WHY DID THAT HAPPEN? There are moments when we feel like bad luck knocked us down.
- We will get into the specifics that this passage details as we go through the sermon, but this is obviously a passage with some “just-so-happened” moments.
- To use the common vernacular, someone might say, “Oh, what bad luck.”
- Now, this raises a whole debate on whether there is such a thing as bad luck and trying to understand the limits and importance of Biblical words like “predestination” and “foreknowledge.” Those are interesting concepts and worthy of lengthy consideration but I want to stay focused on the piece of that puzzle that our passage for this morning brings up. This passage provides us with an excellent example of one particular situation within that whole area: when we find ourselves in a situation where it seems like “bad luck” has knocked us down but there is something else going on.
AN IMPORTANT NOTE: We are talking in this passage about situations of God’s perfect will, not God’s permissive will.
- This is a really important concept. We’ve discussed it before, but we have to talk about it again here. Otherwise, we could end up in some dark places with these truths.
- First, definitions.
a. God’s perfect will is the exact things He wants to see occur to bring about His plan.
b. God’s permissive will is the things people do that are not what He would want to have happen.
- Most of the time, when people sin, when evil triumphs, that is not part of God’s perfect will. Rather, it’s part of His permissive will.
- It’s “permissive” because God allows those things to happen. As God, He has the power to do much more than He does.
- We talked some about a related idea last week: there are big things that God is working to bring about and in those situations we can talk about God’s plan. There are many more secondary situations where there may not be a perfect plan that God is absolutely intent on bringing about.
A CHALLENGING REALITY: Sometimes providence is in the problems.
- Genesis 37:14b-17, 25-28.
- It was God’s will for these larger events to happen so that Joseph could be in position to save his larger family during the famine. It also establishes the scene for the dramatic events of the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt.
- Joseph is obviously experiencing big problems – he’s being carried away as a slave. Yet providence was in the problems.
- Two particular incidents:
a. The good directions.
- Genesis 37:14b-17.
- Joseph goes to the place he expected his brothers to be and they aren’t there. Thankfully, a guy just happens to be there who knows where to point Joseph. How fortuitous! I bet Joseph walked away thinking how “lucky” he was. Maybe even how God had provided.
- Later, though, maybe on the slow trip to Egypt, he must have thought, “If only I hadn’t run into that guy! I would have just headed back home, never would have found my brothers in the wilderness, and not been in this mess.”
b. The caravan.
- Genesis 37:25-28.
- When all the debate is happening about what to do with Joseph, a Midianite caravan comes by. It’s great timing to consider the option of selling Joseph instead of killing him.
- Joseph wouldn’t have known about this, but Rueben would have. Rueben was trying to find a way to save Joseph. After he came back and found the cistern empty (v. 29), he heard the story of what had happened. I figure after all that, he must have thought, “What if those traders hadn’t come by? I could have talked them into leaving Joseph in the cistern, then I could have come back and freed him.”
- When we look at those two incidents within this story, we see that there are moments when what initially looks like a problem is actually part of the providence of God.
- It would be great if pursuing God’s will meant that it would be blessing after blessing, but that’s not the way it works.
- Our response to struggles is usually to gripe and complain. Rarely do we even spend a moment wondering if this might be part of God’s providential plan for our lives.
OTHER THINGS GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL PLAN CAN COEXIST WITH: Poor parenting, dysfunctional families, unrepentant sin, and emotional pain.
- Genesis 37:12-36.
- There are other elements in this story that coexist with God’s providential plan:
a. Poor parenting.
- Genesis 37:3-4, 12-14, 18.
- Favoritism, sending him into the lion’s den, wearing the emblem of his favoritism (that’s likely how they knew it was him from a distance).
b. Dysfunctional family.
- Genesis 37:18-31.
c. Unrepentant sin.
- Genesis 37:25.
- They’re casually eating after doing this terrible deed.
d. Emotional pain.
- Genesis 37:32-35.
WHERE ARE WE? Is this a setback or a set up?
- Genesis 37:36.
- Setback: an unexpected problem that derails what we wanted to see happen.
- Set up: it’s a problem but it’s part of God bringing about what He wants to accomplish.
- Verse 36 points us to the fact that Joseph ends up through these events in an unexpected place.
