When Things Just Don’t Turn Out Right
1/12/97 Genesis 37:1-11 2 Corinthians 1:3-11
A couple of years ago there was a happy Christian family of seven riding down the highway in their mini-van laughing and talking with each other. The future could not have looked any brighter than it was. They loved God, they were active in their home church. Their children had given their lives to Jesus Christ. God was real to them.
And then as they were continuing along the highway, a piece of metal was lying in the road. They ran over it. It ruptured the gas tank, and in instant the van was engulfed in flames. People stopped to help them get out, but the flames were so intense, some of the children were unable to get out. Of the one which lived, within two weeks, he too had gone into the presence of the Lord.
You may say, but this was not supposed to happen like this. These were Christians. God’s angels were supposed to protect them. I can’t begin to explain what God was doing in the lives of that family, but I have heard the surviving parents give their testimony of the grace and mercy of God, and how He has been with them. One of their children, about eight years of age, just before he died told them. Don’t be afraid, I see Jesus with me. God can be with us in situations and we may not even see him.
One of the greatest deceptions Satan offers is the belief, "If you just give your life to God you will, not have any more real problems." Satan knows the moment some of us have some real problems, we assume God is not for real because He didn’t do anything to change our situation. We need to read the Old Testament to find out the truth of what happens in a Christian’s life over a life time, rather than simply looking at a moment of glory, and saying, this is what God wants for every Christian.
In our Old Testament reading, we met the young man Joseph. We see early in his life, God’s hand was upon Joseph. One thing about Joseph was he didn’t mind standing up against the odds. He was the second youngest of his 12 brothers, but when they did something wrong, he came back and told his father what they had done. Joseph was admired and even favored by his father over his brothers. When it came to giving out coats, the father found some coats at Value City for the older brothers, but he went to Kaufman’s to buy Tommy Hillfinger special for Joseph.
To make matters even more complicated, Joseph was having dreams of ruling over his brothers, and even having his mother and father coming to bow down before him. Now Joseph assumed these dreams were from God, but his brothers and fathers thought he might just be having a big head with a little too much ambition. When ever God sets you apart for a work for himself, people are going to dislike you, and they’re going to think you’re just trying to be all that, when they don’t think you’re much of anything.
Joseph had a great future looking ahead of him. Even though his brothers put him down whenever they got the chance, they hated him, and couldn’t speak a kind word to him, it didn’t keep Joseph from being determined to make something out of himself. There was something inside of Joseph that caused him to be obedient to his parents in a way that the others were not.
We give parents far too much credit when things go right in a child’s life and far too much blame when things go wrong in a child’s life. You can be a wonderful Christian parent and have your children turn out wrong because of the choices they make to behave in a certain way, or the children may turn out exceptionally well, because of the right choices they make. The same is true if you are a lousy parent. All parents can do is to provide their children with a ladder to climb. It’s up to the child to decide how high to climb or when to simply jump off.
The difference between Joseph and his brothers, were the decisions they made to do right or wrong. They made it their goal to make like for Joseph as miserable as possible. Joseph had feelings like us. It hurt to have his own family members reject him and put him down.
But he didn’t allow it to stifle the dreams within him to reach his potential in God. Too often, we are afraid, others will think we are trying to be something.We will even lower our standards to their expectations in exchange for being accepted by them. If someone or some thing is holding you back, you need to let go of it and go on with your life without them or it.
Joseph’s brothers didn’t want him to hang with them, so Joseph started to hang with his father. One day his brothers had gone out to graze the sheep. They were gone for a long period of time. Joseph’s father became worried. He told "Joseph, look I’m getting worried about your brothers. They should have been back by now. Go and check it out just to make sure they and the flocks are okay."
Now Joseph knew, the last things his brothers wanted, was for him to come and spy on them. I’m sure he prayed, "God you know these guys don’t want a thing to do with me. Let them see that I’m concerned about them, and I’m just here trying to help." In obedience to his father’s desire, Joseph went looking for his brothers. He got lost looking for them, and someone found him and told him where his brothers were. He was so excited when he finally found them. He probably was yelling as he came over the hill. "Hey fellows, it’s me Joseph." Now Joseph was walking in obedience, he’s prayed about it, and he’s got the best of intentions in mind, but that alone does not mean things are going to turn out right.
Verse 37:19 of Genesis says Gen 37:19-20 "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. "Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams." Joseph never got the chance to say why he was coming? They had already made up their minds what they were going to do to him. But they were not going to be able to do any more than God was willing to allow to happen.
