Good Days

INTRO.- ILL.- A little boy named Alexander had a bad day one time. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. His bad day started as soon as he woke up one morning. Alexander said, “I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I COULD TELL IT WAS GOING TO BE A TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY.”

And after Alexander had a terrible day at school, a horrible visit with the dentist, and a no-good stop at the shoe store, he slumps in his chair at the supper table. HIS TROUBLES CONTINUE.

And Alexander continues his story, “There was lima beans for dinner and I hate lima beans. There was kissing on TV and I hate kissing. My bath water was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went down the drain, and I had to wear my railroad-train pajamas to bed. I hate my railroad-train pajamas. When I went to bed Nick took back the pillow he said I could keep.”

“And the Mickey Mouse night light burned out and I bit my tongue. The cat wants to sleep with Anthony, not with me. IT HAS BEEN A TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY!”

Brothers and sisters, all of us experience some terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days!

ILL.- Gen. 37:2 “Joseph, a young man of 17, was tending the flocks with his brothers...” Young, handsome, robust, everything going for him. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? But there’s more to his story.

Gen. 37:4 “When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, THEY HATED HIM AND COULD NOT SPEAK A KIND WORD TO HIM.” And Joseph was about to have a “very bad day.”

Gen. 37:17-18 “Joseph went after his brothers (or went to look for his brothers) and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance and before he reached them, THEY PLOTTED TO KILL HIM.”

Their anger turned to hatred and their hatred turned to plot murder. YOU NEED TO GET RID OF ANGER IN YOUR HEART BEFORE IT DESTROYS YOU OR SOMEONE ELSE!

Joseph’s brothers said, “Here comes that dreamer! Come now let’s kill him and throw him into one of those cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

Brethren, from then on everything seemed to go downhill for Joseph. They stripped him of his robe and threw him into a cistern. THEN THEY SOLD HIM INTO SLAVERY. THAT WAS NOT A GOOD DAY FOR JOSEPH!

Sometime later Joseph experienced more bad days in Egypt. Mrs. Potipher lied about him.

Gen. 39:17-18 She said to her master (who was her husband), “That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me.” LIAR! LIAR! PANTS ON FIRE! She was the one who tried to seduce Joseph! DEVIL WOMAN!

She said, “As soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.”

Gen. 39:19-20 reads, “When the master heard the story his wife told him saying, ‘This is how your slave treated me, HE BURNED WITH ANGER. AND JOSEPH’S MASTER TOOK HIM AND PUT HIM IN PRISON...” That was not a good day for Joseph!

But, thank God, things didn’t stay that way for Joseph! Because of his faith in the Lord and his obedience, the Lord turned things around him and he began to experience many “good days.”

I believe that only in the Lord can we experience many “good days.” The Lord is the only answer to a better life on earth and an excellent life in heaven.

PROP.- Psalm 34:10-16 gives us the divine prescription for having good days the rest of our lives. Let’s look at this prescription and swallow it completely.

How to have good days?

1- Control your tongue

2- Turn from evil and do good

3- Seek peace and pursue it

4- Put your trust in the Lord.

I. CONTROL YOUR TONGUE

V. 13 “Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.”

ILL.- A woman from London once went to a preacher and told him that the bands which he wore around his pulpit gown were too long and that they annoyed her greatly. She asked permission to shorten them. And confident that he would agree, she came armed with a pair of scissors.

The minister agreed and handed over the offending bands to the woman. She shortened them according to her taste and then handed them back to the minister. He thanked her and said, “Now, my good woman, there is something about you that is altogether too long, which has annoyed me greatly, and since one good turn deserves another, I would like permission to shorten it.”