“Sometimes you are a Cupbearer”

The story in Genesis 37-50, the life of Joseph is revealed. Though it is a story full of teachings of the trials, persistence, and God’s love shown through Joseph himself, there is a smaller minor character I would like to bring more light to… the cupbearer.

Barely mentioned in one and a half chapters of the bible, this cupbearer plays a vital role in the progression of Joseph’s life and ultimately God’s plan.

In Genesis 40, we see how Joseph interacts with this man who had the position of the cupbearer. Joseph is thrown in jail for being wrongly accused by Potifer’s wife. Chapter 40 opens us to share that sometime after Joseph was thrown in he met both the baker and the cupbearer. We are not really sure why they were put in jail, but somehow they committed an offense against the Pharaoh. Joseph was appointed to be with them and the Bible says he attended to them. By this point Joseph was given favor by God and did well in all that he endeavored and was managing the prison below the head of the guards.

The cupbearer and the baker both have dreams in the same night, and Joseph hears them discussing the dreams and asks what is wrong. After explaining that they cannot understand the meaning to their dreams, Joseph declares that dreams belong to God and asks them to share the dreams to him.

The cupbearer shares his dream of vine branches and serving pharaoh. Joseph replies that the cupbearer would be restored back to his position in three days. He also asks him to remember him when he is restored. The baker’s dream, well, let’s just say it didn’t have that great of an interpretation, and his dreams mean that he will die in three days.

In three days, the cupbearer is restored and the baker dies. The cupbearer forgets that Joseph wanted to be remembered to Pharaoh for two years until Pharaoh has two dreams that no one can interpret and the cupbearer remembers Joseph and shares about the accuracy of Joseph’s interpretations. He is called out of jail and ends up being Pharaoh’s right hand man. The story continues without mentioning the cupbearer again.

For a moment let’s talk about his cupbearer.

He was thrown into prison for “committing an offense against Pharaoh” and we do not know any other context. If I were this cupbearer I would be upset that I was thrown in jail possibly scared or mad depending on why I was placed there. Then, he has a confusing dream at the same time as this other guy that got thrown into prison with him or maybe even caused him to be in prison.

Then, this Hebrew man is able to correctly interpret both of their dreams, and he is restored back to his position. I can only imagine the emotions that the cupbearer might have felt being taken out of jail and restored. He forgets about the Hebrew dream interpreter for two whole years, but he comes in clutch to his boss as the Pharaoh has some troubling dreams of his own.

This cupbearer is not a main character, but the story needed him to continue. If we believe in God’s sovereignty, then God allowed the cupbearer to be thrown in jail so he could meet Joseph. He was in the same cell as Joseph so that he could interpret his dream and be a testimony that Joseph could really interpret them through God. Then he was restored to share with the Pharaoh about this man he met in prison two years later.

Without the cupbearer Joseph is still in prison and does not make it out to pharaoh’s court. Sure, God would have gotten him out another way, but God used the cupbearer.

Sometimes when we ask God to use us, we are not the star, Joseph, (though his life was far from easy) we are the cupbearer. We are there to move God’s plan along. We are there to be used.

That means sometimes God allows us to go through trials. We are “thrown in prison” by our fault or by mistake maybe even SOLEY to let God’s plan in the story go on. This is NOT a time that feels good. We may not see the moment as a “being-used-by-God-moment,” but rather a time of injustice, mistreatment, or trials.

We encounter people or leave certain people at a specific time that God ordained so that his plan would continue. Sometimes that means friendships are formed or relationships are broken or separated. We may be hurt, angry, and even confused about why God is letting something happen like this…

But we have to remember, WE ARE NOT THE STAR OF THE STORY… GOD IS. 

We cannot ask God to use us and then complain when we feel used. We cannot expect glory when we may be used as a bridge to get the story from one spot to another.

I have recently come out of a cupbearer experience where for over a year and a half my faith was shaken because I did not understand what God was doing.

I was working at a ministry full-time and going to school. Then, I was mistreated and broken as a left the ministry unexpectedly. I knew in me leaving left tons of gossip and stories behind it by others. I felt much as I am sure the cupbearer felt when he was thrown in jail. Upon me leaving, another friend took my place, she too was mistreated and broken when she left unexpectedly from this ministry a year later. She was the bridge that connected a church to this ministry and now they have merged to form an even growing ministry.

It took over a year to get over the resentment and brokenness I felt from my departure and even worse when I found that my friend had experienced the same. But I have come to realize that in that ministry, God is getting glory. Now that it has combined with another, I am confident that more people will experience God in new and numerous ways there. But, they wouldn’t have been connected had I not left, my friend not come, my friend not be involved in both places, and the she leave as they connect.

It’s hard to be a cupbearer sometimes. It’s hard to surrender to God and be understanding when you are used as a tool in his master plan in ways that you were not expecting or that are hard and painful. It’s hard to understand that we aren’t always the star that sometimes we are a small piece in a big plan, and God will bring us in and use us if we will let him. He will also take us out at the right time even when we may not be planning it or be acceptable of it. It may even be in hard and heartbreaking circumstances that do not make sense. It may not even have to make sense because we don’t know the master plan and God does.

