THE FAVOR OF GOD – Challenging the circumstances
Proverbs 8: 35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
Joseph
He began with favor from his father from a young age.
He found himself thrown in a pit.
Then sold to the Midianites – Strife.
Then to Potifhar in Egypt.
Genesis 39: 2 And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
3 And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.
5 And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.
We remember how Potiphers wife caught an eye for Joseph and he found himself tossed in prison for a crime he did not commit.
20 And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
21 But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
The Chief Baker remembers a time when a young Hebrew boy CHALLENGED THE CIRCUMSTANCE and through a gift from God interrupted the outcome of that situation while he was in prison.
Remember – he was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
I don’t know about you, but I would have probably been having me a pity party.
I would have been crying and wining wondering way God did this to me. Yet Joseph, CHALLENGED THE CIRCUMSTANCE when he had NOTHING TO LOSE AND NOTHING TO GAIN.
The later he interpreted the dream of Pharaoh and he stood before an angry, confused man, who was one word away from killing a herd of people, YET IN ALL THIS DISTRESS:
42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot, which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.
The next verse tells us Joseph was 30 years old when this was accomplished.
Remember he was 17 when his brothers sold him. It took 13 years of hell to receive what God had for him.
But everywhere this young man went, he was blessed.
Every time Satan tried to destroy him, God gave him favor.
Daniel 1
1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.
4 Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.
5 And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.
6 Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:
Daniel knew he was Blessed of God and HE CHALLENGED THE CIRCUMSTANCE
12 Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.
19 And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.
20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.
Daniel 2:
48 Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon.
49 Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king.
Esther was a beautiful lady. Who could have been so conceded in her beauty that she walked around with her nose stuck in the air, shaken her head saying, “Look at me”.
Yet when she was called upon and pallywagoned to the Palace, instead of saying, “I’m a Jew” “I have no chance” she CHALLENGED THE CIRCUMSTANCE.
Esther 2
15…And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.
17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
That could have been it.
She could have disappeared in the shadows after her appointment,
Yet, when she realized that her Uncle was going to die and all her people, there was something inside her that could not set back and let that happened.
She CHALLENGED THE CIRCUMSTANCE. And had the entire Nation fast and pray for her and entered into the Kings presence knowing that she could be killed if he was not in the right mood.
YET
Esther 5
2 And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.
Thank God in the New Testament, there was a little 14-year-old virgin that had no royalty, had not prestige, yet she found herself in the presence of a great Angel:
Luke 1: 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
TO MANY OF US SET AROUND AND ALLOW OUR PEOPLE TO DIE AND GO TO HELL BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE THE GUTS TO CHALLENGE THE CIRCUMSTANCE.
Numbers 27
1 Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.
2 And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.
4Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
These sisters had no right under the law. They should have been left destitute, but they refused to set around and die.
They Challenged the Circumstance.
They challenged the ordinary.
They Challenged Tradition.
They Challenged the Religious leaders.
5 And Moses brought their cause before the LORD.
6 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
9 And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren.
10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father’s brethren.
They told my momma, kill the baby.
Toxemia set in. I could have been totally deaf, or blind, or an invelant.
Isaiah 53
1Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
The Doctor says, “You are going to die.”
Isaiah 53:5 ….and with his stripes we are healed.
The enemy says, “I will destroy you.”
Isaiah 54: 17No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper;
The enemy says, “I have you surrounded. There’s no way out.”
2 Kings 6: 16 Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
The enemy says, “I’ll take everything from you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Matthew 11:12 now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
The enemy says, “You’ll never make it.” “You will fail.”
Romans 8: 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
When the enemy tells you that you will be swept away.
Isaiah 59:19 When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
