The Story of Joseph pt 4
Genesis 41:1a
Would God still be good…?
I’ve been really looking forward to getting to this part of the story. It’s been a bleak road for Joseph to travel. He’s been hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, lied about, thrown in prison, then he has an opportunity to get a message about his innocence to the pharaoh, only to have the messenger completely forget about him for 2 years.
We take up the story in Genesis 41:1 – “Two years later the king dreamed…”
There’s been a lot of great stuff that we have learned about God already in this story. There’s been some really valuable things we’ve learned from Joseph about how to live with integrity and hope even in the worst circumstances, how to minister to others despite your own hardships and so on; but this is the part of the story that we’ve been anxious to get to. This is the part where the lights go on and we find out why God has allowed all of this stuff to occur. This is the part where we get inspired about the possibilities for happy endings to our own difficult circumstances, because we know how this story ends. God sends Pharaoh a dream that only Joseph can interpret. The cupbearer remembers the young Hebrew from prison and tells Pharaoh about him. Joseph is brought out, cleaned up and has an audience with the king of
There are some wonderfully uplifting truths that we learn in the conclusion to the story of Joseph.
But before we go there, I need to ask a question…
Would this still be a good story if it ended with Joseph spending the rest of his days in prison? Would God still be good if he didn’t deliver Joseph from those awful circumstances?
You see sometimes we are tempted to worship the God of happy endings. We want a God who will eventually rewards us with promotions, possessions, popularity, prestige or whatever else it is that our hearts desire.
Why did Joseph continue to serve God with integrity? Was it because he believed that God would finally reward his faithfulness and rescue him from prison, perhaps even making it possible for Joseph to return home to his family? Joseph certainly hoped for something like this, but I don’t believe that is why he worshiped God. I think Joseph worshiped God because he knew that God is worthy of worship.
Hebrews
32 Well, how much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.
But others trusted God and were tortured, preferring to die rather than turn from God and be free. They placed their hope in the resurrection to a better life. 36 Some were mocked, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in dungeons. 37 Some died by stoning, and some were sawed in half; others were killed with the sword. Some went about in skins of sheep and goats, hungry and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world. They wandered over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground
Here is something that many of us struggle to get our heads around: God is good to the women who received their loved ones back again from death, and He is good to the mothers and children who died in the Arenas of Rome. God is good to the ones who overthrew kingdoms, and He is good to the ones who died in the prisons and work camps of evil governments. God is good to the ones who escaped death by the edge of the sword, and He is good to the those who felt that sword pierce their bodies.
God is good because He is good, not because of what He does or doesn’t do in your circumstances or mine. God deserves our worship because He is God, not because of what we want to receive from Him.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Who was ever told as a kid that they had to eat all of their vegetables or they wouldn’t get any dessert?
I think that is the way that some people approach this verse! You’ve got to seek first God’s and His righteousness, and if you do that, you’ll get the things that you really want. So go to church and bible study and try to do the right thing, and if you can stick at that God will give you everything you need to be happy.
I’ve got news for people who think like that – God’s kingdom and His righteousness is the dessert!
Philippians 4:12-13
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippians 3:7-11
7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul discovered that knowing Christ and living for him is the most satisfying, rewarding, joyful way to live. Have you discovered this truth for yourself?
We are heading into an election, and so we all expect to be seeing and hearing a lot of propaganda over the next few weeks. As good as political strategists and marketing experts are, there is someone who is much more adept at getting people to swallow his line. Satan is a liar and has been from the beginning. He has been very successful at even fooling Christians into buying his products. He sells us the dreams of pleasure, of accumulation, of leisure time, of the good opinion of others, of hassle-free sex, of success or whatever else it is that we have a weak spot for.
Here’s the truth of the situation according to the Bible…
If you look for satisfaction and security in relationships, work, pleasure, possessions you will be disappointed and eventually destroyed.
If you look to God to give you satisfaction and security in relationships, work, pleasure, possessions and so on, you will be disappointed to learn that there is no guarantee that He will give you what you want. (Remember Hebrews 11?)
If you seek God, if you earnestly want to put God first in your life, if your heart’s desire is to see Him glorified in your life, then you will discover satisfaction and security in Him. You will be content to trust that God will do what is best in your relationships, work, leisure time, possessions and so on, and you will find joy and consolation in that fact. You will be concerned about those other things but not controlled by them. Like the Apostle Paul, and like Joseph in our story, you will be content no matter what your circumstances are or have been. You will disarm the power of Satan to lure you away to worship false gods.
I want you to understand how important this distinction is. Far too many Christians seem to make their worship of God conditional upon what is going on in their lives. If times are tough, they seem to believe they have a right to sulk or shake their fists at God and demand better treatment. God does not owe us anything! He has given us everything in Jesus, how dare we act as though that is not enough.
This all sounds a bit harsh, but realising the truth about this is the only way to find real happiness.
When the Apostle Paul got toward the end of his life –pretty much alone in a damp and miserable dungeon – he wrote these words to his younger friend Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:7-8
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
When God calls me home, I bet I won’t be thinking about how good I was at computer games, or even using computers for work. I won’t be thinking about body-surfing or playing sport. I won’t be worrying about what people in town thought of me, or my reputation as a preacher and leader. I will be thinking about what Jesus has thought of my life.
I won’t find satisfaction in the fact that for a while my children thought I was the strongest and smartest man in the world. I’ll find satisfaction in whatever I’ve done to point them to Jesus. I won’t care who made fun of me or attacked me if by doing so they gave me an opportunity to glorify Jesus and share in His sufferings.
Now I begin to be a disciple, and have no desire after anything visible or invisible, that I may attain to Jesus Christ. Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let breakings, tearings, and separations of bones; let cutting off of members; let bruising to pieces of the whole body; and let the very torment of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ …
All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. "For what shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?" Him I seek, who died for us: Him I desire, who rose again for our sake. This is the gain which is laid up for me. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder me from living, do not wish to keep me in a state of death; and while I desire to belong to God, do not ye give me over to the world. Suffer me to obtain pure light: when I have gone thither, I shall indeed be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God.
- Ignatius of
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