Serving While
Suffering
By Tony Evans
Proof that you are on your way to
your destiny when you are stuck
on a detour is when God gives you
a ministry to other people who are
going through the same or similar
things that you are. He gives you
people to serve while you are
suffering.
After this, the Egyptian king’s
cupbearer and baker offended
their master, the king of Egypt.
Pharaoh was angry with his two
officers, the chief cupbearer
and the chief baker, and put
them in custody in the house
of the captain of the guard in
the prison where Joseph was
confined. The captain of the
guard assigned Joseph to them,
and he became their personal
attendant. And they were in
custody for some time. (Gen.
40:1–4)
20 • Solutions
Two of Pharaoh’s most trusted
servants, his cupbearer and his
baker, got in some hot water
themselves. Since they were
under the sentence of death, they
were probably seen as part of an
assassination plot to Pharaoh.
Landing in jail, they came under
Joseph’s care. Later on in the story
we discover that these two jailbirds
hold the key to Joseph’s destiny.
But before God would ever use that
key to unlock anything in Joseph’s
life, he first wanted Joseph to
help these two men. Joseph had
to learn to look beyond his own
misery and see how he could be
used to help others before God
would promote him to his ultimate
kingdom assignment.
The tendency when you are
suffering is to be self-absorbed. It’s
a normal tendency in all of us. If you