Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him. Genesis 40:23
Recommended Reading: Exodus 15:22-27 “22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.”
COMMENTS: The opposite of grumbling, we would think, is contentment but it is really gratitude. Only gratitude will quench and impatient complaining that irritates and hinders our faith. Conversely, gratitude fills our minds with memories of past ways God has been faithful and encourages us to continue to put our faith in Him. Gratitude strengthens not only our faith but builds patience as we wait for Him to respond. Joseph endured an unjust prison judgment, accused of a crime he did not commit. But his faith in God and determination to remain faithful to Him is vital. We are not told of any doubts he may have had as he waited but have to believe doubts did haunt him some days. But he refused to yield to them and remained faithful. Results was both God’s willingness to reveal things he could not otherwise know in order to place him in a position one day of power and authority second only the Pharaoh in Egypt. Result was opportunity to save both Egypt and his own family from starvation due to a coming great drought that would last 7 years. But God wanted to do so much more. To bring redemption to Joseph’s brothers even though they didn’t deserve it and also to Joseph restoration to his family by enabling and empowering him to forgive them. Joseph enjoyed that restoration all his remaining life. But generations later, Moses and his people had to endure slavery and abuse at the hand of a Pharaoh who forgot about Joseph or the great service he did for Egypt.
When Moses lead the Israelites out of slavery and out of Egypt, it was a time of great celebration and expressions of gratitude and worship and praise. They witnesses the miracles of the 10 plagues, the parting of the Red Sea and the Pillar of fire defeating the great Egyptian army . But every step they would quickly begin complaining when food or water was in short supply. God consistently supplied but would wait to see if they would trust Him or complain. Each and every time of testing, they complained. They quickly forgot God’s faithfulness and past proof of His faithfulness. They refused to praise and worship Him when future remained uncertain. But it was certain because God was guiding them. They could have immediately gone into promised land instead of wondering in the desert for 40 years if they only had praised instead of complained and followed Caleb’s and Joshua’s advice instead of the other 10 spies.
Before we get too critical of them, we need to reflect and discover how much we too complain and are of weak faith too. Adversity tests our faith and if weak, we are equally vulnerable to whine instead of shine too. But God calls us to shine during prosperity and shine during adversity. By doing so, we are a witness to God’s faithfulness and ambassadors to the world around us of His faithfulness. When we whine, we discourage others coming to Christ. When we shine, we encourage them to do so, so consequences of doubts reach out beyond ourselves, making responsibility to shine great on our shoulders. The consequences of not shines is equally on our shoulders too.
The Israelites grumbled and murmured and complained every step of the way from Egypt to the Promised Land, incurring God’s wrath. James 5:9 says, “Do not grumble against one another.” Jude 16 warns about those who are “grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts.”
God longs to work within us, so we may obtain His quality of patience—the ability to handle delays with grace and gratitude, not with griping and grumbling.
“Grumbling and gratitude are, for the child of God, in conflict.” Billy Graham
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 515 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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