WHEN LIFE IS THE PITS: DAUNTING DISAPPOINTMENT
A. We have been following the life of Joseph for the past few weeks in a series I’ve titled: “WHEN LIFE IS
THE PITS”.
1. Thus far we have seen some of the PITS that Joseph has found himself in, not only in a literal PIT but…
a. The PIT of an IMPERFECT FAMILY from his great-grandparents Abraham and Sarah down to
his siblings.
b. The PIT of BITTER ANIMOSITY held against Joseph by his brothers.
c. The PIT of INTENSE TEMPTATION from Potiphar’s wife who seduced Joseph daily to have a sexual relationship with her, but he REFUSED.
2. Today we find Joseph having to deal with the “PIT of DAUNTING DISAPPOINTMENT”.
B. DISAPPOINTMENT is the feeling of DISSATISFACTION that one EXPERIENCES when
EXPECTATIONS or HOPES are not SATISFIED.
1. No matter who you are, you have experienced DISAPPOINTMENT some time in your life.
a. Maybe it was a JOB that you didn’t get.
b. A RELATIONSHIP that failed.
c. A BUSINESS that went under.
d. A GRADE that you didn’t make.
e. A BIOPSY that came back positive.
COMMENT:
Whatever you were EXPECTING did not manifest itself as you HOPED, which leads to DISAPPOINTMENT.
2. Solomon writes, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…”- Proverbs 13:12a.
COMMENT:
Again, we have ALL experienced DISAPPOINTMENT that makes our HEART SICK—it’s not what we wanted to HAPPEN, but it did. But when DISAPPOINTMENT is not dealt with properly, it begins a DOWNWARD SPIRAL leading to DISCOURAGEMENT, DISILLUSIONMENT, DEPRESSION, and, finally, DEFEAT.
C. Joseph’s LIFE has not TURNED OUT the way that he EXPECTED.
1. “When he was 17-years-old, God gave him two PROPHETIC DREAMS that he would be some kind
of RULER and his brothers would BOW DOWN to him”- Genesis 37:5-9.
a. However, the PATH that his LIFE has taken him is FAR from being a RULER.
COMMENT:
He has been a SLAVE for the last eleven years—an important SLAVE, yes—but still a SLAVE.
b. And now Joseph is in Pharoah’s PRISON for something he didn’t do.
2. Whatever those DREAMS were about, it’s OBVIOUS to Jospeh that no one is going to be BOWING DOWN to him along as he is in this DUNGEON.
MESSAGE:
I. JOSEPH’S DISAPPOINTMENTS
A. Throughout this study we have seen Joseph experience one DISAPPOINTMENT after another.
1. He had been dealing with DISAPPOINTMENT from the moment his brothers THREW him into
a PIT and SOLD him into SLAVERY.
a. Joseph speaks of that DISAPPOINTMENT when he told the cupbearer, “I was forcibly carried
off from the land of the Hebrews…”- Genesis 40:15a.
COMMENT:
He was a 17-year-old kid RIPPED of his ROBE by his older brothers and THROWN into a PIT kicking and screaming and crying, and then SOLD into SLAVERY not knowing what was in
STORE for him.
Yet, unlike many SLAVES who were confined to HARD LABOR and subject to BEATINGS, God had BLESSED Joseph putting him in CHARGE of his master Potiphar’s household.
b. God made him SUCCESSFUL in everything that he did for Potiphar.
2. Then came the second DISAPPOINTMENT when Joseph was PUT into Pharoah’s PRISON.
a. He is not there because of something he had DONE, but something he DIDN’T DO.
COMMENT:
Potiphar’s wife ACCUSED him of ATTEMPTING to RAPE her. IT NEVER HAPPENED! Even though she TEMPTED Joseph daily “to come to bed with her,” he refused not only because she was “Potiphar’s WIFE” but he would not commit such a “wicked, sinful act against God”- Genesis 39:9.
b. So, in essence, Joseph is sent to PRISON because of his OBEDIENCE to God.
COMMENT:
Talk about DISAPPOINTMENT! We EXPECT to be REWARDED for our OBEDIENCE to God, not PUNISHED.
And Joseph knows how UNJUST this TREATMENT is when he says to the cupbearer, “…I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon”- Genesis 40:15b.
3. Then our lesson today reveals a third DISAPPOINTMENT that Joseph endured when his HOPE of GETTING OUT of PRISON is CRUSHED.
