Ge 37:5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told [it] his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. (19) And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. (20) Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. (21) And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. (22) And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again. (23) And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; (24) And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
I. I want to talk to real people that feel disappointed by their dream. I am talking to those of you that God has made you a promise, shown you a few things, and then went silent on you.
A. Joseph’s story is one of those that people can find comfort in because it is a relatable story. His story has spoken to countless generations of dreamers and promise holders. How many of you can relate to Joseph? God gives you something, shows you the end result, but there are struggles. The Bible says in Pr 13:12 ¶ Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but [when] the desire cometh, [it is] a tree of life. Right now you’re just sick and as far as you are concerned that tree was cut down, chopped up, and set on fire; even the stump got dug up.
1. Joseph had a promise; here he is feeling good; knowing that For all the promises of God in him [are] yea, and in him Amen, but now he finds himself in a pit. I want to stop here for just a minute and tell you; if somebody told you when you became a Christian that all your problems would be over, that you would never be hurt again, you would never cry again, you would never suffer again…They Lied! Mt 5:45 …he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Ps 34:19 Many [are] the afflictions of the righteous: Joh 16:33 In the world ye shall have tribulation: Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
a. Christians have problems too, Christians get sick, Christians get in debt, Christians get divorced, Christians get their hearts broken, Christians get in places they shouldn’t be. Sometimes you fall in, sometimes you jump in, and sometimes you’re pushed in. Regardless of how you got there or why you’re there, a Pit is a Pit and if you stay there you will die. Dreams die in the pit, ministries die in the pit, gifts, callings, marriages, die in the pit.
B. The pit is just a pothole along the way to your promise; I am declaring to you that if God spoke a Word over you, made a promise to you; regardless of your circumstance you are coming out. I wish somebody would go ahead and prophesy to themselves and say, “I’m coming out”. God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
1. I don’t know what that pit is for you today: it may be a pit of debt, it may be a pit of sickness, it may be a pit of bondage, or addiction, it may be a pit of despair, depression, it may be a pit of marital problems that looks so deep, dark and impossible that you feel like giving up, it may be a spiritual pit to where you just don’t feel God like you used to, and you’re dry and discouraged. I don’t know what your pit is; they come in all different shapes and sizes, but I want you to look at your neighbor and tell them I’ve spent my last night in the pit, Ps 30:5 Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning…
2. Sure you may feel like you are going to die in the pit; but you need to remember The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, don’t you dare die in the Pit; the fall doesn’t have to be fatal; don’t quit dreaming; don’t quit believing; don’t quit trusting; don’t quit expecting. If God said it He will do it, now is not the time to let your faith waiver, you will come up out of this pit! 2Pe 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,
3. There may be some haters that are standing over your pit right now, that are like Job’s wife saying just curse God, and die, telling you the reason you’re in this mess is because of your sin, that you didn’t hear from God, that you didn’t start having problems until you got saved and started going to that church. The sad thing is those words didn’t come from the “old get along gang”, but from church folk. It’s funny how people will kick dirt on you while you’re down, but won’t help a brother or sista out of the pit. That’s ok cause you can tell your haters; Mic 7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD [shall be] a light unto me. God called didn’t call you to be a black light to expose anyone’s stains.
II. You ever ask God WHY?
A. Why? Is a question we as Christians ask a lot of God. Why show me the vision? Why am I sick? Why am I waiting? Why can’t my children that are acting a fool get right? Why am I going through this? Why Lord now? Why? Why? Why? Come on now I know that you have filled your prayer closet with more questions and left with no answers. Let me be real; right now I am asking God WHY?
1. You have read the Bible; called out all the promises that apply to your situation; by whose stripes ye were healed, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house, I am more than a conqueror, no weapon formed against me shall prosper, I am the head and not the tail, I have power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt me, Gods word will not return unto Him void, but it shall accomplish that which He please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto He sent it.
2. My first sermon I ever preached was entitled “Why do bad things happen to good people”, and I am sure that was the question the congregation was asking themselves that night while listening to that train wreck of a sermon. I still have the tape buried in my closet with the words “why” written on it, I can’t bring myself to listen to it.
3. Why; is a natural response to things that don’t make sense. The word “WHY” means “for what reason or purpose”. The word “WHY” is one of question; rather it is asked alone or asked along with a direct explanation it is and will always be a word associated as a question. It is the first question a child will ask, “Why is … (ex.). We are born to question, and there isn’t anything wrong with that. It is the “WHYS” that has fueled many of mans great marvels and advancements. Every innovation came from a “WHY”.
