In the Vice Presidential Debates of 1992, Dan Quayle implored the voters to vote for him and George Herbert Walker Bush. His reason for it was this:
“Sometime in the next four years, you’re going to have a crisis! You need to be able to trust the leader you have at that time.”
Now of course, Mr. Quayle and his running mate lost but he was right in his point. A crisis during a four year Presidential term was inevitable. A crisis in life is inevitable. If you’re going to live, breathe, walk, talk, and interact on this earth…you’re going to face crises from time to time. I do not wish to be a prophet of doom and gloom. It’s just true.
When we face a crisis, we have a limited number of choices as to how to react. For many, the idea might be to let it paralyze them.
You probably know people like that . Maybe you are a person like that. A crisis comes and you allow it to emotionally paralyze you. It cripples you and you can’t move on in life until it is resolved.
Or you can decide to take effective action. You know that there are solutions and you actively seek to find them. You refuse to let a crisis beat you because you know that you serve a God who is bigger that any obstacle that could come your way.
In our continuing walk through the Bible, we come across the character of Joseph. What a life he had. The favorite son of Jacob. The most despised of his brothers. The favorite servant of Potiphar, the one who caught the eye of Potiphar’s wife, a prisoner in the bowels of the prison, an interpreter of dreams, an official in the high court of Egypt, and ultimately the only one that his brothers (who hated him) could call on in a time of need.
Joseph knew crisis. He knew problems. But he did not allow them to paralyze him. Today, we look at the life of Joseph and we see why he accomplished much despite tumultuous times.
First of all, Joseph made it through tough times because he had a significant vision from God.
Look at Genesis 37:5-6:
Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
He said to them, "Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf."
What a dream? And it caused no small reaction from his brothers. How dare he? How dare he think they were going to bow down to him? But when Joseph said this, he wasn’t saying it out of arrogance. God had revealed to Him that He was going to do something amazing in his life. And Joseph was excited about that. Despite the despisement of his brothers, he knew God was going to use Him someday for something special.
And that buoyed him. That gave him confidence. That told him to hang in there. God was going to do something!
How about you? How many times do circumstances cause you to want to write yourself off. But the truth is that if you just looked to God and held tightly to Jeremiah 29:11, you would be able to face the future with an excitement.
What does Jeremiah 29:11 say?
“I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.”
And we know from when we went through the 40 Days of Purpose that God has a plan for each of us.
So no matter how bad circumstances seem to be…look to Jesus. He has a plan. He has a reason and purpose for your life. Don’t let the pressure of the moment get you down. Grab a significant vision from God and hang on tight!
Secondly, Joseph was able to take effective action in a crisis because he had a vital relationship with God.
Genesis 39 tells us that God was with Joseph. The phrase “with Joseph” implies an intimate relationship. It implies that Joseph knew God well enough to know His thoughts and know His plans. The verses that make it clear in this chapter that such a relationship existed between God and Joseph and that because of that , Joseph was able to escape harm, receive blessings and weather the storm.
It amazes me how many of us claim to have a relationship with God , claim to love Jesus, and yet He is the last one to call on in times of trouble.
The promises concerning prayer in the Bible are well known…. But just to refresh your memory, let me share them with you.
"...The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results." -
James 5:16
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1Thessalonians 16-18
…your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." - Matthew 6:7-8
"...He answered their prayers because they trusted in Him." 1Chronicles 5:20
"Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24
"Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." Acts 6:3-4
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
Many of you have heard those scriptures before. You even have them memorized. And yet, for most Christians, prayer is often the last resort. I’ve said it before because it’s a pet peeve of mine but I have never understood why, when we know of prayer, can give testimony to what we see it can do, are constantly amazed by it’s power, do we still only utilize it when we have exhausted all other resources.
And even more so, how often do we claim to have a close relationship with God and yet we have a stagnant prayer life. It is impossible. We cannot nurture any friendship without communication. We cannot nurture and grow close to God without constant communication.
One of the most often asked questions is “How do you know what God wants you to do? How do you know when you’re in His will.”
The answer that I give is not always pleasing to people and yet it is true:
“The closer you are to Him, the more you pray and communicate with Him and stay in His Word, the more you don’t have to ask what He wants or what His will is because you already know.”
Think about it. I can tell you on most given scenarios how my wife will react. Why? Because I know her intimately.
How can I know that God is with me? By increasing my intimate knowledge of Him.
And Joseph was apparently intimate with the Lord. On at least three different occasions , the scripture states that “the Lord was with” Joseph. You can know the Lord’s protection and be sure of it by increasing your prayer life, Bible study, and intimacy with Him.