Rueben, the oldest brother was able to look beyond his own personal anger, and think about what Joseph’s death would do to their father. He said look," let’s not kill him ourselves. Let’s just throw him into this pit in the desert. The heat will take care of him." You see Rueben was going to double back and help Joseph get out of the pit once they were gone.
Joseph walked into the situation, with the best of intentions. His brothers grabbed him, ripped off his expensive jacket and threw him into this dried out well. To them it was a big joke. Nobody checked to see if there were any broken bones when he hit the bottom. Nobody cared. Joseph was in the bottom of the pit, pleading for his life, and begging to be set be free. His brothers were up at the top eating and joking with each other. Rueben had gone into town for something.
The brothers saw a grew of slave traders passing by on their way to Egypt. The brothers discussed it among themselves. Look, why should we kill him and get nothing for it, after all, "he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." Let’s sell him as a slave and split up the money. They got about a 1/2 pound of silver for their brother. They poured blood on his coat and took it back to their father. They asked the father to examine it and see if he knew who it belonged to. Their father went into great mourning because he believed a wild animal had torn Joseph to pieces. His father couldn’t but help think, it should not have turned out like this. If only he hadn’t sent Joseph after his brothers, this never would have happen.
Joseph too must have felt, this just isn’t turning out right. God I did what I was supposed to do. What more could you have asked of me? We could hardly blame this young man if he had simply given up his dreams and surrendered to despair. Who would expect a slave in a foreign country to make a difference? God did. Don’t ever forget, just because things are not going as you wanted, God may be doing something far greater than you could imagine. God can use the evil, the brutality, the hatred and the injustice of others to get you in the place He wants you to be. God needed a man in Egypt.
Joseph knew that God was going to elevate him in his life. He just didn’t understand that often times before God can raise us up, we need to go down into a pit and look up for our deliverance. Joseph was in one those good news bad news situation. The good news is that God is about to provide him with a job, the bad news is he’s not going to get paid for doing it. From the outside, it looked as though Joseph was making a journey into Egypt all by himself. When he got there, the slave traders quickly sold him to a high Egyptian official by the name of Potiphar.
When Joseph received his job, he had the right attitude in mind. He didn’t let go of his dream. In his dream, he had been a ruler over others, therefore he may as well get prepared for his future job by doing his very best at the present. Do you know why sometimes things don’t turn our right for some of us? We are so busy living for one day, that we forget to live today. One day, when I get a real good job, one day when I get in high school, one day when so and so does such and such, then, I’m going to. Forget it. You are going to be tomorrow, what you were at the end of last night.
Joseph determined, to give his best where he was and let God open the other doors. The other slaves probably told him, you don’t have to work that hard. Slow down man, you’re going to kill yourself. If he had of listened to them, he would have died an unknown slave just like the rest of them. But Joseph could tell them, no I had a dream that you wouldn’t understand. I’m not here to stay. God is got something else in mind for me.
It turns out, Joseph hadn’t come to Egypt alone. In chapter 39:2, we discover the Lord was with Joseph and he prospered and lived in the house of his Egyptian master. Joseph’s external position of slave, didn’t remove the call of God from his life. We have no excuse in thinking of ourselves as just a this or just a that.
You tell God what you would like to become and work hard at it, and God knows how to make a way for you. Joseph’s hard work and his dedication to God got his boss’s attention. It wasn’t too long before the boss had called him in and said, Joseph I notice something different about you. You’re a man that can be trusted to do the right thing, whether someone is watching you or not. From now on, I’m putting you in charge of everything. What you say goes. Nobody can over rule you except me.
Now too many, it would have appeared Joseph was sitting on the top of the world. Fine house, great job, good food, wonderful situation. It would appear Joseph could just sit back and relax and enjoy life. God even blessed Joseph with something he didn’t have much control over. The older he got, the more handsome he became.
As a matter of fact, he was so handsome as a single man, Potiphar’s wife wanted to have sex with him. She begged and begged and begged. Joseph had all of the requirements for a sexual harassment suit. Joseph tried the talking approach. "He said, "Look, your husband has entrusted me with everything he has except you, because you are his wife. How could I repay this man by doing such evil as committing adultery. If I did this I would be sinning against God." She said, "I understand what you’re saying, but big deal, will you go to bed with me."
Joseph did not try the talking approach anymore because he wanted to be right with God, with his boss, and with himself. He made sure he was never alone with her and even refused to get near her. But one day when he was minding his own business, went straight to work, unknown to him, nobody else was in the house. She came up behind him, grabbed his coat and said, "I got you now, let’s go to bed together." Joseph remembered the last time somebody had grabbed his coat, he ended up in a pit. He jumped up and ran out of the house, and stayed outside. As far as he was concerned she could have the coat.
