WHEN LIFE IS THE PITS: TRUSTING GOD
8/20/23 – Garfield
A. Today we conclude our summer sermon series on the Life of Joseph that we’ve titled: “WHEN LIFE IS
THE PITS.”
1. Our lesson today will focus on Genesis 50:15ff, as we look at the importance of TRUSTING GOD.
a. Last week, although you don’t REMEMBER, we were in Genesis 45 and now we are in Genesis 50.
So, you may be wondering what we MISSED.
b. The best thing to do is OPEN your Bible and READ it for yourself, but since we don’t have time for
that let me give you a SYNOPSIS of what happened in the last four chapter.
COMMENT:
We left off with Joseph finally REVEALING who he was to his brothers. After their INITIAL SHOCK, he urged them to go back to Canaan and get their families and their Father Jacob, and return to Egypt where Pharaoh is giving them the finest LAND in Egypt to FARM and RAISE their families.
In Genesis 46, God spoke to Jacob in a VISION, assuring him that He will be WITH him and his FAMILY in Egypt, and that one day his DESCENDANTS will RETURN and POSSESS than land that He had PROMISED his grandfather Abraham.
Jacob was finally REUNITED with his son Joseph whom, for 22-years, he thought was DEAD. After EMBRACING his son and WEEPING over him, Jacob said, “Now I am ready to die…” (Genesis 46:30). Knowing that he was, indeed, NEAR DEATH, Jacob wanted to put a BLESSING upon his GRANDCHILDREN and his CHILDREN.
He first put a BLESSING upon his grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph who were BORN in Egypt. And then in Genesis 49, Jacob BLESSED each of his SONS, which was not only a BLESSING, per se, but a PROPHESY of what God had PLANNED for them in the FUTURE—some GOOD and some NOT-SO-GOOD.
And then JACOB, also known as ISRAEL, died, the last of the Patriarchs who were always LINKED to God’s amazing PROMISE to bless all the NATIONS of the earth in the sending of His Son to SAVE the WORLD. You will find this phrase throughout the Bible that speaks of the WORKS of God among His people: “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
2. There FATHER is now GONE, so what is going to happen to the BROTHERS?
B. Last week we saw the ASTOUNDING FORGIVENESS of Joseph EXTENDED to his BROTHERS, even
after all the EVIL they had committed AGAINST him when he was a 17-year-old kid.
1. Genesis 45 presented such a HEARTWARMING REUNION between the BROTHERS and Joseph.
a. They were EMBRACING and KISSING each other.
COMMENT:
The brothers didn’t know for sure how Joseph would RESPOND to them, especially since he was now a RULER of Egypt that wielded a lot of POWER. But Joseph FORGAVE them of what they had done and WELCOMED them with OPEN ARMS.
b. But after their Father Jacob DIES, the PARANOIA of the brothers RESURFACES.
2. Joseph ASSURES them once again that they have no REASON to be AFRAID, and to TRUST that GOD was at WORK using their EVIL DEEDS done toward Joseph for the GOOD of the future Nation of Israel, and ultimately the ENTIRE WORLD.
MESSAGE:
I. JOSEPH’S TRUST IN THE WORKING OF GOD
A. After their father’s death, the brothers begin to WONDER if Joseph will now TURN against them.
1. Genesis 50:15- “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph
holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?”
a. According to Genesis 47:28, Jacob and his sons and their families had lived in Egypt for 17
years before Jacob DIED.
COMMENT:
During those 17 years, I think their LIVES were pretty good.
• They lived under the PROTECTION of Joseph, the second most POWERFUL RULER
of the entire KINGDOM of Egypt.
• Joseph had given them the BEST and most PLUSH LAND in all of Egypt (the lands of
Goshen) to FARM and RAISE their vast herds of sheep and goats.
• They had ready ACCESS to Joseph, the Governor of Egypt, with any CONCERN they might have.
b. But now, after 17 years of the GOOD LIFE, they begin to QUESTION the KINDNESS and
FORGIVENESS of their little brother Joseph.
COMMENT:
They are REASONING among themselves, “You know, Joseph has been pretty GOOD to us since we’ve come to Egypt. This whole RECONCILIATION thing between us has been great, but maybe he only did it because our father Jacob was ALIVE and he didn’t want to BREAK the old man’s HEART. But now that he’s gone, the REAL MOTIVES of Joseph will come out, and finally he will exact REVENGE on us for all the WRONGS we’ve committed against him.”
2. The Hebrew word for “WRONGS” as recorded in the NIV, is best translated “EVIL”.
a. This is the first time it is recorded that the brothers ADMITTED that what they had done to
Joseph when he 17-years-old was “EVIL.”
