TRUSTING GOD … WHEN YOUR DREAMS GO DOWN THE DRAIN!
“When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him. One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever.
When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. “Here comes the dreamer!” they said. “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!” But when Reuben heard of their scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue. “Let’s not kill him,” he said. “Why should we shed any blood? Let’s just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. Then, just as they were sitting down to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite traders taking a load of gum, balm, and aromatic resin from Gilead down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? We’d have to cover up the crime. Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. “So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt.
Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.” (Genesis 37:2b-5, 18-28, 36, NLT)
(SLIDE 2)
INTRODUCTION
A woman told her husband as she woke on the morning of her birthday, “I have just dreamed that you gave me a diamond ring for my birthday. What do you think it means?” “Be patient, Honey,” said the man, “You’ll know tonight!”
Excitedly she waited all day for her husband to get home thinking about her dream and his response. When he arrived that evening, she saw he was carrying a package. ”Happy Birthday, Darling” he said, as he gave her the gift. Delighted, she opened it—to find a book entitled, ‘The Meaning of Dreams’.
Have you ever had a dream? Have you ever hoped that things would turn out in a particular way? Have you ever planned for something to happen? Only to find your dreams died, your hopes were dashed and your plans were shattered by circumstances you never thought would happen to you?
Joseph experienced it! He had dreamt of success, of leadership, of influence and of authority but suddenly he found himself tied up on the back of a camel headed for a life of slavery in Egypt. How could he ever trust God again?
Last week, we commenced a series entitled TRUSTING GOD, looking at the life of Joseph and seeking to learn from his experiences what this means.
By way of introduction, looking across Joseph entire life we examined what it means to …TRUST GOD … IN ALL OUR LIVES … We saw that we can when we
REMEMBER THAT GOD …
• WORKS SOVEREIGNLY
• WORKS STRANGELY
• WORKS SLOWLY …
IN ALL THAT HAPPENS IN OUR LIVES
Today as we concentrate on the events leading up to Joseph being a slave in Potipher’s house, we will consider that …
WHEN OUR DREAMS GO DOWN THE DRAIN …
WE CAN TRUST GOD IF WE REMEMBER THAT …
• GOD ENGINEERS THE CIRCUMSTANCES
• GOD ESTABLISHES THE REASON
• GOD ENSURES THE TIMING
(SLIDE 2)
GOD ENGINEERS THE CIRCUMSTANCES
A minister was approaching retirement and to boost his pension he contracted with a small church across the river to preach for them. He was pleased that the times of the services were such that, if he finished on time at his church, greeted a few folk and then walked down to the peer, he would be in time to catch the 10h30 ferry which would get him across the river for a short walk to the other church.
The first Sunday, he timed it perfectly. He finished the Service, greeted the folks and walked to the peer. But as he rounded the corner, to his dismay he saw that the ferry was just leaving the dock, less than a meter from the dock. Putting his dignity aside, he sprinted for the dock, shouting all the time to the departing boat. As he approached the edge of the peer he took a flying leap landing safely on the deck of the ferry. His momentum was halted as he crashed into the burly Captain. The man looked in disgust at the puffing, panting pastor and bellowed “What in the world do you think you’re doing … this boat is coming in, not going out!”
Although Joseph thought he had missed the boat, in fact his ship had come in. Only this wasn’t a ship of the sea but of the desert. What Joseph saw as things going from bad to worse as he is being handed over to the Midianites, was in fact God beginning to engineer Joseph’s circumstances in order to put in place His Eternal Plan for Joseph’s life, which according to Paul even before creation He had determined.
“God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing.” (Ephesians 2:10, NCV)
It was Oswald Chambers who coined the phrase that God is the ‘Engineer of our Circumstances’ … He says in his book ‘God’s Workmanship’ … “… God engineers our circumstances; we do not believe He does, we say we do. Never look for second causes, if you do you will go wrong” (Oswald Chambers)
As we look at what is happening in our lives and particularly when things are not going according to our plans, fulfilling what we envision for ourselves, we need to remind ourselves of two things …
GOD IS ENGINEERING OUR CIRCUMSTANCES
1. IN ORDER TO PUT IN PLACE HIS PLAN.
Remember, Joseph’s brothers had planned to kill him not sell him. God had a job for Joseph to do and this is the only reason they didn’t kill him.
• It was God, not chance that brought the Midianite caravan through Dothan headed for Egypt that day.
• It was God that dropped the thought into the scheming brothers’ mind of selling rather than killing Joseph.
• It was God that delayed Reuben from carrying out his planned rescue of Joseph.
God had work for Joseph to do. Nothing that the brothers, the traders or even the Egyptian hierarchy could do would prevent that. God intervened in the life of Joseph and God will intervene in your life.
Circumstances may plot against you, they may even rough you up, they may disrupt your plans, they may destroy your dreams but they cannot prevent God from fulfilling the plans that He has for you and completing the work that He wants you to do.
The great evangelist George Whitfield used to say … “I cannot die until my work is done” (George Whitfield)
Joseph didn’t and neither will you.