B. The Word “WHY” can be found 261 times in the Bible; its first use was used by God in Ge 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
1. Moses asked God, “why he was sent” in Ex. 5:22, and in Ex.31:11 he asked God why He was so mad at the people?
2. Job spent most of his own book asking WHY? Job 3:11 Why died I not from the womb? [why] did I [not] give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Does that not sound like us sometimes? Before George Bailey in “It’s A Wonderful Life” ever wished he had never been born; Job beat him to it by asking in that verse; God why did you put me here just to endure so much pain, it would have been better had I never been born. Job probably felt like he was the butt of a cruel joke by God.
3. 15 times in the Psalms did David ask WHY? Ps 10:1 Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? [why] hidest thou [thyself] in times of trouble?
4. The Bible is filled with a lot of WHYS and Why moments? Why tell Noah to build an Ark and then go silent for 120 years, Why tell Abraham an old man that he will be a father to many nations, Why send Moses down the Nile River to be raised by Israel’s bondsman. I could do this all day; I just want you to see that even those in the Bible had WHY moments too.
C. It’s ok to ask WHY? It’s natural for us to want to ask and enquire. We can’t help but do it; it is how we gain clarity and understanding.
1. Let me give you a warning; we must be careful not to allow a simple search for understanding become anger and bitterness toward God, people, or situations. Why is powerful in that it can propel you forward or send you backwards.
2. We must be careful not to leave our prayer closet angry and upset. It is at that moment we are vulnerable and susceptible to the enemies influence. Eph. 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: (27) Neither give place to the devil. The enemy like a roaring lion will pounce on you and will try to turn those questions into negative actions and reactions.
3. It is this very reason we see so many leave the church or become angry with God. They are no longer seeking God but seething Him. They allow their bitterness to defile them and even define them; losing their perception on what lies ahead and instead wallowing in the here and now.
D. However you may feel about where you are I want to encourage you in the fact that you are “Placed and Positioned for provision”.
1. He wants to take care of you, if nature does not worry about provision why should we, the apple of God’s eye, sons and daughters that reflect His image. Jesus said Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? I want you to know that you are being set up and placed for a miracle. A good chess player knows how to position and place all the pieces in order to win. You are set up to win…Tell your neighbor “you been set up”.
2. God has put you in this particular place for a reason and a season. It doesn’t look like much now, because you just see the preview the main attraction is about to play out. Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
3. We hear all the time about “not being in a position too…” or “you are not in a place too…” those statements may work in the natural, but not with God. Through Him there is a place and by Him there is a position. The Bible says in Ac 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being;
III. I can’t answer your WHY; but I know that Your WHY is by Divine design!
A. When designing a building the architect and engineers work together to design the foundation of the structure. A smaller building like a house would not require the same foundation as a skyscraper. A house may only require a foundation to be dug down a few feet while larger buildings can require a foundation to be dug down in excess of 150ft. such as in the case of the tallest building in the World the Burj Khalifa in Dubai stands at 2,722 ft with a 163ft foundation.
1. Reasons for a deep foundation are determined by the structure that is being built and its purpose as well as the ground itself. For structures that are to serve a great capacity and function they cannot just have a foundation on the topsoil but require a foundation beneath the subsoil with a support system reaching down deep into the bedrock.
2. A structure is only as good as its foundation. If a building is to be built high it must first start low. The greater the height the lower it must go. The Burj Khalifa would have fallen to the ground had they just threw that thing up with no thought to all the hardships that a half a mile tall building would endure from the ground level all the way to top.
3. The leaning tower of Pisa is the world’s most famous poorly built structure due in part to its weak foundation. It was built on a 9 ft deep foundation set in weak unstable subsoil. The tower began to sink early during the construction of the second floor. It took 344 years to complete; its design was modified to account for the poor foundation. In the end after almost 3 ½ centuries we are left with a tower known only for its flaws.
B. I always looked at Joseph’s story in 4 stages, the Pit, Potiphar, Prison, and Palace. I tried to figure out what stage I was in, how close to the Palace was I, surely by now I am in the Prison and next in line. God reminded me that it all started with a dream. The pit was the starting place for the process to get Joseph ready for the palace, had there been no dream there would have never been a pit, Potiphar or a prison. You don’t get through in stages; to achieve the dream it takes the pit to reach the palace.
1. The pit you are in now has a purpose, it is the foundation of your destiny, your promise; had Joseph never been placed in the pit he would have never seen the palace. Without the pit there could be no palace; the pit was the foundation for his palace. You got to get low to end high. Your pit is what will hold up the promise.
a. When you look at a skyscraper no one ever asks, “How hard was it to lay the foundation, how many setbacks were there”, the reason being is because we know it is all part of the process. You break ground and then there is a grand opening.