So, if you are being used right now by God or if you are coming out of a trying time of being used by God, I want to encourage you to worship God in the lack of understanding.

God has a master plan to bring others to understand the amazing gift of love and mercy. 

Sometimes it just takes having willing people to be cupbearers and to be tools used to move the story along. 

God loves you. 

He cares for your soul and he has not abandoned you. 

He wants to use you, and sometimes, He may use you as a cupbearer.

God isn't tame.

Sometimes we forget that God isn't tame.

The Lord brought me to Nahum (small book at the end of the Old Testament) a few days ago. It's a recorded prophecy of the profit Nahum about the city of Nineveh. I am reading the first bit of chapter one and thinking, "God, why did you want me to read this passage? I mean, it's Nahum..."

Nahum 1:1-3

"The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; 

The LORD is avenging and wrathful;

The LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries 

and keeps wrath for his enemies.

The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,

and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of his feet."

I found myself staring at A LOT of characteristics that I often forget about belonging to God:

He is jealous, avenging, wrathful...
He takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies...
He is slow to anger and great in power...
He will not clear the guilty...
His way is in whirlwind and storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet...

Wow, I'll be the first to admit we arn't talking about this on Sunday. We don't like to think of God as jealous or avenging. We don't like to think of God as wrathful. And, WHY in the WORLD does that say God doesn't CLEAR the guilty??

Here is what I gather: 

We serve an ALL-POWERFUL, ALL-GOOD, ALL-JUST, ALL-HOLY LORD.

This God is also an ALL-LOVING, LIFE-GIVING, PRINCE OF PEACE LORD. 

He is a full HERO of LOVE, PEACE, and JUSTICE. He is a mighty WARRIOR that brings WRATH, VENGEANCE and VICTORY over his enemies.

God is a jealous God after the hearts of his creation. We have to lose the connotation that our culture has instilled that ties evil to vengeance and wrath. The GOOD God we serve conquers His enemies, and He DID conquer them: THROUGH JESUS.

God is fully just and He won't just CLEAR the guilty. Justice isn't clearing it, but God is MERCIFUL and provided a WAY for it to be pardoned. He literally gave his only son for our guilt. He out of ferocious love and mercy, God gave us the gift of His Son. He is jealous for our hearts and won by conquering His enemies and adversaries by the VICTORY through CHRIST on the CROSS. God chose to use his son as the weapon of choice. God is WILD. Wild with LOVE, POWER, WRATH, and VICTORY.

Nahum 1:7 

"The LORD is good,

a stronghold in the day of trouble; 

He knows those who take refuge in him."

I don't know how your relationship stands with God. I'll be honest, sometimes I STRUGGLE to remain in the word. But, God wants to be in a relationship with you. He wants to love on you, speak to you, share about His goodness and power. Literally the coolest, most-powerful, life-giving, edgy, and wildly loving God wants you. Just as you are. I dare you to catch that for yourself.

Let God Press You!

Hello dear friend!

As you are probably well aware... SOMETIMES LIFE IS HARD.

What is even all the more difficult to understand is the question: why does God allow us to go through hard circumstances and situations? Does He not love us? Where is He in our darkest of moments and trials?

I think to best understand this we have to realize who God is and what is His intentions are, we have to turn to Isaiah 64:8. It says:

"Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the Potter; we are all the work of your hand."

If God is truly the Potter and we the clay, we are going to be pressed. A potter must spin the clay on a wheel and then use his/her hands to press and form the lump of earth in order to make the intended master piece. Right now, dear beloved one of God, we are lumps of earth on a table. Unless we endure some trans-figuration and pressing from God, our Potter; we will never fully become the masterpiece He is striving to make us into.

Do not hate the pressing. The process will not always be comfortable, but it is necessary in order to shape you, to make you. And sometimes, that mindset might be the hardest to achieve but as it says in James 1:2-4;

"Consider it the purest joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything."

God wants you to be complete. God wants you to eventually become a finished masterpiece through the working of His hands and be a reflection of His Glory. Praise the Lord for His craftsmanship. Praise Him for the pressings in this life because He wants you to lack in nothing.

Loved one, LET GOD PRESS YOU.

Blessings,
Courtney Busbee

Exposing the Process of Drifting Away From God

Hey Friend!

To start, YOU are LOVED and WANTED by GOD. He wants a relationship with you. He wants you to KNOW Him. He also wants us to pursue him endlessly.

God laid on my heart to write on the slow drift and falling away from God. How does it happen to so many people? How do such strong people slip away from their Biblical foundation? Well, let’s open God's word and take a look at it.

I think James 1 really hits this nail on the head. Let’s start at verse 14 and 15.  

James 1:14-15

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

So, now I want to further break this down into three different pieces:

1)     Each person is tempted when he is lured by his personal desires.

The beginning to any sin or falling away from God starts from our personal temptations. Every person has specific weaknesses that may be hard to resist. I tend to label these specific weaknesses “pet sins.”

