Covid-19 Days - Lesson 3 from Joseph

Don’t Water the Seeds that Lead to Bitterness

Genesis 37:12-36

As we have already established, Joseph grew up in a difficult family environment where jealousy, anger & rivalry surrounded him on all sides. Unfettered & unchallenged anger will always lead to family & relational issues that most often results in a “blow up” that does great damage in a family. This happens in our day over and over.

Such was the way of Joseph’s formative years and such would become his fate one day as he approaches his brothers one afternoon as they take care of the family flocks.

A reading of Genesis 37:12-17 finds Joseph leaving home, traveling to Shechem and eventually finding them in Dothan. While uneventful in these sentences, they are simply a significant precursor to the great turning event in his young life that will eventually lead him to learn to trust God in any and every situation one finds themselves in the midst of.

         Bitterness Unabated

Genesis 37:18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” 

They had allowed themselves for far too long to allow their anger and jealously to remain without anyone of them bringing any kind of restraint upon what was in their hearts. Since they had grown comfortable with their hatred of their brother, it should be no surprise that this deep seated anger manifested itself in a plan to rid their lives of the dreamer.

The trouble with long lasting anger is that it “buys the lie” that freedom can only be found when the object of that anger is gone. The great trouble with this thinking is that it is all a lie, for the answer lies not in the object of our anger, but in the releasing of the anger and finding ourselves stepping out of the prison of bitterness.

If this does not happen, then the eventual fruit in a life is a marriage that dissolves, dependence upon substances, crime, a life of blaming others, or sexual or physical abuse. For the brothers, their deep anger could only find “supposed relief” in the murder of their brother. Again, at first they were totally comfortable with the idea. 

         Don’t Trust the Bitter

Genesis 37:21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 

Reuben steps in and rescues Joseph from certain death at the moment, for his plan would be to come back later and get Joseph and bring restore him to Jacob. The issue is that Reuben should have known that the bitter cannot be trusted to fully keep their word, for they are driven by a restlessness that is fed by only by more anger. It is at this point that Reuben steps away for some reason and in so doing, he leaves Joseph in the hands of his brothers. 

**Key verses 37:23-24**

Genesis 37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25 Then they sat down to eat...

This 3^rd key phase in Joseph’s life begins now when all he had known changes instantly as he is thrown into the pit. When these moments happen, the future will be dependent in many ways in how we respond to what has been done to us…will we become as those who abused us and “threw us in a pit”, or will we trust God as He is with us in the new difficulty that has become our present life. Joseph’s response to his “fresh pit life” sets the stage for God’s unfolding plan and the success of it.  For without this, we don’t read all we are about to see in the life of Joseph.

            Why This Story Matters Today

This point is why the story of Joseph is so relevant today and needs to be brought back into the church conversation. He models for us how to not let anger, bitterness, a bad family background lead to a life of being chained and bound by unforgiveness as those who abused us.       

When I speak with other minister friends of mine, it has come to be clear that one of the most dominant sins in the church that is hard to deal with is unforgiveness. It has become in both our American and Church culture one of the prominent sins we seem to okay living with.  

This mindset seems to come from our sense of entitlement that permeates so much around us and it has bled into our relationships where we feel that we have a right to hold onto the pain & nurse which only allows it to grow.  We should not let ourselves off the hook in this area. 

In case we were to think this thinking got cured by the New Testament – you see this philosophy in the older brother in the Prodigal Son story found in Luke 15.

We see it in our day in abuse, divorce & underlying rage that manifests itself at Wal-mart or McDonald’s. 

We have lost the practice of forgiving and embraced the posture of watering the seeds of our anger.

There is so much to learn from Joseph in this area.

God has a plan and we can choose to fight it, ignore it & not learn the lessons from circumstances that come our way.  In the moment, if we are not careful, down in the pit we will “choose poorly”, but we must “choose wisely”. 

Something very important took place down in that empty pit while his brothers were at the top eating, and in some ways I think the decision that was made had already been settled in Josephs heart.  I say this because there is no way that Joseph did not know where his brothers stood with him before this event happened. He had been learning to deal with their heartless love for some time before this event. 

Though the passage does not specificallyspeak of it, something got settled down in the dark, empty & waterless pit that can serve us well.  

            Three Decisions Joseph Made

(1) Did not blame God for the pit

For some Christ-followers, an event like this would lead them to wonder:

If God is so Sovereign, why did I end up here?

It is impossible to live in this world and not be hurt by someone else’s sin. People we love leave our lives, leaving us wondering about the love that was once confessed and shared. Some of us have been verbally, physically, or sexually abused or been damaged by someone’s drinking or drug abuse. Some of us have children who manipulate or may have rebelled and caused us deep pain. Some of us have been the victims of a crime.

This is reality of living in a broken world - sin affects us all.  If these moments come, we must not blame God for the pit and charge Him with wrong, for He is always good. 

Look at these 3 key texts in Psalm 119…

Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

Psalm 119:71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.

