“Don’t interpretations belong to God?” Joseph asked the question (Genesis 40:8) already knowing the answer. The cupbearer and baker also knew the answer. Interpretations belonged to God because He was the one who gave the dream to them. What the baker and cupbearer needed was someone who knew God so that person could tell them what God was saying. Joseph knew God, and, as a matter of divine circumstance, he was in jail with them.
Joseph used the moment to highlight the sovereignty of God and to exercise his gift. He could have ignored these men because he was busy or bitter, but he allowed the glory of God to be his guiding principle. He simply urged the cupbearer to remember him when he was set free.
The cupbearer did not remember Joseph immediately. The world is not as interested in the glory of God as the servants of God are. The world looks to its own interests, and the cupbearer went back to his routine until that routine was disrupted by need. Then, he remembered Joseph, who had spent another two years in captivity for a crime he didn’t commit. The plan of God is always at work, but it moves painfully slowly at times.
Standing before Pharaoh, Joseph pointed to God as the source of Pharaoh’s answer (Genesis 41:16). Joseph’s subsequent discussion, discernment, and wisdom catapulted Joseph out of prison and into power (Genesis 41:41). Praise God for the freedom He gives in Christ and the wisdom and discernment He gives through the Spirit. In all things, point people to Him.