Where Is God When Everything Goes Wrong?

GENESIS 39:20-21 “WHERE IS GOD WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG?”

A) Have you ever had one of those days when everything that could go wrong did go wrong?

* Have you ever had one of those days when the harder you try to do things right, the easier things

seem to go wrong?

* I read about a man who was filling out an accident report form for an insurance company,

explaining how he had received the injuries that put him in the hospital.

* He responded: Dear Sir: I want to explain in this letter the details of what put me in the hospital!

* I am a bricklayer by trade ... On the day of my accident I was working alone on the roof of a

brand new six-story building.

B) When I completed my work I discovered that I had about 500 pounds of brick left over.

* Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley

which was attached to the side of the building at the top of the 6th floor.

* Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel and loaded the brick

into it. * Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope,

* And I was holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the five hundred pounds of brick.

C) You will notice in block 11 of the Accident Report Form that I weigh 135 pounds.

* Due to my surprise, at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and

forgot to let go of the rope.

* Needless to say, I proceeded in a rather rapid rate up the side of the building.

* In the vicinity of the third floor I met the barrel coming down.

* This explains my broken arm and shattered collar bone.

* Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent up the side of the building, not stopping until

the fingers of my right hand were too deep in the pulley. * This explains my two broken fingers.

D) Fortunately, by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to

the rope in spite of my pain.

* At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell

out of the barrel.

* Devoid the weight of the bricks the barrel now weighed approximately fifty pounds.

* I refer you again to my weight of 135 pounds in block 11.

* As you might imagine I began a rapid decent down the side of the building.

* In the vicinity of the 3rd floor I met the barrel coming up.

* This accounts for the two fractured ankles and the dislocation of my left kneecap.

E) Slowed only slightly, I landed directly on the pile of bricks beneath me, and this explains the

cracked three vertebrae in my back.

* Finally, as I lay there on the bricks in pain, unable to stand, and watching that empty barrel six

stories above me, out of relief that it was over, I let go of the rope.

* That explains the fractured skull.

* Now even if you haven’t ever experienced something quite as traumatic as that, you are going to

have days, weeks, months, maybe even years, when everything seems to go wrong!

* This is true whether you know God, believe God, love God, serve God, or not!

F) Joseph certainly had his share of days when everything went wrong!

* Joseph had more than his share of dark days and rainy nights!

* In v.20 we read, “And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place .......”

* Joseph had been put into a dark dirty dungeon with some of the roughest characters in all of

Egypt; not for doing what was wrong, but because he did what was right!

* He was there, not because of his bad crime, but because of his good character!

G) For a big part of his life Joseph’s tombstone could have read: “Nice guys finish last.”

* Yet, through it all, Joseph remained “a nice guy.”

* Joseph remained completely devoted to God, whether he was up on the mountaintop or down in

the valley! * He knew how to handle adversity and prosperity!

* We can learn from Joseph valuable lessons on how to make it when everything goes wrong!

(1) REMEMBER THE PROMISES OF GOD!

* It is not coincidental that at the beginning of the entire story about Joseph, we read about his

dream in Gen.37:5-11! * This dream was God’s Word to Joseph, God’s promise for Joseph!