When the good times come, we all respond basically the same way. For example, when someone asks us HOW WE ARE, all of us just give them a big smile and we say, “GREAT!”
In the difficult times, we can see the difference in people. When the difficult times come and you ask them HOW THEY ARE. . .
• Some will let you know they are not very happy
• Some will let you know they are angry
• Some will let you know they are disappointed
• Some will let you know they are ready to hurt someone
Sometimes we do not even need to ask them HOW THEY ARE DOING, we can tell they are not doing well simply by looking at them.
Illus: Farmer Brown decided his injuries from the accident were serious enough to take the trucking company (responsible for the accident) to court. In court, the trucking company's fancy lawyer was questioning Farmer Brown. "Didn't you say, at the scene of the accident, 'YOU FELT GREAT" asked the lawyer.
• Farmer Brown responded, "Well I'll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule Bessie into the..."
• "I didn't ask for any details," the lawyer interrupted, "just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, that YOU FELT GREAT?"
• Farmer Brown said, "Well I had just gotten Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road..."
• The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."
• By this time the Judge was fairly interested in Farmer Brown's answer and said to the lawyer, "I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule Bessie."
• Brown thanked the Judge and proceeded, "Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side."
• He continued, "I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting real bad and didn't want to move. However, I could hear ole Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans."
• "Shortly after the accident, a highway patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her, he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the patrolman came across the road with his gun in his hand and looked at me."
• Finally, farmer Brown came to the end of the story. "The patrolman looked at me and said, 'Your mule was in such bad shape I had to shoot her. How are YOU feeling'?"
You have to be careful when you ask some people how they are feeling, because for the next two hours they will tell you how they are feeling. They do not REALLY have anything to complain about, but they can find a lot to complain about.
Illus: They remind me of a customer that was bothering the waiter in a restaurant.
• First, he asked that the air conditioning be turned down because he was too hot.
• Then he asked the waiter turn it up down because he was getting too cold.
He kept doing this for about a half an hour. Surprisingly, the waiter was very patient, he walked back and forth and never once got angry.
Finally, a second customer asked him why he didn't throw out the pest.
"Oh, I really don't mind," said the waiter with a smile. "You see, when he complains I just walk by and hit the light switch to satisfy him, because we don't even have an air conditioner."
You can tell by looking at some people that something is bothering them. There are others who can face severe difficulty and you would never know that something was wrong in their life.
During these difficult times, God says we are to TRUST HIM! WHY?
Look at Isaiah 55:8-9, we read, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Just because things don’t make sense to us, doesn’t mean they DON’T MAKE SENSE TO GOD! Just because we do not understand now, does not mean we will NEVER UNDERSTAND!
I believe when we get to heaven and God shows us why He did what He did….we all are going to be walking around saying, “Yea!…that make sense now!” But until we get to heaven, these finite minds of ours are going to have to simply TRUST GOD!
Joseph did not UNDERSTAND why these horrible things were happening to him. Nevertheless, he continued to trust the Lord.
Illus: Suppose the smartest engineer in the world was to build one of the most complex bridges that has ever been built.
When the bridge was completed, you went to him and told him, “I do not plan to drive across that bridge until you explain to me how it was built.” He said, “Fine, let me explain.”
Then he began to talk in engineering terms that deal with stress loads and calculations and you do not have the slightest idea what he is talking about.
Finally, he says to you, “I can’t explain it, you will just have to trust me, the bridge is more than adequate for any load you can place upon it.”
WE SHOULD NOT DEMAND UNDERSTANDING AS WE GO THROUGH HARD TIMES, because GOD’S THOUGHTS and GOD’S WAYS are not ours.
It is difficult to get some folks to understand some things.
Illus: This reminds me of the baseball coach that said to one of his young players:
• "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?" The little boy nodded yes.
• "Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as a team?" The little boy nodded again and said, “Yes.”
• "So," the coach continued, "when a strike is called, or you are out at first, you don't argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do you understand all that?" Again, the boy nodded yes.
"Good," said the coach. "Now go over there and explain it to your mother."
If God did things the WAY I do things; If God THOUGHT the way I THINK, it would take no faith to live the Christian life.
But HIS WAYS AND HIS THOUGHTS ARE NOT LIKE OURS, so it requires FAITH on our part to trust HIM.
Many times we face something and it seems completely SENSELESS, but it makes SENSE to God.
In overcoming the HARD TIMES in our life, we are to be like Joseph. We saw in the last message that HE DID NOT DEMAND UNDERSTANDING. It is all right to seek it, but do not demand it!
Notice something else he did –
II. HE DID NOT BOW TO BITTERNESS
If any man had a right to become BITTER, Joseph had every right.
These horrible things that occurred in his life were senseless and unexplainable, and he did not deserve being treated the way he was treated.
Bitterness can destroy you. It can destroy your health and cause you to lose many nights of sleep.
Illus: A story is told of two unmarried sisters who had so bitter a ruckus they stopped speaking to each other. Unable or unwilling to leave their small home, they continued to use the same rooms and sleep in the same bedroom. A chalk line divided the sleeping area into two halves, separating doorway and fireplace, so that each could come and go and get her own meals without trespassing on her sister's domain. In the black of night each could hear the breathing of the foe. For years they coexisted in grinding silence. Neither was willing to take the first step to reconciliation.