COMMENT:
They talked about their brother being “distressed” by what they did to him, while they were being held in prison by Joseph for three days (Genesis 42:21). Judah admitted that “God had uncovered their guilt” (Genesis 45:16), which many scholars believe is in reference to what they
did to Joseph.
b. But NEVER have they said that what they had DONE to Joseph was “EVIL” . . . until now.
3. So, fearing that Joseph may now seek REVENGE for the EVIL they committed against him 39-
years earlier since their FATHER is DEAD, they send a MESSAGE to Joseph- vv. 16-17 (READ)
a. The INSTRUCTIONS that they say came from their father is a LIE. (There is no reference to
this whatsoever, and it simply doesn’t sound like anything Jacob would say.)
COMMENT:
Instead of being upfront with Joseph about their CONCERNS, they use their deceased Father to give them, in what they perceive, as LEVERAGE. “Joseph won’t listen to us, but he’ll listen to dear old Dad. So, let’s MAKE UP a STORY of how Dad was CONCERNED about the way Joseph might treat his BROTHERS after his DEATH, and urge him to continue to be GOOD to us and don’t PUNISH us for the EVIL that we we’ve done to him.”
b. Now, they don’t go and TALK to Joseph themselves, they send a MESSENGER to repeat this
LIE to Joseph about what their Father said before his DEATH.
COMMENT:
It sounds like they are in JR HIGH. I can just picture them calling this MESSENGER over to them and then WHISPERING, “Listen, we can’t talk to Joseph directly about this, but will you go over to him and tell him that before our father Jacob DIED, he said ‘Please forgive your brothers. Don’t lash out at them or punish them in anyway. Just completely forgive them for all the EVIL they’ve done to you.’ Can you do that for us?”
They send the MESSENGER over and STAND BACK and WATCH to see how Joseph will REACT. And v. 17b reads, “When their message came to him, Joseph wept.”
4. Why did Joseph WEEP?
a. First of all, he WEPT because he knew it was a LIE—it was all MADE UP by his brothers.
b. Secondly, I believe he WEPT because this REVEALED how little the brothers thought of him.
COMMENT:
Joseph has shown them nothing but LOVE, FORGIVENESS and KINDNESS, and yet this SCHEME the brothers have come up with shows Joseph that they don’t BELIEVE any of it—
they don’t TRUST his FORGIVENESS.
“Joseph, you don’t really love us, you despise us. And now that our father is gone, you want to kill us.” “Joseph, you didn’t really forgive us. You just said the words, but it wasn’t really in your heart.” “Joseph, we have to fear you now, because we really can’t trust you.”
COMMENT:
Joseph is HEARTBROKEN that his brothers have chosen to LIE to him instead of just coming to him with the TRUTH. He would much rather hear them say, “Joseph, now that Dad has died, we are AFRAID. Can we still be ASSURED of your LOVE and FORGIVENESS?”
5. When the brothers saw how Joseph WEPT over the MESSAGE he received from them, “they RAN
and THREW themselves down before Joseph and said, ‘We are your SLAVES.’”- v. 18.
a. What they are REALLY saying is, “Please, please don’t KILL us! Let us SERVE you.”
COMMENT:
Joseph VIEWS them as his BROTHERS, and has TREATED them as BROTHERS for 17-years. But they VIEW Joseph merely as their MASTER who has the POWER to KILL them,
if he so DESIRES.
b. Joseph has FORGIVEN them for the EVIL they have committed against him, and, yet, their
GUILT is still EATING away at them.
COMMENT:
This is how many VIEW God. They SIN against God and then come to Him seeking His FORGIVENESS, which He PROMISES to do, but then they CONTINUE to allow their GUILT to EAT AWAY at them. They don’t truly TRUST God to “forgive and remember no more.”
B. Listen to what Joseph says about God- vv. 19-21 (READ)
1. First of all, Joseph wants his brothers to understand that he IS NOT God.
a. Seventeen-years earlier, Joseph had FORGIVEN his BROTHERS, and WELCOMED them back
into his LIFE. And what Joseph says here about God, we need to pay ATTENTION to in regards to how we FORGIVE others.
b. It couldn’t have been EASY for Joseph to FORGIVE his BROTHERS, because they had
MISTREATED him HORRIBLY.
COMMENT:
And some of you have been SINNED against and MISTREATED horribly. Maybe not to the EXTENT of Jospeh, but there have been PEOPLE (maybe even FAMILY) that have done TERRIBLE things to you, and you BATTLE with FORGIVING them.