B. Let’s take a look at the WORK of God in Joseph’s DISAPPOINTMENTS
1. God’s FAVOR is upon Joseph- Genesis 39:20-23 (READ)
a. So even as God had granted Joseph FAVOR in Potiphar’s eyes (v. 4), so does He grant him
FAVOR in the eyes of the Prison Warden who puts him in CHARGE of all the PRISONERS.
b. But don’t think that IMPRISONMENT for Joseph was like staying at a COUNTRY CLUB.
COMMENT:
The Psalmist says this about Joseph’s time in prison: “They bruised his feet in shackles,
his neck was put in irons”- Psalm 105:18.
Joseph is not in a COMFORTABLE CELL resting in a LAZY BOY. His FEET are placed in SHACKLES that has caused BRUISES and ABRASIONS and his NECK in an IRON COLLAR.
c. At this point in Joseph’s LIFE, he has essentially LOST everything.
COMMENT:
Stripped of his ROBE. Stripped of his FAMILY. Now in PRISON he has been stripped of his REPUTATION by the FALSE ACCUSATIONS of Potiphar’s wife. By the time he gets out
of PRISON, he will be “30-years-old”- Genesis 41:46.
For 13-years, Joseph has either been a SLAVE or a PRISONER. He has not truly been FREE since he was 17-year-old. Yet, through it all God has been with JOSPEH and kept him SAFE.
2. God’s PLAN for Joseph begins to UNFOLD- Genesis 40:1-22
COMMENT:
Although Joseph may be WONDERING if his DREAMS of being a RULER was nothing
more than FANTASY, God is at WORK making those DREAMS a REALITY.
a. It just so happens that two of the PRISONERS that Joseph is put in CHARGE OVER are
“officials of Pharoah”- Genesis 40:1-4.
COMMENT:
These two men are Pharoah’s CHIEF CUPBEARER and CHIEF BAKER who have PERSONAL CONTACT with Pharoah every day. The BAKER would be responsible for COOKING the FOOD for the King. The CUPBEARER would be responsible for not only TASTING the FOOD and WINE for any hint of POISON before serving it to the KING, but he
would also be a trusted POLITICAL ADVISOR.
But something happened to make the King ANGRY with these two OFFICIALS. Pharoah may have reason to believe that either one or both pose a THREAT to his LIFE, and, so, he puts them in PRISON while INVESTIGATING their ACTIONS. We really don’t know for sure.
b. After being in PRISON for a while, the two OFFICIALS have TROUBLING DREAMS on
the very same night- vv. 4b-8 (READ).
COMMENT:
Now, if I were in Joseph’s shoes, I think I would be a little RELUCTANT to even want to
HEAR someone’s DREAM, much less try to INTERPRET it.
I wouldn’t BLAME Joseph at all if he would have said, “Listen guys. I’d really like to help you out here, but I had a couple of DREAMS about eleven years ago that didn’t AMOUNT to ANYTHING. If fact, they actually got me into a lot of TROUBLE with my BROTHERS, and that’s why I am in an Egyptian PRISON today.”
c. Instead he says, “Doesn’t the interpretation belong to God? Let me hear them.”
(1). The CUPBEARER shares his DREAM first- vv. 9-11 (READ)
ILLUSTRATION:
“As Joseph INTERPRETS the cupbearer’s DREAM, he tells him that in three days he is going to be RESTORED to his POSITION and in FAVOR with Pharoah once gain”- vv. 12-13.
But then he says to the cupbearer, “When it goes well with you and you realize that my interpretation is true, WILL YOU REMEMBER ME and kindly mention me to Pharoah and get me out of this prison?”- v. 14.
COMMENT:
Whether or not Joseph believes that God has put this in MOTION or not, he sees this as his only HOPE to finally be RELEASED from PRISON.
(2). The BAKER then shares his DREAM- vv. 16-17 (READ)
COMMENT:
I know the BAKER was looking for some GOOD NEWS here, especially since the CUPBEARER received GOOD NEWS, but as Joseph INTERPRETS his DREAM he says, “In three days you are going to be HANGING from a TREE and the BIRDS are going to eat your
flesh”- vv. 18-19.
I don’t what kind of CRIME the BAKER committed, but he is going to receive the DEATH PENALTY.
d. Three days later at Pharoah’s BIRTHDAY PARTY, their DREAMS come to PASS—“the CUPBEARER was RESTORED to his position and the BAKER was HUNG”- vv. 20-22.
C. Joseph is FORGOTTEN- v. 23- “The chief cupbearer…did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.”
1. By this time you would think that Joseph is used to DISAPPOINTMENT, but this one must have
really HURT.
a. He probably thought that God was using this situation with “the cupbearer” to get him a
HEARING with Pharoah, but it didn’t HAPPEN.
b. Not only that, it had to have DAWN on Joseph how quickly their DREAMS had come TRUE—
just THREE DAYS.
