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The Story of Joseph
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Have you ever found yourself in a place you never intended to be, wondering how you ended up there? Perhaps the question on your mind was more focused on how you could or even would ever get out of those circumstances? A cancelled job? Divorce court? A hospital room?
Where is God when the circumstances of life are inconvenient? Where is God when your world comes crashing down around you? The Lower Story of Joseph helps us to trust God’s Upper Story in such times as these.
Imagine Joseph’s frustration, confusion, and anguish. God revealed to Joseph in two dreams that he would one day rule over his family, preserving the covenant community. God’s plan seemed doomed to fail when Joseph’s brothers sold him into Egyptian slavery. But with the Lord’s favor, Joseph rose to a position of power in Potiphar’s house. Maybe Joseph’s dream emerged as his responsibility over Potiphar’s household increased. But with a prison sentence, that dream seemed once again dashed. God providentially orchestrated events to arrange for Joseph to rise to become the deputy Pharaoh of the superpower of the known world. Man’s evil failures would not foil God’s plan.
When we go to the Lord to seek His will for our lives, which of the following requests is most like what we ask? Check your response.
- Lord, what do you want me to do? When do you want me to do it? How shall I do it? Where shall I do it? Who do you want me to involve along the way? And please tell me what the outcome will be.
- Lord, just tell me what to do one step at a time, and I will do it.
Most of us want the details of what God is up to in our lives. We want the Upper Story. We say, “Lord, if You could just tell me where I am heading, then I will be able to set my course and go.” And God says, “You don’t need to do that. What you need to do is to follow Me one day at a time.”
Who is it that really knows the way for you to go to fulfill God’s purpose for your life?
The Upper Story
- Our trust in the goodness of the sovereign God is the heart of true faith.
- This trust sustains people of faith during trials.
- This trust enables people to find their place in God’s redemptive plan.
- This trust enables believers to perceive how God brings good out of evil.
- We can see the hand of God when we look back more easily than we can understand hard times while they are happening.
God is in Control
Genesis 37-50
Joseph shows himself faithful to God, trusting in His sovereignty, even in difficult times.
Have you ever found yourself in a place you never intended to be, wondering how you ended up there? Maybe the question on your mind was more focused on how you could ever get out of this particular circumstance?
- Where is God when the circumstances of life are inconvenient?
- Where is God when your world comes crashing down around you?
- The Lower Story of Joseph helps us to trust God’s Upper Story in such times as these.
The story of Joseph is a powerful illustration of God’s control over human history. God’s divine plan would prevail. He chose a covenant family and in spite of that family’s efforts to destroy God’s elect, God would still fulfill the Covenant through that very family. God called Abraham’s family to be the conduit through whom He would bless all nations. While the ultimate fulfillment would come in Christ, God used Joseph to reveal Himself as the gracious God of all.
I. Man Fails
Joseph suffered at the hands of many people. Who is in charge of Joseph's destiny?
It would seem that his destiny would be determined by everybody but God. Destiny is the purpose God has for each individual. To enter this destiny the first step is to be born again. After we make the decision to follow God there is an unseen hand which moves us on a course to fulfill the purpose of God for our lives. The power to bring about this destiny is God’s. If we follow Him daily in obedience He will bring us to the end that He created us for. Even in our mistakes God is able to maneuver and adjust us and our circumstances to accomplish the good end for our lives.
Why did his brothers hate him?
His brothers hated him because God chose young Joseph to lead the covenant community. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Gen. 37:4
Why did his brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt?
His brothers plotted to kill him, but sold him into slavery in Egypt instead. The figured they could make money on the deal, so they sold him to the Ishmaelites as a slave. He ends up in Egypt, in the house of Potiphar.
What was Joseph falsely accused of?
Joseph was falsely accused of rape by Potiphar’s wife.
Who forgets Joseph while he is in prison?
Joseph was disappointed by the prisoner who forgot him.
Where is God while Joseph is suffering?
- Suffering can bring purification and humility: Trials and sufferings prepare us for greater things and purify us of pride and self-reliance. Woe to the man who has not suffered, who is unbroken. Thus God permits us trials and difficulties that help us hone our skills, know our limits, grow in wisdom and develop compassion and trust.
- Suffering Opens Doors: The lesson is clear enough; God permits some sufferings to get us to move to the next stage. He closes one door to open another. There is pain in the closing of the door to the familiar, but there is greater joy beyond in the door He opens.
- Suffering helps summon courage: As for Joseph, so also for us. If we are going to make it through this sinful world with our soul intact, we are going to need a lot of courage. The Lord often develops his courage in the crucible, asking us to trust him that we will be vindicated, whether in this world or the next.
- Suffering builds trust: God humbles us, only to exalt us. As Joseph has already learned, God can make a way out of no way. He can do anything but fail, and he writes straight with crooked lines.