Secondly, we need to realise that WHEN GOD IS ENGINEERING OUR CIRCUMSTANCES
2. HE OFTEN WORKS IN WAYS WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND
In fact God often works in ways that do not make sense and almost appears as if God is working against rather than for us. When this happens we sometimes begin to question the goodness of God in our lives.
If God is in control, then surely he could have stopped Joseph’s jealous brothers from consigning him to a fate worse than death … For Joseph, being sold into slavery was a devastating prospect for the young seventeen year old, a crushing of his dreams.
Sometimes what God does, does not make sense! But that is because we look at it from a human perspective rather than God’s Perspective… Remember that God says …
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” (Isaiah 55:8, NLT)
From a human perspective the Cross didn’t make sense, but only because we are privileged to have the insight of the Holy Spirit do we understand. To the world it is foolishness but to those who are saved it is the Power of God.
Beloved we may never understand why or be given the gift of making sense of everything that happens to us but one day we will see it all.
It was CS Lewis, who wrestled greatly with this very thing. He sought to understand why God having given him late in his life, the blessing of his beloved Joy, who had so enriched his dreary Academic existence, and yet after so short a time together allowed her to be wrenched from him by a devastating cancer. Yet it was Lewis himself who said that when we die and find ourselves in heaven one day the first words out of our mouth will be “of course” … What doesn’t make sense on earth will make sense in heaven.
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NLT)
Remember even when you hold the pieces of broken dreams and you don’t understand why … GOD IS ENGINEERING YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES.
(SLIDE 3)
GOD ESTABLISHES THE REASON
When things don’t go according to plan, when your hopes are dashed and your dreams go down the drain, you begin to wonder why. What makes matters worse is that you are convinced that your dreams have been dictated by God, that you have sought always to submit your plans to the Lord for His approval…
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED IS THERE A REASON FOR ALL OF THIS?
Joseph must certainly have. Here is a 17 year old, crying out in anguish as he is thrown into a cistern, weeping inwardly as his dreams of leadership, success, living a God-anointed life are shattered as he is rescued from the frying pan only to be thrown into the fire of slavery, slavery in Egypt … Why? Why God, what’s the reason?
Have you ever wondered why God chose Egypt? He could quite easily have chosen anywhere else. Okay, remembering what Joseph said to his brothers …
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” (Genesis 50:20, NLT)
… we know that Joseph was able to help his family and many others when famine left them destitute and hungry.
But, is that all God intended? If so, surely there was an easier way?
Why did God have to move Jacob and his entire family all the way to Egypt, only to have to bring them all the way back to Canaan?
Anyway wasn’t Canaan, the land that God had promised to Abraham and his descendants? Not only did they have to suffer the indignity of slavery, wandering around in the wilderness for forty years and then still have to conquer the local inhabitants in order to create a people, a nation through whom He would bring about Salvation to all peoples of the earth… which was His Covenant with Abraham. Seems a lot of trouble to get what He planned.
But what we fail to see is that at the time of being moved to Egypt, the Israelites, Jacob and his family were just a handful of nomadic people living amongst powerful neighbors. As a small group of nomads, they would have been left alone. However if they started to grow, the locals would have watched with eagle eye and if they felt they had become too powerful they would have wiped them out before they became a threat. So God put them into the midst of a powerful nation, where they could live peacefully and multiply.
“In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.” (Exodus 1:6–7, NLT)
But God needed also to grow them into a people not influenced by and not integrated into pagan culture. God needed a People to whom He could entrust His Laws; a People who would give birth to prophets, teachers and ultimately the Messiah, the Saviour of Mankind. So when Egypt starts to feel threatened, God allows them to be enslaved. But notice what happens …
“But the harder the Egyptians forced the Israelites to work, the more the Israelites grew in number and spread out. So the Egyptians became very afraid of them” (Exodus 1:12, NCV)
Furthermore when Joseph had allowed his family to settle in Goshen, there they were able to remain separated from the Egyptian influence. This also suited the xenophobic Egyptians. God molded them into a People in whom their faith and traditions became entrenched, not adulterated by Egyptian culture or religion.
Despite Pharaoh’s dastardly plan to limit the population explosion among the Hebrews, God uses it for His purpose. When God heard the cry of His people, he raised up a Hebrew boy, who is brought up in the courts of Egypt, amidst the foremost learning and libraries of the world, despite Pharaoh’s efforts to rid himself of every Hebrew boy child. God knew He needed a tough but also learned leader to lead His People out of slavery into the Promised Land, a leader who would be equipped to write the Books of the Law. But he needs a further 40 years to prepare this leader away from Egyptian influence, so he sends him into the desert among the Midianite people. Then He needed forty years in the wilderness to polish the diamond of His People and ready them to take possession of the land of Promise. He also needed to raise up a leader to take over from Moses, a man whose brilliant military strategies are recognised even by non-Biblical historians.
Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together! But at the time …
• DID JOSEPH KNOW ALL THIS as he was thrown into the cistern, or when he was hauled out and handed to the Midianites?