You BATTLE with RELINQUISHING the DESIRE for VENGEANCE, or to see them HARMED. You BATTLE with HATRED in your HEART. That’s when we need to LISTEN to Joseph.
c. Joseph was able to FORGIVE his brothers for the EVIL they committed against him because
it began with this question: “Am I in the place of God?”
COMMENT:
When we say, “I will not FORGIVE you!” we are putting ourselves in the PLACE of God. When we carry out VENGEANCE for the SIN people commit against us, we are putting ourselves
in the PLACE of God.
Paul reminds us of that when he wrote, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”- Romans 12:19.
2. Secondly, Joseph wants them to understand the SOVEREIGNTY of God when he said, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the
saving of many lives”- v. 20.
a. Notice that Joseph does not SHY AWAY from reminding the brothers of what they did to him.
COMMENT:
The NIV uses the word “HARM”, but it is the exact same Hebrew word the brothers used for
“EVIL” in vv. 15 and 17. Joseph is AGREEING with them, “Yes, what you did to me was EVIL.”
He’s not standing there saying, “It’s OKAY what you did to me—PLOTTING to kill me, STRIPPING me of my robe, THROWING me into a pit and SELLING me into slavery. IT’S ALL GOOD!” He wants them to know that they HURT him BADLY—and they MEANT to.
b. He also wants his brothers to KNOW that despite all the EVIL they committed against him,
God used it for GOOD. “You intended to HARM me . . . BUT GOD intended it for GOOD.”
COMMENT:
Aren’t you glad that there is a “BUT GOD” there? Brothers and sisters, regardless of what people might do AGAINST us—what SINS and EVIL they might EMPLOY to HURT US, there is always a “BUT GOD” that FOLLOWS.
There is a WONDERFUL TRUTH that we learn from Joseph’s LIFE: GOD DOES NOT PUT OUR FAITH IN THE HANDS OF OTHER PEOPLE. Satan will USE people to HURT us and try to DESTROY our FAITH, but if we put our complete TRUST in God even in the midst of EVIL being committed against us, God will not allow the EVIL of others to be the LAST
STORY! God will take the EVIL and USE it for GOOD. He has the LAST WORD!
C. God used the EVIL committed against Joseph to get him to Egypt, even as a SLAVE, to ultimately put him into a position of POWER to bring Jacob and his FAMILY (Nation of Israel) to Egypt to PROTECT them not only from the FAMINE but the CORRUPTION of the people of Canaan in order to PRESERVE the ANCESTRAL LINEAGE of Abraham in fulfillment of the PROMISE that through his descendants the Messiah—the Son of God—would be BORN to SAVE the WORLD.
II. OUR TRUST IN THE WORKING OF GOD
A. Although Joseph didn’t have the TEXT that Paul will later write some 1800 years in the future, he
certainly had the TRUTH of those WORDS- Romans 8:28 (READ).
1. Let’s face it, BAD THINGS HAPPEN even to Christians—followers of God.
COMMENT:
SICKNESS, LOSS of JOBS, TRAGIC ACCIDENTS, HOMES destroyed by FIRE or VIOLENT STORMS, DIVORCE, PERSONAL ATTACKS, DEATH of LOVED ONES—you name it. Many in this congregation have had your share of HARDSHIP and HEARTACHE.
2. The Apostle Paul is not DENYING that BAD THINGS happen to Christians, he just wants us to
understand that God is at WORK producing GOOD from the BAD.
a. You know this to be TRUE in your own LIFE.
ILLUSTRATION:
Your HEART ATTACK helped you to RECOGNIZE and ELIMINATE the DESTRUCTIVE HABITS in your life, and now you are HEALTHIER than you’ve been in years.
The LOSS of one JOB led to another POSITION that PAYS MORE MONEY with BETTER BENEFITS.
The SUDDEN DEATH of your FRIEND made you realize how SHORT LIFE really is and helped you to REEVALUATE your RELATIONSHIP with God.
b. Of course, some of the GOOD that God is producing from the BAD THINGS that happen in our lives may never be fully RECOGNIZED in this LIFE-TIME, but rest assured that God is at WORK.
c. But what about the REALLY BAD THINGS that happen, what possible GOOD can come from
those events?
ILLUSTRATION:
In his book LIFE LESSONS FROM JAMES, Max Lucado writes about a young Christian woman named Julie Lindsey. While working as a hotel receptionist late one night in the Spring of 1985, two men came in and ROBBED the motel. After cleaning out the CASH REGISTER, one of the men put a gun to her back and said they were going for a RIDE. Julie begged the men not to HURT her. They said that they wouldn’t as long as she did what she was told.