Third, Joseph allowed His troubles to further develop His character. With each new trial Joseph grew stronger. We don’t see him crumbling in a ball. Consider his story in detail:
When his brothers displayed nothing but hatred for him, he just kept on serving them and showed no anger, no remorse, no seeking revenge. He chose not to let their resentment be reciprocated but instead modeled what Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount and “turned the other cheek”.
When sold into slavery by his brothers, he refused to sink into despair. Joseph seemed to understand the adage “Wherever you go, there you are.” He understood Paul’s motto of “Whatever state I am, therewith to be content” long before Paul said it. He didn’t stay where he was and feel sorry for himself. He endeared himself to Potiphar and became a favorite of the Egyptian ruler… and unfortunately, a favorite of Potiphar’s wife.
She seduces him and then frames him and gets him sent to prison. How easy it would have been for Joseph to write himself off… to have rotted away in jail believing that all hopes and dreams had been dashed. No, Joseph began to harness the gift of interpreting dreams that he had discovered early on that God had given him. He was able to serve others and use it to point to the Lord.
Eventually that takes him out of prison and he finds himself in a position of leadership in Egypt just as famine hits the country. But his faithfulness to God allows him to be a strong leader during that time. And when the very brothers who turned on him and sold him into slavery came seeking his help, he did not seek revenge but issued a forgiving hand.
There are people who have years of life experience and there are people that keep learning life’s lessons over and over again. They go through broken relationship after broken relationship because they don’t recognize that giving it to God is ultimately what is supposed to happen. They suffer financial setback after financial setback before they finally learn the valuable lesson of stewardship (I am a living testimony of that one). But God’s desire is not for us to keep falling flat on our face. He desires for us to grow in character and keep developing into who He wants us to be. That’s what Joseph did. That’s what we should do.
Fourth, Joseph allowed himself to grow through practical experience. In Genesis 39:22, we read that the warden gave Joseph charge of all the prisoners. Now this ended up being more than passing the time. It was here that Joseph began to hone leadership skills. He began to understand what it was to manage a large group of people. Do you know what this was? It was preparation. Soon, Joseph would be in charge of literally the entire Egyptian government. And he gained the practical experience he needed from that time in prison.
Everything we do in life is a learning experience. As I mentioned earlier, we can take what we learn from each situation and use it to the glory of God. That’s what Joseph did. That’s what we should do.
Fifth, Joseph had a special gift from God. He learned from childhood on that he had the gift of interpreting dreams. And God used that over and over to help Joseph and to impact the lives of others. It was that gift that got him out of prison, that gift that gained him a position on the Pharaoh’s staff.
And here’s the thing: if you’re a believer, you have a gift that God has given you. These gifts are outlined in I Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. It may be a gift of teaching, preaching, encouragement, helps. But God wants you to use it. He wants you to take it and use it to bless your own life and more importantly, the lives of others.
Imagine what would have happened if Joseph hadn’t have taken that gift and harnessed it? I believe that he would have wasted away in prison, the famine would have been devastating to the people of Egypt and most certainly, his brothers would have never received restoration for their wrongs.. It would have been a tragedy if Joseph had allowed his brothers to intimidate him and never used the gift God had given Him.
And yet how many of us have gifts that God has given us that we refuse to use for His glory and to impact the lives of others. We allow the world and our own fragile ego to keep us from being the servants we need to be. From time to time, we sit in church and feel God urging us onto service and feel compelled to step up to the plate. But then Satan gets hold of us and we end up slinking further down into our seat and saying “No,not now. Not yet!” And lives don’t get touched, souls don’t get moved, the Body does not grow. And that is a tragedy.
What is it that God have given you the ability to do? Do you realize that you’re in utter disobedience if you don’t do it?
And because of the vision that God gave Joseph, because of the relationship that he constantly nurtured with God, because of the character and practical experience that he developed through the lessons he learned, and because of the harnessing of the gift he had received from God, Joseph enjoyed great success.Genesis 39:3 says that the Lord made all Joseph did prosper. Why? Because Joseph had walked in a life of obedience.
Now, I need to be real careful here. I am not saying that total obedience means a life of ease, a life of riches, a life of secular success. The Bible makes it clear that it rains on the just and the unjust.
But I am saying this.. Joseph knew that God was with him. He knew that it was God using him to impact the lives of others. He knew that it was God allowing his relationships to be restored. There is no greater blessing and no greater prosperity than knowing God is with you.
What kind of crisis are you experiencing today? What event or situation is wreaking havoc in your life. God shows us through the story of Joseph how to take effective action in a crisis. Catch that vision, nurture that relationship, build that character, gain that experience, harness that gift, and enjoy the blessing of the awesome presence of God.