• DID JOSEPH’S BROTHERS KNOW THIS when they plotted to kill their brother or when they shamelessly lied to their father handing him the bloodied coat?
• DID JACOB KNOW THIS as he mourned for his favoured son?
• DID THE MIDIANITES KNOW THIS as they bumped into a bunch of shepherd who for some reason were prepared to sell one of their own into slavery or as they accepted the good price they got from Potipher’s agent?
• DID POTIPHER KNOW THIS when his agents presented to him a young seventeen year old Hebrew slave?
Of course… NONE OF THEM DID, each saw it from their own limited perspective, particularly Joseph as he sat among the remnants of his shattered dream…I’m certain he of all people couldn’t understand why, why it had all gone pear-shaped. They did not know
… BUT GOD DID! Only 23 years later would Joseph in retrospect understand in part why his dreams were dashed as a young lad of seventeen!
Have your dreams gone down the drain, have your hopes shattered into a million pieces, have your plans been shipwrecked, has everything in your life gone pear-shaped and you are left wondering if there is a reason for all this? Be encouraged even if you don’t see it now, God knows what He is doing, He has a plan; remember GOD ESTABLISHES THE REASON for everything!
(SLIDE 4)
GOD ENSURES THE TIMING
Steve Farrar in his book ‘God Built’ shares the story of a young sailor serving on the USS Astoria during the Second World War. Whilst working on one of the large guns it exploded catapulting Elgin Staples into the sea. With shrapnel wounds on both legs, suffering from shock there was little hope of his survival. It was only a lifebelt that kept his head above water and saved him from drowning. As he hit the water he just managed to trigger the button that inflated the belt before passing out.
Four hours later a passing destroyer rescued him and he was returned to the Astoria. Due to the excessive damage caused by the explosion, the Astoria had to be beached. Things went horribly wrong and the hapless sailor found himself floating in the sea once more. Another ship, the USS Andrew Jackson managed to rescue him. He was transferred to sick bay still wearing the life jacket that had saved his life not once but twice. He refused to part with it. Upon studying it closely, he discovered that it had been manufactured in his home town, Akron, Ohio at the Firestone factory.
When he was well enough, granted extended leave he returned home. As he sat with his mother after an emotional homecoming, he recounted the remarkable events that had resulted in his survival. His mother went on to tell him that in order to do her bit for the war effort she had taken a job at the Firestone factory. This caused him to show his mother the lifebelt made at the factory at which she had worked. As she examined it and read the label, her mouth and eyes opened wide. She said, “Son, I’m an inspector at Firestone and this is my inspection number” Remarkable. In Elgin Staples’ own words “My mother had put her arms halfway around the world to save me”
They called it A REMARKABLE COINCIDENCE. WAS IT? NEVER! … IT WAS THE HAND OF GOD, this is God’s provision! Think of all that came together, just in the nick of time, everything happening on time at the right time. Beloved, GOD ENSURES THE TIMING.
• Do you think that his brothers had moved to Dothan by chance?
• Do you think that the cistern into which they threw Joseph was dry by chance?
• Do you think the caravan of Midianite traders just happened along?
• Do you think that it was a wonderful coincidence that the Midianites just happened to provide Joseph’s brothers an alternative to having blood on their hands?
• Do you think that at the Slave Market, Potipher’s agents happened to make the highest bid for the young Hebrew slave?
At the time, did Joseph see all of this as God being an on time God, ensuring that every circumstance and experience conspired to work together exactly at the right time to save Joseph.
If you had been able to ask Joseph at the time, I am certain his answer would have been a resounding No!
Where was God, why didn’t Reuben arrive to haul him out of the pit before the caravan passed by? Why didn’t God urge his dad to send someone out to look for him before his brothers could pursue their evil plan? Sure God could have done any of these things but He chose not to.
Beloved THERE ARE NO RANDOM EVENT IN YOUR LIFE, everything that happens to you is under the power and providence of God! God is never caught on the back foot by what is happening to you! And remember GOD IS ALWAYS ON TIME, NEVER EARLY, NEVER LATE.
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: To the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives." (2 Peter 3:8-9, NCV)
REMEMBER … GOD ENSURES THE TIMING
(SLIDE 5)
CONCLUSION
To trust God in times of adversity is a hard thing to do, especially when things we had planned, when things we had hoped for, when things we had dreamed of lie shattered at our feet.
We have to choose to trust Him. This is not easy; it is a matter of faith. Only the Holy Spirit, who is the author of our faith can help us to depend despite what is going on around us.
It was John Newton, author of the powerful hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ who watching a painful cancer slowly kill his precious wife prayed this prayer … “Lord, I am helpless indeed, in myself, but I hope I am willing, without reserve, that Thou shouldest help me” (John Newton)
As he chose to be helped, the Holy Spirit helped him to make the wonderful truths of the Word of God alive in his situation. He chose to TRUST GOD… so can you.
As you remind yourself WHEN YOUR DREAMS GO DOWN THE DRAIN that …
• GOD IS ENGINEERING YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES
• GOD IS ESTABLISHING THE REASON
• GOD IS ENSURING THE TIMING
