06/27/2018 WORKING AT REMEMBERING
Genesis: 40:23 The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
[New International Translation]
Summary
During his prison stay, Joseph met two men—the chief cupbearer and the chief baker of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Both men displeased Pharaoh and had ended up in prison. Both men were distraught. Both men needed help—they were depressed about their prison predicament and assumed their careers in Pharaoh’s household were over. Then both men had a dream. Neither man knew what to make of his dream, which compounds their misery even more.
Joseph met each of these men in their distress and interpreted each man’s dream. The chief cupbearer received good news. In three days Pharaoh would remove the cupbearer from prison, and he would return to his former position in Pharaoh’s household. In exchange for this gift of “dream interpretation” and relief from worry and stress, Joseph asks only one thing---remember me. Joseph asks that when the cupbearer was restored to his position that he put in a good word for Joseph—that he ask Pharaoh to have pity of Joseph and let Joseph out of jail, because Joseph really was innocent. (See, Genesis 40:12-15)
Three days later, what Joseph predicted came true. The chief cupbearer returned to his former position, but once restored, the cupbearer “promptly” [See the Living Bible translation.] forgot about Joseph. He never gave Joseph a second thought for two whole years.
Humans often have horrible memories. They forget. They have to work at remembering.
Perhaps this is why JESUS’ disciples were given “communion instructions,” (1 Corinthian 11:23-34) so they would “do this” in remembrance of HIM.
The Brain and Exercise
Although there are muscles in our face and other parts of our body, the brain is not a muscle. It’s an organ. But, like a muscle, the brain too can be trained and exercised. And like exercise, we have to “work at it.” Just as we need to exercise to keep the body healthy, the brain needs to be exercised for health and fitness too.