James 1:13 says: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”

Therefore, that temptation is not from God. It is straight from the enemy. If the enemy figures out what sin you are vulnerable to, he will try his best to tempt you personally with that so that you are separated away from God. The enemy’s goal is to push us as far away from God as possible. He attempts to do this through these pet sins. It’s a lure with a hook, and we are hungry fish. The lure may look good, smell good, and be hard to resist; however, that lure is laced with a dangerous hook ready to yank us out of the water to our death.

2)     When we let desire grow and manifest, it gives birth to sin.

The goal is to set our mind on things above (Col. 3:2), but often sin starts as a fleshly desire in our minds. The longer we let those sinful desires hang around, the more they come into reality and begin looking more acceptable to us personally. When this is fully developed it turns into sin. And, to just think… It started as a minor temptation.

3)     Sin brings forth death.

As we submit ourselves to those sins, we have allowed that sin to creep into our minds and lives. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Sin causes death and separates us from God.

When we give the devil an inch, he will ask for another. Then, eventually, we will have given him a mile. And, that mile brings us death.

Hebrews 2:1 says:

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

That slow fade, that creeping of sin, that DRIFT can happen so slow and gradual that we fall away if we are not engaged in our relationship with God. We have to PAY attention to God’s Word. We have to let it become alive in us and by being an active part of our lives. Do not become enticed by the lures of the flesh. It’s not worth it. It brings us death. I encourage you, precious loved one of God, to be persistent, to avoid temptation, to SEEK GOD.

James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him.”

Let me pray for us! Father, help us to understand Your Word and be receptive to your teachings. Holy Spirit, please speak to us and help us to understand the message you are conveying throughout this Scripture. Bless this reader as well as our time together, and help them grow in their relationship with You, Lord. In Jesus' Name, Amen!

I leave you with this:

Be strong and steadfast, loved one. Be blessed. Be alive through Christ. Love God.

Blessings,

Courtney Busbee

Hearing God's Voice and Following His Direction

Hey Friends,

So lately I have been trying to really understand God's will for my life. As a college student, every decision I make will undoubtedly shape the course of my future. I have heard it once said,

 "Life is a course of making small decisions, every little one together makes your life." –Unknown. How.True.

But, the scariest thing in the world is to start making those decisions on your own. It’s tough to make a call when you are unsure of the outcome. These decisions are not just for college students either, but really for any stage of life. Decisions can be hard. BUT, you are not alone. God has a plan for you (Jeremiah 29:11). God wants us to consult him for direction. In fact, we are told that His plans alone will last.

“There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” –Proverbs 19:21 (KJV)

 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” –Proverbs 19:21 (ESV)

In all reality, why wouldn’t we consult God, our everlasting love and creator? He should be our first option. We also need to trust God in the small decisions. God wants us to trust in Him with everything because they all matter to Him.  

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will your paths." –Proverbs 3:5-6

I believe that verse says "ALL your heart." This means when we are confronted with a decision we are supposed to trust God with all of it. Although asking others for advice is great when they are wiser and clearly more knowledgeable, the Bible calls us to first place our trust and faith in Jesus Christ. We have to ask, "What does God want me to do? What does the Bible say about this? How can I glorify God in my choices?" We have to consult God for direction.

I am not advocating for you to stop consulting your "go-to" person every time you face a cross roads. I am trying to stress the importance in consulting God first and trusting in his direction. When we begin placing our trust in everyone around us and not the God, we might find ourselves straying from God's plan in pursuit of a worldly one. God wants us to consult him for our decisions. He wants that bond and dependence.

“A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” –Proverbs 16:9

I can reflect back to many times in my life and see when I was faced with a difficult situation or decision. Sometimes, I could almost palpably feel God’s presence. Other times, I felt as if the Lord was silent. The hardest part of trusting in God is trusting through silence and understanding He is with you.

I have heard it said, “The teacher is always quiet during the test.” –Unknown.

That helped me understand silence. Don’t give up in silence. God still hears you. We just have to trust him. His timing is not like ours. Trusting in God for every aspect of our lives is such an important foundation for our lives. When we are trusting solely in God, He will guide us. His word confirms that. God loves you and wants you to the have the life in which He has planned.

Stay in the Word. Keep your Faith. Trust in God.

Love you all,

Courtney Busbee

What's a God Compass?

Dear New Friend, 

Thank you for checking out God Compass. First, you might be wondering what exactly a God Compass is... 

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight." 

There you have it, folks. When we trust in the Lord with all of our heart, acknowledge him in all things, and lean not on our own understanding, God will direct our paths. The directed path is your life. When we are fully trusting in God, he is essentially the compass of our lives. He will direct us and show us where to go and when. 

The mission of this page is to encourage Christians in their lives with the Lord, Jesus Christ and to glorify God by sharing God's love and mercy to everyone. We want your relationship with God to grow (believer or not) as you read the short articles posted. I pray that the Lord will use this website as a tool for his work. 

God Bless and with love, 

Courtney B.

Writer and Creator of God Compass