Daunting Disappointment Series

WHEN LIFE IS THE PITS: DAUNTING DISAPPOINTMENT

A. We have been following the life of Joseph for the past few weeks in a series I’ve titled: “WHEN LIFE IS

THE PITS”.

1. Thus far we have seen some of the PITS that Joseph has found himself in, not only in a literal PIT but…

a. The PIT of an IMPERFECT FAMILY from his great-grandparents Abraham and Sarah down to

his siblings.

b. The PIT of BITTER ANIMOSITY held against Joseph by his brothers.

c. The PIT of INTENSE TEMPTATION from Potiphar’s wife who seduced Joseph daily to have a sexual relationship with her, but he REFUSED.

2. Today we find Joseph having to deal with the “PIT of DAUNTING DISAPPOINTMENT”.

B. DISAPPOINTMENT is the feeling of DISSATISFACTION that one EXPERIENCES when

EXPECTATIONS or HOPES are not SATISFIED.

1. No matter who you are, you have experienced DISAPPOINTMENT some time in your life.

a. Maybe it was a JOB that you didn’t get.

b. A RELATIONSHIP that failed.

c. A BUSINESS that went under.

d. A GRADE that you didn’t make.

e. A BIOPSY that came back positive.

COMMENT:

Whatever you were EXPECTING did not manifest itself as you HOPED, which leads to DISAPPOINTMENT.

2. Solomon writes, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…”- Proverbs 13:12a.

COMMENT:

Again, we have ALL experienced DISAPPOINTMENT that makes our HEART SICK—it’s not what we wanted to HAPPEN, but it did. But when DISAPPOINTMENT is not dealt with properly, it begins a DOWNWARD SPIRAL leading to DISCOURAGEMENT, DISILLUSIONMENT, DEPRESSION, and, finally, DEFEAT.

C. Joseph’s LIFE has not TURNED OUT the way that he EXPECTED.

1. “When he was 17-years-old, God gave him two PROPHETIC DREAMS that he would be some kind

of RULER and his brothers would BOW DOWN to him”- Genesis 37:5-9.

a. However, the PATH that his LIFE has taken him is FAR from being a RULER.

COMMENT:

He has been a SLAVE for the last eleven years—an important SLAVE, yes—but still a SLAVE.

b. And now Joseph is in Pharoah’s PRISON for something he didn’t do.

2. Whatever those DREAMS were about, it’s OBVIOUS to Jospeh that no one is going to be BOWING DOWN to him along as he is in this DUNGEON.

MESSAGE:

I. JOSEPH’S DISAPPOINTMENTS

A. Throughout this study we have seen Joseph experience one DISAPPOINTMENT after another.

1. He had been dealing with DISAPPOINTMENT from the moment his brothers THREW him into

a PIT and SOLD him into SLAVERY.

a. Joseph speaks of that DISAPPOINTMENT when he told the cupbearer, “I was forcibly carried

off from the land of the Hebrews…”- Genesis 40:15a.

COMMENT:

He was a 17-year-old kid RIPPED of his ROBE by his older brothers and THROWN into a PIT kicking and screaming and crying, and then SOLD into SLAVERY not knowing what was in

STORE for him.

Yet, unlike many SLAVES who were confined to HARD LABOR and subject to BEATINGS, God had BLESSED Joseph putting him in CHARGE of his master Potiphar’s household.

b. God made him SUCCESSFUL in everything that he did for Potiphar.

2. Then came the second DISAPPOINTMENT when Joseph was PUT into Pharoah’s PRISON.

a. He is not there because of something he had DONE, but something he DIDN’T DO.

COMMENT:

Potiphar’s wife ACCUSED him of ATTEMPTING to RAPE her. IT NEVER HAPPENED! Even though she TEMPTED Joseph daily “to come to bed with her,” he refused not only because she was “Potiphar’s WIFE” but he would not commit such a “wicked, sinful act against God”- Genesis 39:9.

b. So, in essence, Joseph is sent to PRISON because of his OBEDIENCE to God.

COMMENT:

Talk about DISAPPOINTMENT! We EXPECT to be REWARDED for our OBEDIENCE to God, not PUNISHED.

And Joseph knows how UNJUST this TREATMENT is when he says to the cupbearer, “…I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon”- Genesis 40:15b.

3. Then our lesson today reveals a third DISAPPOINTMENT that Joseph endured when his HOPE of GETTING OUT of PRISON is CRUSHED.

B. Let’s take a look at the WORK of God in Joseph’s DISAPPOINTMENTS

1. God’s FAVOR is upon Joseph- Genesis 39:20-23 (READ)

a. So even as God had granted Joseph FAVOR in Potiphar’s eyes (v. 4), so does He grant him

FAVOR in the eyes of the Prison Warden who puts him in CHARGE of all the PRISONERS.

b. But don’t think that IMPRISONMENT for Joseph was like staying at a COUNTRY CLUB.

COMMENT:

The Psalmist says this about Joseph’s time in prison: “They bruised his feet in shackles,

his neck was put in irons”- Psalm 105:18.

Joseph is not in a COMFORTABLE CELL resting in a LAZY BOY. His FEET are placed in SHACKLES that has caused BRUISES and ABRASIONS and his NECK in an IRON COLLAR.

c. At this point in Joseph’s LIFE, he has essentially LOST everything.