2. I know you feel like the pit you are in now is more of a grave than a foundation. All the hell you are going through, all the setbacks, all the delays, every rejection, every door that closed, every widow that was shut; felt like a deeper grave was being dug; right now you may feel like you are digging yourself a deeper hole, but in reality you are digging yourself out.
3. When you started this walk it wasn’t deep, you were tripping over all the roots sticking up, but the longer you stayed in the hole the deeper you got, what used to trip you doesn’t any more, what should have bothered doesn’t anymore etc… you are getting past the soft stuff making your way to solid rock. Ps 40:2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, [and] established my goings.
a. Jesus Christ is the Rock of my foundation, the Rock of my salvation. When I started this walk I was a mess, He had to bust up some things in my life, I went through many dangers, toils and snares, but I kept getting deeper. I am too far in it now to quit and give up. I plan to run this race and finish this course. The heavens may feel like brass, but I can’t stop now, I put in too many hours, to many tears, too just walk away now. I don’t know the end from the beginning but I know the one that does, I can’t make sense of the turmoil and heart ache but I know the one that does.
C. Everything you are going through has a purpose. Joseph probably spent many nights asking WHY? But despite all the setbacks and questions; God was ordering his footsteps; Ps 37:23 The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD: God only showed him the end so he could get through the middle of his hell. What God has spoken over you is to help you weather all the storms that you must get through to get you there.
1. Acts 7:9 And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him, (10) And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favour and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt; David in two different Psalms speaks of God’s plan for Joseph, Ps 81:5 This he ordained in Joseph [for] a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: Ps 105:17 He sent a man before them, [even] Joseph, [who] was sold for a servant:
a. In the end he told his brothers ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, his brothers were always part of the plan, his brothers said let us cast him into some pit; this was not just some pit they found the pit was always part of the plan, (the Bible said it was an empty pit, God uses empty things to fill, He used empty pots to pour out wine, He used an empty meal barrel as a drive thru, God can fill the empty even with us)
2. Everything Joseph went through was daisy chained together to get him toward his destiny and promise; being sold as a slave was part of the plan, Potiphar’s hoochie mama of a wife was part of the plan, the prison and the butler forgetting about Joseph was all part of the plan. This chain began all the way back in Genesis when God said to Abraham, And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
a. The Abrahamic Covenant was the starting place for the divine fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams. The moment God cut covenant with Abraham the foundation was laid to include his great great grandson Joseph and the pit he was placed in too.
b. Two generations would pass, but the pit was prepared as part of the promise. Joseph needed the pit to get to Egypt; where his family would settle and become a great nation. You need to stop looking at your answers as “here and nows” but on reservation. You may see it happen, but it could be on hold for your children. I am the recipient of past promises made to loved ones that went on to be with the Lord, and in that same token some of my promises are being held onto for my children.
c. I am trying to get you to see that the pit you are in now believe it or not; is not some pit you fell into; God placed you in it to accomplish the plan He has for you For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Brothers and Sisters it’s all part of the plan. Everything you are dealing with is a daisy chain in your destiny and your promises.
d. I love magic and illusionist, every year I watch America’s Got Talent and cheer for the Illusionist, I don’t care about the singers or the dancers; those acts are boring to me. I want to see people use technology and ingenuity to create something that entertains. The Illusionist has an outcome that he wants the audience to see; all the while he has to hide how he achieves that outcome from them. The audience never sees the behind the scenes and all the work it took just to pull off a 90 second act, they never saw the weeks, months, and sometimes years of preparation just to achieve a big reveal. They don’t know that the lighting had to be set a certain way, the color combination was set a certain way, they never see the mirrors, and in some cases a distractions has to be intentionally just to hide some of the behind the scenes elements. Every detail is calculated and precise even down to how the audience sits from front to back. All these intricate pieces must work together in order to complete the illusion.
e. That is how it is for us church; there is a process that we must go through in order to have our own big reveal, no one may ever see or know what went on behind the scenes to get you there, they will not see the heart ache, the disappointment, the moments of doubt and disbelief, the tears, the pain, the struggles; are never reveled but they are all necessary components to fulfilling your promise and destiny; we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
3. God is getting you to a place where He can build His promise to you, know this the deeper your pit is the greater the foundation, structure, the promise, the blessing; I know its uneasy and uncomfortable, I know it seems like it’s all a cruel joke God is playing on you, but don’t rush God, don’t get in a hurry, I know you want the dream now, but the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
a. All the junk you have been enduring was only pushing your faith deeper, your pit may be deep and wide, but now that you are on firmly planted on Rock bottom, there is nowhere else to go but up; Isa 37:31 …take root downward, and bear fruit upward: you have gone as far as you can go now it’s time to come out. Ec 7:8 Better [is] the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: What you see is not what you get!!! What you are going through does not define you but develops you.