Psalm 119:75 I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

(2) Did not blame his family in that moment for his troubles

He trusted God down in the pit, did not blame his family, even though his family put him in it, Joseph embraced God’s Sovereignty in that moment.  

There is something that happens in the darkness of life that can be so settled and firm, that you know you can get through it no matter what is going to come. I think Joseph sensed it – he was not alone. 

Think of it a moment – Joseph had to know as they threw Him down into the pit that what would come next from a human standpoint was not going to go real well – he trusted anyway.

Again, I think something was already settled in Joseph’s heart - that God is bigger than anything that comes your way and He must be trusted no matter what.  

(3) Chose not to Water the Seeds of Anger

A hurt not dealt with leads to…

• Prolonged anger leads to bitterness
• Bitterness lets unforgiveness grow 
• Unforgiveness results in a hard heart
• The hard heart seeks to inflict hurt on those who initially hurt us.

For the brothers…

their anger, bitterness, unforgiveness and hard hearts 

led them to desire to murder Joseph, 

but he chose to not to allow their actions to lead him to be like them.

Q:  How do we know he chose not to water the seeds of bitterness?

We know this for the rest of his life, his heart was ruled by trusting God. He is a very early picture of what James would later write…

James 1:20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

When we arrive at Genesis 39:2, Joseph is walking with God, God is with Him, he is successful and righteousness is thriving in his life. He is not walking in bitterness!

In the very end, Joseph will do these two things…

Genesis 45:4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

Lessons from Covid 19 Days - Part 2

Forged in the Fire...

God’s Sovereign Plan – Genesis 37:5-11

Genesis 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

As we begin to undertake the next piece of Joseph’s life, it leads us to examine the knowledge of God and the revelation of His purposes and plans in the life of Joseph. Mainly, we will touch on what is called the Sovereignty of God. It is important that we briefly define what this means.

In some Christian circles, there are those who struggle with the Doctrine of the Sovereignty of God, but for my faith, it has become such a key doctrine that brings a strong security to my life.

When I contemplate the Word “Sovereign”, as it relates to God, there are several key pieces connected with it, but to simply define in this blog post – God’s Sovereignty means that He is in control and ruler over all things in His World. In light of that, nothing can ever thwart His purposes nor can anyone change them as He reigns supreme. 

Here are some really key texts that affirm His Sovereignty and why it is Biblically established and why we should embrace it without question…

Revelation 21:6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. 

God is above all things and before all things. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. 

1 Timothy 1:17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

He is the only God, immortal, present everywhere & not limited by anything.

Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 

God created all things and holds all things together, both in heaven and on earth, both visible and invisible. This includes even in the midst of the free choices of man makes. 

Psalm 103:19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

God is in control of all things and rules over all things. He has power and authority over nature, earthly kings, history, angels and demons. 

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

God knows all things past, present, and future. There is no limit to His knowledge, for God knows everything completely before it even happens. 

There are many other texts I could include and these cover so much. Since God alone can make those claims and can fulfill every one of them, His Sovereignty makes Him superior in every matter in the universe.

            Back to Joseph

Joseph is 17 years old when God breaks in through a couple of dreams and says, “I have a plan for you and I want to give you a picture of it”. Not only can God communicate the plan, but the verses above affirm that He can carry out the plan in someone’s life which we will eventually see at the end of Joseph’s life.  

Q: Do you remember when the Lord broke into your life and radically changed things and charted your life on a brand new course?

Let’s talk about this Sovereign plan in Joseph’s life

(1) Sovereign Plan of God Gives Purpose to our Lives 

Even though God is not mentioned by name at all in Genesis 37, His Sovereign Providence stands tall like a mountain as He will carry out His purposes through the evil actions of Joseph’s brothers, using the godliness of his life, and the unjust wickedness that takes place in Egypt. 

In the two dreams, God reveals where Joseph will end up at a point in time in his life, but he does not show the full path and its difficulties along the way. 

This is where our submission to His Sovereignty comes into play. His greatness should lead us to faithfully bow before Him all along the way, knowing He is always good even when life here may not be so good. God is never like the rulers of this world who are corrupt and exercise authority in selfishness and pride, God operates His kingdom in holiness and love – His absolute goodness in carrying out His purpose in our lives is affirmed over and over in Scripture and throughout church history.

We should be reminded of this great promise…Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 

(2) God’s Sovereign Knowledge Sees our Whole Life

God not only knew where He was leading Joseph, but He can also see how it will all play out. We will not know all of the details in regard to how, how long, or when, but because Christ is not limited by time, He is over time and steps in with His perfect will to accomplish His call and work in our lives. 

In spite of the opposition Joseph faced all along the way, God would be present with Him in every setting and step of Joseph’s life, even when injustice was his fate. The God who purposed his life was the very one who sees it all the way to the end. 

This is a key to the joy of the book of Revelation – God’s knowledge is not limited by satan, mankind, war, etc., but He sees all the way to the end of time.  

