderly – this is how you know that it’s Him moving for you.  Pharaoh may have called for Joseph’s release but God ordained the time.  God ordains the time, and for me, that is something that gives me hope.  Yes, weeping may endure for a time but there is always hope that joy will come at God’s set time (Ps. 30:5).

Joseph’s Faithful Work 

Now, we know that God is going to move but the question we must constantly answer is whether or not we will be ready for when He moves?  It would have been easy for Joseph to have given up on God and forgotten Him over those two years of waiting.  

Sadly, something that does happen is that many believers are very quick to forget God because they assume He has forgotten them.  God is faithful.  Since the Lord is always faithful to us, shouldn’t we be faithful to Him in return?  

Something I want to point out about Joseph being brought out of prison is how they cleaned him up (Gen. 41:14).  I believe we can view Pharaoh’s people cleaning Joseph up to how God cleans us up when He brings us out of our trials and tribulations.  Not only that, when we go through our trials and our tribulations, there is always going to be change.  For the child of God, all of our trials, tribulations, and afflictions should lead to growth and a fresh perspective on things.

James wrote, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (Jas. 1:2-4).”

Joseph went into prison one way, and we are going to see that he came out a new man.    When Pharaoh tells Joseph about his dream and that none of his people can interpret it but heard that he could, let’s pay attention to what Joseph said.  Scripture tells us that Joseph answered Pharaoh and said to him, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace (Gen. 41:16).”

Let me tell you something – this is a different Joseph that we see talking in comparison to what we have seen before.  Yes, Joseph told his family about his dreams but scripture doesn’t show he ever acknowledged that they came from God.  When he was living in Potiphar’s house, it was clear that Joseph was favored by the Lord.  Joseph being in fellowship with the Lord was also pretty clear as well as he had no desire to sin against God (Gen. 39:8-9).

However, we started to see Joseph, in prison, begin to acknowledge the doings of God to the butler (Gen. 40:8).  That was the first time where we saw Joseph outwardly acknowledge God’s works in scripture.  Now, before the most powerful man in the land didn’t know God, we, again, see Joseph being certain of God’s works.

For one to become so certain of what God can and will do, one has to go through some things!  I have reached a place in my faith today where the first thing I try not to do is panic and stress.  Let me tell you, it is not easy to reach such a place because our first notion is to panic and stress.  However, when God has brought you through great trials and tribulations, it builds up great confidence in the Lord and His timing.

So, as we come to a close on this week’s study, we must reach a place where we truly believe that God hasn’t forgotten us.  We must reach a place in our faith where we will trust in His timing.  God will give an answer and God will move for you, but you must trust in Him and when He moves.  When God moves for you, your blessing will fall into place perfectly.

So, what this also means is that we must not try to outrun God.  Many of us have a nasty habit of being impatient and all that does is make things harder on us.  We end up falling further down into a pit when we choose not to wait on the Lord.  So, again, I encourage you today to learn patience and to trust in God’s will.  Alright, let’s stop right here for this week’s study and we will pick up right where we left off in our study next week.