- Suffering produces wisdom: And thus Joseph has been prepared for this moment by God, and he’s no fool. He has learned God’s wisdom and direction. Whatever abundance occurs in the next seven years must be set aside for those who will be hungry in the years that follow. His wisdom is no accident, no mere hunch. It has come from the crucible of suffering. Suffering does that, it helps us become wise, get our priorities straight, and in this case, understand that our wealth depends on the Commonwealth. We cannot live merely for ourselves. That is foolishness; we are called to live for others. What wisdom has God taught you through suffering? How has suffering helped you to get your priorities straight; to see the passing quality of life in this world, and to set your sights on the world it is to come and on the judgment awaits you? On the Day of Judgment will God call you a fool or a wise person? And if you are wise how did you get there?
- In our suffering, we learn that our lives are not about us: Yes, in our suffering, we learn that our lives are not about us. Joseph was not purified and prepared for this moment simply for his own sake, but even more, for the sake of others. God has led Joseph, often through terrible suffering to prepare him to help save others.
II. God’s Plan Prevails
God’s sovereign fingerprints were all over Joseph’s life! And Joseph knew it in the end.
How would you define sovereignty?
A supreme authority, an all-powerful ruler, etc.
How do you think God’s sovereignty is different from any ruler or king?
He knows the end of the story even when we are still at the beginning. He has total control. He can do all things. He sees the full picture, etc.
Who revealed Himself and His plan in two dreams?
God - (God’s revelation ALWAYS precedes faith!)
Who prevented Joseph’s death, but allowed him to be sold to Egypt?
God
Who providentially put Joseph in Potiphar’s house?
God
Who providentially allowed Joseph to go to prison where he would interpret dreams for his fellow prisoner?
God
Who would remember Joseph when Pharaoh needed dreams interpreted?
This prisoner-butler
Who provided Joseph with prophetic dream interpretations?
God
Who used Pharaoh to promote Joseph to deputy in the superpower nation of the world?
God - No other place in the world would have more influence!
Who fulfilled the prophetic 7 years of plenty?
God
Who orchestrated the prophesied famine that forced others to come to Joseph in Egypt, including his own family?
God
Joseph recognized God’s sovereign plan to save both his family and the world through him. His focus on God’s Upper Story gave him the perspective, the “God’s eye view,” to endure the suffering and forgive his brothers.
What happens to our faithfulness when hard times come around?
- We either attack our struggles armed with a strong faith to let God work it out and make hard choices to remain faithful to Him.
- Or we crumble under the pressure because our faith is not strong enough and we question God’s plan.
As Joseph went through life he had some hard times. He was thrown into a pit, sold into a foreign culture as a slave, separated from his family, propositioned by Mrs. Potiphar, and sentenced to an Egyptian prison. Yet he rose to the top in his position every time. Even in prison he chose to use his God-given talents and serve with his leadership abilities, rather than sulk and pout and become a bitter old man. In the end, Joseph chose to help his family, and to forgive his hateful brothers.
Did Joseph know what would happen at the end of his story? Who did?
Look up Genesis 50:20 (The Story, page 34) and have someone read it aloud. Who intended harm? Who meant it for good? Who knew how it was going to work out? Who had to show humility to allow God’s plan to unfold?
As Joseph was faced with each of these situations he had a choice to make between faithfulness and bitterness. Each time, what did he choose? - Faithfulness to God.
Think about: Two main themes characterize the life of Joseph:
1. His faithfulness to God.
2. His trust in God’s sovereignty.
Take away: In order to show faithfulness to God, we have to trust that He is sovereign and is working out His plan even when our circumstances look grim. We must choose faithfulness above all things, and watch God’s plan unfold.
We should live each day by the grace of God. This was the life of Joseph – he lived each day by the grace of God and later in his life he began to see that God had a specific plan for each of the events in his life.
Providence of God - “The Lord works in mysterious ways”
1. In times of crisis what should we do? (Trust in God’s plan)
2. In times of temptation what should we do? (Resist and avoid temptation at all costs) What if we suffer for doing the right thing, how should we react? (Remain faithful to God’s purpose)
3. Where does true wisdom come from? (Only from God) How do we attain it? (If we will seek His will and ask for wisdom, He will surely provide all that we need)
4. Are we included in God’s plan? How do we find our place? (We seek His will)
12 Applications for Us Today
- God is in control. He is sovereign over people and events.
- While Joseph’s story makes no claims that God will directly intervene in every situation, it does remind us that in the end, God brings good out of every evil.
- God is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness.
- Suffering is not necessarily a sign of being outside of God’s will.
- Our goal through suffering is to remain faithful to our Sovereign God.
- Faith is the key to endurance.
- Be aware that God may be training you for something in the future.
- Be prepared to wait.
- Because God has revealed and fulfilled promises in the past, I can trust Him to fulfill His promises for the future.
- I might be part of God’s plan for someone else.
- God’s sovereignty is not a scapegoat for sin.
- Rest in God’s sovereignty.
Prayer of Commitment
Father, thank You for Your mighty work in our lives. We know You have an ultimate plan and we know You have the process to achieve Your plan. Build our faith, Lord. Use our circumstances to strengthen our faith in You and to reveal Your sovereignty to us. Help us to trust You with all things and to be faithful to You in all circumstances. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
See you next week!
In His Love,
David & Susan
