Trinity Baptist Church
June 25, 2006
Series: Character on display
Title: In God’s waiting room
Genesis 39:19 - 40:23
I think I’m a pretty patient guy -- that is, until I have to wait for something! For instance, when I have a doctor’s appointment at 10:00 and it’s 11:00 before I actually see the doctor. Or I’m meeting someone and they’re 20 minutes late.
Sitting in traffic will do it. Lincoln doesn’t much traffic congestion, but when we lived in Germany, we’d often be flying down the Autobahn at 90-100 miles an hour, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere everything came to a dead stop. 2 or 3 lanes of bumper-to-bumper cars would stretch out in front of us as far as the eye could see.
Maybe there had been an accident miles ahead, but the bottleneck would grow quickly and there was gridlock for a long time. Drivers would shut off their motors, some people even had time to spread out lunch on the side of the road and eat it before we’d finally get moving again! I didn’t like that.
There are other kinds of waiting. Waiting for the right job. Waiting for the right spouse. Here’s one: waiting for your spouse to finally become the person you want them to be.
Or, you might be waiting and wondering if you’re stuck in life and -- it (whatever “it” is) might never happen.
Have you ever realized that many of these situations are God’s waiting rooms. They’re places along our trek through life where God says, "Wait here." And what looks like 10 minutes turns out to be 10 months, or even 10 years.
The Bible provides several instances of people who waited -- and waited --- for God’s next move. Moses is a classic illustration. He herded sheep on the backside of the desert for 40 years before God returned him to leadership. The apostle Paul cooled his heels seven years before his ministry began.
And today we see that our man Joseph got parked by God as well. If you’ve been here the last couple of weeks, you know we’re studying character and integrity by examining Joseph’s life through the lens of Scripture.
And, if you’ve been here, you also know why Joseph has suffered and then now is put
on “hold” by God. Because God has at least two objectives in Joseph’s life. His objectives for our lives are no different. One, He’s building Joseph’s character, and two, He’s testing Joseph’s character.
That’s the normal process God utilizes with the woman or man He wants to use.
The greater God’s desired use, the more He invests in His character building curriculum. Most often, it involves pain or affliction -- or waiting. God is more interested in what He can do in us, that what He can do through us. The question that accompanies these periods is: “How will I respond?” Will He grow me through this, or will I look for an alternate route?
We’ve watched God’s approach in this young man’s life. He removed him from a scheming father who favored him and from brothers who hated him. God sent Joseph on a special assignment to Egypt. When he arrived, he was dropped into the slave market.
From there, he was bought by and made the servant of Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s leaders. Amazingly, Joseph rose to prominence in Pharaoh’s house -- from a lowly slave to manager of the man’s whole estate -- why? Because God was with him, and because God built into him the kind of faithfulness and character any employer would prize in a worker.
But as Joseph succeeded, God allowed another circumstance to intersect his path. Mrs. Potiphar, the shameless “lady” of the house -- laid eyes on Joseph and tried to seduce him. Over and over she spoke to him, we read in chapter 39. And over and over, every single time, Joseph responded from rock-solid faithfulness. Without blinking, he declared that
he would stay faithful to her husband and his God. His integrity never budged. He passed another character test. His character went through the fire and was displayed, not destroyed.
But, Potiphar didn’t think so. We left Joseph last time in the place of his new assignment from God. Prison. The one, 39:20 tells us, where Pharaoh’s prisoners were kept. That reference should not lead us to conclude this was a country club prison.
The favored son had become a slave. The betrayed, abandoned brother was thrown into a totally foreign culture and condition. He rose in prominence, only to be falsely accused. He lands here. For years and years. We don’t know precisely how long, but between the time Joseph arrived in Egypt at about 17, and the time he gets out of the prison was about 13 years. He’ll be 30 before he comes into Pharaoh’s court, with the character and maturity God’s task will require. So, he waits. Sitting and contemplating what he believed to be God’s future and God’s desire for his life. But one which wasn’t coming about!
Let me suggest three ways he could have responded. They’re common human responses we might have when we sit long in God’s waiting room.
The natural first one is anger and bitterness. I mean, when I just read about Potiphar and his sleazy wife it makes me angry! How dare she? How dare Potiphar? Joseph is a good man -- he‘s proved it. A man on whom God’s hand rested.
Because God was with His man, Potiphar and his estate were blessed! Joseph never stole, he did nothing but good to and for Potiphar. And Potiphar did not for a moment even question his wife’s accusations. He simply took her word and threw this good man into prison. There’s no justice there. Those are reasons to get good and angry. And good and bitter.