She was placed in the PASSENGER SIDE of the front seat with a man sitting in the back pointing the GUN to her head. A little way down the road, he pulled her into the BACKSEAT and began BRUTALLY RAPING her. After he was through, the DRIVER stopped the CAR and took Julie by the arm and led her into the WOODS. After HITTING her a few times and then HANDCUFFING her, he took his TURN with her.
When he was through Julie expected him to KILL her, but instead he took her JEWELRY and said that he would tell someone where she was, and they DROVE away. After lying there for some time, she was finally able to WALK out of the WOODS and FLAG down a TRUCK DRIVER, who immediately called the POLICE. The two men were CAUGHT and sent to
PRISON.
Though her NIGHTMARE began suddenly, it dragged on for MONTHS. The HOTEL FIRED her. She DROPPED out of COLLEGE. Her LIFE was TURNED upside down. These men brought great PAIN and HARM into the life of the INNOCENT Christian, Julie Lindsey.
3. SO WHERE’S GOD NOW? What GOOD is He PRODUCING in Julie’s life?
COMMENT:
Julie is FOUNDER and former DIRECTOR of the Alabama Coalition Against Rape, a Christian organization that has and continues to help countless RAPE VICTIMS and their families.
Almost 12 years after her HORRIFIC ORDEAL, Julie writes in part these words:
After this experience, I spent a great deal of time thinking about God, my relationship with Him, and what I believe about Him. I searched and prayed for understanding. I longed to be healed, and I wanted desperately to feel the power of God’s presence. My spirit and my flesh were sorely tested; my spiritual journey in the months that followed was painful?and also
wonderful.
It seemed to me this event was a classic case of good versus evil?an event that led to the infamous question of why bad things happen to good people. But it finally occurred to me that the question was not “why me” as much as “why not me?” God didn’t promise me that nothing bad would ever happen to me. His own Son was crucified, suffering the cruelest death known to
man.
Do I believe God could have stopped this tragedy from happening? Absolutely. The question is: Why didn’t He? I believe God wants me to love, honor, and serve Him because I choose to. . . .I have the gift of choosing. . . .Choices have consequences. Choices have
blessings. . . .
. . . the blessing of choosing God finally came! God allowed me to profit from an awful and devastating event. So many good things are in my life now. I have wonderful friends?most of whom I would have never met or known were it not for this experience. I have a job that allows me to work with and serve rape victims. I have a deeper relationship with God. I am spiritually wiser and more mature. Romans 8:28 came alive in my life. I chose God and He did not fail me.
B. Believe me, I KNOW when you are in the middle of TRAUMA, TRAGEDY, TURMOIL, it is difficult
to TRUST that God is at WORK through that.
1. All that you can SEE is the PAIN, the INJUSTICE, the EVIL that YOU or a LOVED ONE is going
through . . . and you cry out, “GOD WHERE ARE YOU?”
a. Have you ever made that CRY before?
b. I have no doubt that Joseph made that CRY when his BROTHERS started ATTACKING him.
c. I’m sure that Julie Lindsey also made that CRY when she was being BRUTALLY RAPED.
2. The last word Julie WROTE that we just read were, “I CHOSE God and He did not FAIL me.”
a. To an UNBELIEVER, that statement makes no sense whatsoever.
COMMENT:
They would say to Julie, “What do you mean God didn’t FAIL you? You were ROBBED, you were BEATEN, you were BRUTALLY RAPED. Where was God through all that?”
b. Julie wasn’t looking at the EVIL committed against her through WORLDLY EYES. If she had,
she would have never made it this FAR in life.
ILLUSTRATION:
She probably wouldn’t have gotten up and WALKED out of the WOODS. What was it like going back to SCHOOL and having to DEAL with the STARES and the WHISPERS? How did she FEEL when she got FIRED? Can you imagine what it was like when she FACED her RAPISTS in COURT?
ILLUSTRATION (cont):
If she saw this TERRIBLE EVENT and the TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES that followed through WORLDLY EYES, she probably would have COMMITTED SUICIDE long ago or end up in a MENTAL INSTITUTION.
But what she understood and fully believed through the entire ORDEAL during and after that “GOD WAS WORKING TO TURN THE BAD INTO GOOD”. It was her TRUST in God that got her THROUGH it, and she has HELPED and BLESSED countless RAPE VICTIMS as a RESULT of being a VICTIM herself.
C. No matter what EVIL you are facing right now, KNOW that God has not FORSAKEN YOU but is at WORK in your LIFE producing GOOD.
CONCLUSION:
ARE YOU TRUSTING GOD?