COMMENT:
It has been over a DECADES since Joseph had his DREAMS, and he doesn’t see even a
POSSIBILITY of those DREAMS coming TRUE. For all he knows, he will be spending the REST of his LIFE in PRISON.
2. In fact, Genesis 41:1 tells us that “two more years (twenty-four more months) of imprisonment for Joseph will pass.”
II. OUR DISAPPOINTMENTS
A. Again, we have all experienced DISAPPOINTMENT in our lives.
1. Things just don’t always TURN OUT the way we EXPECT or HOPE.
a. Sometimes DISAPPOINTMENT is the RESULT of very difficult CIRCUMSTANCES—
DIVORCE, BANKRUPTCY, DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, SICKNESS, DEATH.
b. These DISAPPOINTING SITUATIONS can DESTROY us if we allow them to.
2. Like Joseph, the apostle Paul dealt with one DISAPPOINTING BLOW after another.
a. He lists some of the DIFFICULTIES he faced in 2 Corinthians 11:23ff- “beatings, stoning, shipwrecks, extreme exposure to the elements, imprisonments, constant dangers from both the
Jews and the Gentiles, etc.”
b. Despite what all Paul had gone through, I want you to LISTEN to how he HANDLED these
DISAPPOINTING SITUATIONS- 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (READ and COMMENT).
COMMENT:
Paul very honestly and candidly said, “Let me tell you, church, I have been put through the MILL. I have experienced so much PAIN and DISAPPOINTMENT and DIFFICULTIES that has taken me to the BRINK. But regardless of all the HARDSHIP that I have been through, I
have not been CRUSHED or ABANDONED or DESTROYED.”
c. How did Paul remain STRONG despite the DISAPPOINTMENT he endured time and again?
B. In a Roman PRISON with the possibility of being EXECUTED for preaching Jesus as the Christ, Paul
presents a FORMULA to HANDLE LIFE’S DISAPPOINTMENTS- Philippians 4:4-8 (READ).
1. “Put your JOY in the Lord”- v. 4
COMMENT:
If our JOY is PLACED and GROUNDED in the PEOPLE, THINGS and RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES surrounding us . . . when they are TAKEN AWAY so is our JOY. But when we “rejoice IN THE Lord always,” NOTHING can DEPLETE our JOY.
Our JOY IN THE LORD is what PICKS US UP when Satan KNOCKS US DOWN.
2. “Turn your CONCERNS over to God”- vv. 6-7.
ILLUSTRATION:
If it wasn’t for PRAYER when we LOST our son Steven, I would not be STANDING before you today. PRAYER is what SUSTAINED me from the moment the AMBULANCE took Steven to the hospital to moment we were told he was GONE. It is PRAYER that got me through these last TWO-YEARS—July 29th will be two years since our Son has gone to be with God in heaven.
COMMENT:
Whatever DISAPPOINTING SITUATION you are going through RIGHT NOW, talk to God about it seeking His WISDOM and STRENGTH to get you through.
3. “Dwell on the GOOD THINGS of LIFE”- v. 8.
a. Paul wants us to FOCUS on the POSITIVE things around us not the NEGATIVE.
COMMENT:
Please understand that Paul is not saying that we are to DENY the NEGATIVE THINGS that happen us—he had a LIST of all the NEGATIVE THINGS that he went through. But he is saying that we should not DWELL on the NEGATIVE, which only produces MISERY not JOY.
b. What are the things that are “TRUE, NOBLE, RIGHT , PURE, LOVELY, ADMIRABLE,
EXCELLENT, and PRAISEWORTHY” that we are to FOCUS on?
-HOPE that is based on our faith in Jesus Christ.
-PROMISES that are based on God’s unchanging integrity and power.
-PEACE that is based on God’s presence and work in our lives.
-ASSURANCE that is based on God’s unfailing grace.
-ETERNAL THINGS that are stored up in heaven for us based on God’s dependability.
CONCLUSION:
A. DISAPPOINTMENT is an UNAVOIDABLE part of our LIFE.
1. But we have POWER available to us that keeps us from CRUMBLING when life DISAPPOINTS.
2. Paul- “I can do EVERYTHING through Christ who gives me STRENGTH”- Philippians 4:13.
COMMENT:
Christ gives us the STRENGTH that we need to DEAL with and OVERCOME the FRUSTRATIONS, CONFLICTS, WEARINESS, and DISAPPOINTMENTS in life. We just have to
TURN to Him.
HOW ARE YOU HANDLING YOUR DISAPPOINTMENTS?