You and I would understand completely if we had met Joseph 70 years later and found a bitter old man. Understandable because of -- abuse -- abandonment -- hatred -- slavery -- false accusations -- and now rewarded with prison for being faithful. He could have easily been eaten up by his own bitterness. But he wasn’t.
There’s a second possibility when it comes to waiting: manipulate the situation.
Matt read at the end of chapter 39: again, because God is with him and because
he’s faithful, he’s got major responsibility right here in prison. People often use a circumstance like that.
For instance: start talking to people. Gossip about Mrs. Potiphar and how the man who works for Pharaoh is an unjust dope for listening to his wife. Get your story out. Appeal for some time to tell your story to the warden.
When we’re consigned to waiting our human response is often to do something. Doing something we think might affect the situation. Look for another job. Manipulate our spouse. I’ve had friends who often move across the country to escape what they think are fruitless situations. Joseph waited, and as we’ll see, he got busy. He wasn’t paralyzed. He was busy serving. He didn’t leave his character behind at Potiphar’s house. He’s still a faithful servant and manager. He uses God’s waiting time to do what he knows is right to do.
A third option: forsake God and the earlier dreams. Tim Frisch and I were talking about how we humans respond to affliction a couple of weeks ago. Tim said, “pain is kind of like water which falls onto a large round rock. Water that falls at one point on the top of that rock will end up on one side. Water falling toward the other side of center, it end on the opposite side.”
Just like that, different people respond very differently to waiting, or to pain. The person who trusts God sees affliction and waiting as growth times. And they grow because of deep confidence in God and what He’s doing.
People who don’t trust God view affliction or waiting like -- attacks -- or threats to safety and security. Their response is to turn inward, to come up with their own resources, to trust in themselves. The result of a pattern of not trusting God is -- turning your back on Him.
Finally, we’ve just had enough.
Joseph could have walked away. If he’d told his story to fellow prisoners, most of them would have said, “man, you need to get yourself a new god!“
Again, he did very little wrong to get sold into slavery. He did nothing but good toward Potiphar. And he lands here! Our human emotions and equations respond like this: “Wait a minute!! I’ve been a good boy, God should treat me fairly.“ We love the “fairness doctrine” and we apply it often to God. Some preachers and teachers will even tell you -- “you do what’s right and God will automatically reward you” -- it’s kind of “1 to 1 correspondence“.
Listen to me: the God of the Bible is not fair -- but He is good. If He were fair, there’s not a person on planet Earth who’d have a hope of anything except an eternity of suffering outside of God’s Pure and Holy Presence. Thank God He’s not fair! But He is good.
And there is a determination in Him to build good into us. Good character rarely grows in an atmosphere of privilege, it primarily develops in the dark rooms of pain and waiting.
So how did Joseph respond? And how could he continue to demonstrate the kind of character we’ve already witnessed? First,
1. Joseph trusted God’s character. (39:21-23, 40:8)
We’ve read the words every week. Just like during the time in Potiphar’s house, we see it mentioned twice at the end of chapter 39, verse 21: the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him and verse 23: the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made to prosper.
Joseph believed in a God who is not only all-wise and all-loving, but all-powerful. The God he served did place his servants in circumstances that were harsh and unpleasant, but He also went with them, and He gave them His grace to endure it. Joseph’s dark days remind every one of us that believers will suffer and that God employs precisely those times to accomplish His purposes.
But no promise is more comforting to a suffering or waiting Christian that Hebrews 13:5. I will never leave you, nor will I ever desert you. (Hebrews 13:5). That promise is given in the OT too: Deuteronomy 31:6 and Joshua 1:5. And God’s promise isn’t just to the faithful like Joseph. God had even told his scheming father Jacob in Genesis 28:15, behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you (Genesis 28:15).
What did Joseph do in response to God‘s good character?
He responded with faithfulness.
He’s not sitting in the corner pouting and whining. He doesn’t disengage. He’s doing good, just like he did as a slave. Look at 39:23: The chief it says, did not supervise anything under Joseph’s charge. Almost identical to the words we read about Potiphar. Faithful performance of what was assigned him.
So, more trust and more responsibility. Character is built when faithfulness grows.
Secondly,
He responded by serving others.