God’s Word says we are not to let the sun go down on our wrath!
Why? Because if we do not put it in the hands of God, it will destroy us.
Illus: Every pastor knows what it is to have people to come to his office over and over again as they face HARD TIMES, and the thing they want to know is, “WHY? WHY? WHY?”
Many of them, with tears running down their cheeks, will say, “I do not understand, this is so senseless.”
Nowhere in the scriptures do we see where Joseph was:
• Bitter toward his brothers for selling him into slavery
• Bitter toward Potiphar’s wife for lying about him
Bitterness will SHORTEN OUR LIFE and ROB US OF OUR JOY AND HAPPINESS.
From the time that Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery until the time he ruled over Egypt, it is believed to be a period of between 15 to 17 years.
Illus: We all know what a difference 15 to 17 years can make in our appearance. If you do not think so, go to your next class re-union. The only way you will know 99% of the people is by the name on their lapels. And if your wife did not go to school with you, whatever you do, do not brag about all those pretty girls you dated because they are no longer pretty!
As ruler of Egypt, when his brothers came for food they did not recognize him. The last time they saw him he was a young man.
Joseph’s youthful LOOKS had gone and now he is around 30 to 35 years of age and they could not recognize him. However, he recognized and spoke to them through an interpreter and accused them of being spies.
They told Joseph they were not spies, in fact, they were ALL ONE MAN’S SONS. Their father had twelve sons. He wanted them to prove who they were by sending for their youngest brother.
Look at Genesis 42:20, we read, “But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die...”
Since Joseph was speaking through an interpreter, they talked among themselves of their dilemma, not realizing Joseph understood everything they were saying. Look at Joseph’s response in verse 24. IT WAS NOT ONE OF BITTERNESS, we read, “And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again...”
Joseph could have held a grudge against his brothers, but he DID NOT BOW TO BITTERNESS.
The Bible says, in Romans 12:19, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
We have an old saying when someone does us wrong, “I will have my day in court.”
Illus: They used to have a television program called “People’s Court.” It was an actual courtroom on television where if someone felt they had been done an injustice, they could take that person to court. Once that person felt they had received justice, they came out of the court room and a man would ask them how they felt. Most of time, a smile would appear on the plaintiffs face and they would say, “I FEEL GREAT!”
We do not always get true justice in our judiciary system. For example, if a man kills another man, he may get caught and sentenced to death. The nearest justice for the victim who was killed is for the man who killed him to be executed. But this is not true justice. The man who took the life had a choice, but the man who lost his life had no choice.
In heaven, people will get PURE JUSTICE, God will see to it! God said in His Word, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”
God is saying, “I WILL SEE TO IT THEY WILL GET WHAT IS COMING TO THEM and you will get justice.”
Listen, it does not matter how much wrong they did to you – YOU WILL FEEL SORRY FOR THEM WHEN GOD GETS THROUGH WITH THEM.
Joseph DID NOT DEMAND UNDERSTANDING, HE DID NOT BOW TO BITTERNESS and . . .
III. HE DID NOT FAIL TO BE FAITHFUL
Joseph did not deserve these horrible things that occurred in his life, but he used them to accomplish greater things.
God can allow us to go through HARD TIMES and we will come out a better person than we were before.
Illus: Joseph’s life reminds us of the man who was observing a small ant crossing a piece of concrete slab. The ant had a large piece of straw, dragging it and pushing it. He was doing very well until he came to a crack in the concrete too large for him to step over. So he took the straw and pushed it across the crack and used it as a bridge to walk over on.
Joseph had a lot of things pushed on him, but he used these things as a bridge for bigger and better things.
Joseph stayed in prison for 10 years. He is somewhere in his 30’s when he got out of prison. EVERYONE HAS FORGOTTEN HIM BUT GOD.
The Bible says, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in DUE TIME.”
• DID JOSEPH HUMBLE HIMSELF? He certainly did. He trusted the Lord for ten long years in that prison.
• DID GOD EXALT JOSEPH? God certainly did. God exalted him to be RULER OF EGYPT.
Listen, we might be HUMBLED BY GOD ONE DAY, but God has a way of turning things around so that tomorrow we can be EXALTED!
God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor is His timing our timing. We have to trust GOD’S WAYS and GOD’S TIMING. Why? Because He is omniscient and He knows ALL THINGS and He knows what is best. WE DO NOT!
Illus: During the days of Oliver Cromwell, it was the custom for the servant to sleep in the room with his master. One particular night when Cromwell had a lot on his mind and could not sleep, he paced the floor. He paced the floor so long that his servant could not sleep and sat up and said to Mr. Cromwell,
• “May I ask a question or two?” Mr. Cromwell said, “Sure, what is it that you want to ask?”
• He said, “Did God rule the world before we were born?”
• Cromwell said, “He certainly did.”
• “Will God rule the world after we are dead?”
• Cromwell said, “He most certainly will.”
• He said, “Then master, why not let Him rule the present, too?”
That is what God wants us to do today, LET HIM RULE OUR LIFE. No matter what kind of trouble you are facing, TRUST GOD to work it out!
Conclusion:
Joseph was victorious because:
(Last Message)
I. HE DID NOT DEMAND UNDERSTANDING
II. HE DID NOT BOW TO BITTERNESS
III. HE DID NOT FAIL TO BE FAITHFUL