Potiphar’s wife was going to teach Joseph a lesson he would never forget. He had turned her down for the last time. First she called in the servants and told them. "Joseph came in here to mock me and tried to get in bed with me, but I screamed. When he heard me scream for help, he left his coat and ran out of the house." I think she told the servants first so that she could have someone back up her story when her husband got home. She also knew how gossip allows a story to build up in time. When Potiphar came home, she took to coat in to him. She said, "You’ll never believe this, but Joseph came in here and tried to rape me. I screamed for help and he ran out the house. Look, here is his coat which he left beside me."
Now Joseph knows he’s completely innocent this time. He had been as faithful to God as he knew how. He had a perfect work record, and never gave anybody any reason to believe differently about him. By the end of the day in which Joseph took a courageous stand for faithfulness he ended up in prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. You could bet your life, nobody escaped from the prison where the king’s prisoners were.
Can’t you see Joseph saying, this just didn’t turn out right. God how could you let this happen to me again. Trials are as certain as life itself and they are going to bring about some sufferings. There are three things we know about God and trials. The first is that God permits the trials to come. There are some sufferings that we endure simply because we are human and subject to pain; but there are other sufferings that come because we are God’s people and want to serve Him. Never think for a moment that trouble is an accident.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, everything is a divine appointment. There are only three possible outlooks on trials in life. One is trials are the products of fate or chance. If that’s true, then you may ass well give up because no one can control fate or chance. Second, trials come when we don’t control everything ourselves. If that’s true the situation is hopeless because none of us have nearly as much control over our lives as we think we do. The third outlook is that God is in control and we must trust him. If that’s true, then we can overcome circumstances with his help. God’s word tell us that He is the one who permits trials to come.
The second truth about God and trials is that God is in control of trials. Joseph may have felt that going back to prison after all his hard work in Potiphar’s house was just too much too handle. He would have no family on the outside pursuing legal courses to try to set him free. The apostle Paul put it this way, when things looked really bad in his life in 2 Corin 2:8 We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. But God knew how much Paul could withstand, he knew how much Joseph could withstand and how much you can withstand. It’s usually a lot more than we desire to withstand.
It has been said, "When God puts his children into the furnace, He keeps His hand on the thermostat, and His eye on the thermometer." Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him. God said no, you can sell him as a slave. No doubt Potiphar wanted to have Joseph executed. God said no, but you can send him to the top maximum security prison. We may at times have despaired of life, but God does not despair of us. He’s using natural circumstances to get us into the place he wants us to be.
Third, it’s God who enables us to bear our trials. God must often show us how weak we are in ourselves. Sometimes we have abilities that we rely on to get us by in situations. But when God is at work in our lives for a greater purposed, He wants us to trust Him, not our gifts, not our abilities, not our experiences or our spiritual reserves. When you and I die to self, then God’s resurrection power can go to work. Dying to self does not mean doing nothing and expecting God to everything. It means getting to know God in a richer relationship and trusting him to complete the work. The God who raises the dead is sufficient for any difficulty of life. He is able but we must be available.
There was Joseph all the way at the bottom once again. Did he think serving God paid off in the long run. Yes he did. Sometimes God delivers us out of situations, other times he delivers us through them. We find in 39 :20 and 21, Joseph didn’t go to prison alone. The Lord was with him and gave Him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
Joseph did the best job he could do in prison. He remembered his dream, that one day he was to be a great ruler. He immediately started organizing things in the prison. Before long, the ward had called him and put him in charge of the whole prison. It wasn’t a fulfillment of Joseph’s dream, but he knew God was preparing Him for the day which was yet to come. He had no idea his dream would lead to him become as a Pharaoh in Egypt but it would.
No matter how discouraged Joseph became in the many reversals he experienced, we never see Joseph doing less than his best. In moments of crisis and temptation, we see him choosing to do what is right rather than what is convenient. How often we look at our misfortunes and trials as punishment for some unknown sins, when we need more of Joseph’s trust in the loving goodness of God in the realization, God gave me a promise and He’s going to keep it. God does sometimes lead his children into suffering, But it always done in order that He might bring through the suffering some greater good.
There is no record that God spoke directly to Joseph or that God met with Joseph on confronted him. There is no record of God acting to set aside natural processes on Joseph’s account. It was through Joseph’s own honesty and efforts that the Lord work. In the unfolding or circumstances, Joseph saw the hand of God.
You may be having a rough go at life. You’re not by yourself. But even more important, you’ve got someone to go to. Jesus said Mat 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. You may not understand all that you’re going through, but the important thing is God does. God wants to draw you into a deeper relationship with him. It begins with the acknowledgment of needing help. We’re opening the door for those who feel they just need some help.