Look at 40, verse 4. Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker offend Pharaoh. The details aren’t given. But they land in the same place Joseph is being held. And look at what verse 4 says, he took care of them, and they were in confinement for some time. The Hebrew word used is: he ministered, he served. It means to wait on and attend to. He met the needs of fellow prisoners. Later, after their dreams, they’ve got sad depressed looks. And he doesn’t ignore that: he makes it a point to ask them in verse 7, why are your faces so sad today.
We need to grasp this: this man isn’t consumed with himself. He doesn’t go through this hard time always asking “why me!!!??” He enters into it, he engages with His God, he senses God’s presence -- he’s no doubt spending time revisiting and meditating on God’s character -- and he responds accordingly. When you learn to trust in God’s character, yours will grow as well.
Psalm 105 says, they bruised Joseph’s feet with shackles and that his neck was in iron. Wiersbe says that what Joseph experienced “put iron in his soul“. Wiersbe goes on to say, “when young people avoid suffering, they never develop character“.
When the waiting begins, when the hard times come, let me urge you: get in God’s Word and grow your view of God’s character. Never assume the worst about God. Let Him mature you as you trust Who He is.
His second response:
2. Joseph remembered God’s promise. (40:8)
Two weeks ago we read in chapter 37 about Joseph’s two dreams; it was those dreams which helped prod his brothers to decide to get rid of him. Those dreams revealed to him and to his family the fact that someday, Joseph would be a ruler of some kind and that he would even rule over his brothers and parents.
The two dreams of the butler and baker here in chapter 40 would have immediately brought to Joseph’s mind his own dreams. He had never forgotten his own -- that’s why he immediately tells them to recount theirs to him: why? Because he says in verse 8, interpretations of dreams belong to God.
Joseph’s unswerving confidence in God was based in God’s divine revelation. He knew that God had been the source of his dreams. And God had confirmed them to him again and again. He knew what Peter would later write: God is not slow, in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness (2 Peter 3:9).
The watchword for us when we’re hurting, or just waiting, isn’t escape, it’s endurance. James 1 says, the testing of our faith produces endurance. And Hebrews 12:11 says all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Earlier in Hebrews 12, it says, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
If you’ve never begun to discover God’s promises, and how to claim them and rely on them, let me urge you to do that, before you go any further. It’s like what we saw with temptation last time. When you’re in the middle of it, it’s too late to prepare. Get your heart prepared before you enter painful times and waiting times. Get hold of God’s promises for you and start meditating on them and let them build your faith. Memorize some of them. Meditate on them. And when your waiting room experience comes, you’ll have resources you can rely on.
Third,
3. Joseph recognized God’s hand. (40:1-4, 8, 14, 15)
I’ve already said, Joseph didn’t wallow in self-pity. He served fellow prisoners, he took on responsibility and he was faithful in everything he was given to do there. The chief jailer trusted him and gave him more responsibility.
And, he had his eyes open to the needs of others. Amazingly, he served his fellow prisoners. Joseph had his eyes open and he was God’s man in that place. And God would use his service later as the means by which he would be rescued.
But, too, when God moved, Joseph recognized what He was doing. And Joseph was ready. Two men who had Pharaoh’s ear were dropped into his care. They had mysterious dreams.
And he spoke God’s truth to both of them -- not only did dreams and their interpretations belong to God, he told them the honest truth about their futures. 3 days from now, one would be restored to his position, the other would be executed.
After Joseph interpreted their dreams, he mentioned to the one, who was going to live, remember me when you are restored to Pharaoh. I came here through no fault of mine. He’s not whining or manipulating, he makes a simple statement and a request. And left the rest to God. The amazing thing was two more years would go by, before God moved to use what he had done for the cupbearer to free him from the prison.
His hopes would have soared when the two were taken back to Pharaoh. But imagine how they were dashed when three days passed, then four, then 30. And nothing. No word. No change. The waiting continued.
Steps I need to take
It’s preparation time for some of us. Maybe things have been going pretty easily lately, but -- sooner or later, God will begin again to grow your character through adverse events, or painful circumstances, or simply in waiting. He is intent on your development.
Now is the time for you to get to know God’s character -- and grow in your trust of Him -- through His Word and through time with Him. Don’t wait until you get there.
Some of you are in God’s waiting room. The doors aren’t made of iron, but they are locked. How are you responding? Let me remind you -- let me encourage you:
Do not imagine for a single moment that God has abandoned you! Let Him do His work. Get into His Word of Truth. Seek His face. Tell Him all that’s in your heart. Cast yourself on Him. Trust Him maybe like never before. Remind yourself every day of His character, review His promises and watch for what He’s doing, and make yourself available again to Him.