(3) Sovereign Power of God Carries Us through our Whole Life

He will be able to carry it all through to God’s intended purpose. He has the power to carry us through to all the places that are good and devastating. Remember these words…Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The sovereignty of God finds expression, not only in the perfect will of God, but also rests His absolute power to carry out His will. The power in God is the effective energy of His nature at work accomplishing all things God in the past, present, & future.

Paul spoke of this power at work in his life..

Colossians 1:29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. I am so thankful it is greater than I can handle. If I can fully handle His power, is it really that powerful?

(4) Sovereign Path of God Is Marked by His Goodness

We will eventually get there, but Joseph in the end looks back over his life and says these famous words…Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 

He always has something bigger in mind for our lives than we ever could imagine.  We look for the path of enjoying Jesus with comfort and few trials and little life change.

God on the other hand has a path that leads us to Christlikeness, and at times it does not involve any kind of comfort, actually it is a road of pain.  It can be a path of pain, but it is the only one that has as its aim Christ.

This theme is carried out through all of Scripture, just look at the entire book of Acts and Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 where he speaks of what he had to go through to get the Gospel to the unreached.

In the life of Joseph, to get him to the place to save a people, both joy and pain was the path, and they will both mark ours as well.

This Sovereign path of pain is the path that Joseph had to take, for it was God’s path for Him.  God needed godliness in Joseph, not just a man of strength.  Godliness is borne in the fire of suffering.

Lessons for the Covid-19 Days of our Lives - Part 1

The Covid-19 Days of our Lives

I will be honest and admit, that in college, almost every day you could find me in front of the Television to watch “The Days of Our Lives”. I am not for sure how it all began, but I think the initial “crush” I had with the character Hope started it all, but then the stories of the people kept bringing me back.

This phrase “Days of Our Lives” has taken on a much different meaning during the “Covid-19 Days of our Lives”. I like so many of you, am trying to make the most of them, learn from them, and attempt to see these days with heaven’s eyes and not my own.

In these days we have seen things such as this that run the entire spectrum of things...death, sickness, economic devastation, more time with family, less time at church, conflicting news and instructions, fear, great faith, more time for walks, etc.

Paul gave us this counsel...Ephesians 5:15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.     17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

One of the key things in these "days of Covid 19" is that God's people should be moving more toward wisdom, not foolishness, by understanding the will of the Lord. 

I find I’m reading the Bible more in these days and going to it for lessons that will instruct and illuminate the path we are on in these most unprecedented days. I am often reminded of how the Sacred Scripture serves to teach us much and this verse from Paul often comes to mind…

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 

Look what it says…those ancient days of people’s lives & their experiences were written down for our instruction in the Bible, so that those of us on “whom the end of the ages has come” would know how to make the most of the days that come upon us. Paul, 2,000 years ago referred to his days at the one "on whole the end of the ages has come". If that was the case in his generation, how much closer are we in ours to God's final work.

What are some things we are to learn in these unique days?

I could not help in these days to drift back to Genesis 37-50 and learn some things from the life of Joseph. I am not going to write about every detail, so I am going to assume you are familiar enough with the story to be reminded of these important lessons relevant to our time right now. 

Running through the narrative of Joseph’s life is THE central character of those 13 chapters in Genesis, where the real central character is God, who is providentially at work behind the scenes accomplishing His purposes in Joseph’s life in some really long days of waiting and trial. His path would not be an easy one, but one in which God was Sovereignly at work.

I am going to share key pieces of God’s Sovereign Work in his life for our reading over the next days, so that we can have perspective in the days in which we are living in. 

I've been thinking about all of this family time we have been given in Covid-19, for some this is a good time, but for others being at home is devastating because of anger, alcoholism, lack of money, abuse, etc. 

Can God even be at work in the dysfunction that can be family?

Here is our first lesson…

1.  Don’t Let Dysfunction Define You – Genesis 37:1-4

As we are introduced to Joseph in Genesis 37, we begin an encounter with one of the most significant men of God in the Old Testament.  As we meet him, he is 17 and lives in one of the most dysfunctional families in the Bible.

(1) History of his family (See Genesis 29)

·      Abraham, Isaac, Jacob – all 3 wrestled with bad decisions concerning women, truth telling and manipulation.

·      With Jacob his father - Deception ran deep in the family – Jacob was a liar and manipulator

You see, Jacob wasn’t the world’s greatest father, as he made many mistakes with his family. He allowed his wives to establish a climate where they battled over who could have the most children, thus creating a climate of rivalry within the family. He seemingly would have let Dinah marry the pagan who raped her and then he didn’t deal with the treachery and brutality of his sons after Dinah’s rape. And here he is blind to his other sons’ hatred toward Joseph, whom he openly favors. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent Joseph into this volatile situation. Jacob was an insensitive and foolish father.

I think over time Jacob got out of touch with his children and did not know what was going on even though it was right in front of his face.

This was Joseph’s father and the environment in which he grew up.

(2) Home Life

·      He lived in and around 1 Birth Mother and 3 Step Mothers and 10 half-brothers

·      Rachel – His mom was jealous and controlling 

·      Stepmoms – Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah – there is no doubt they loved their sons more in the family dynamic of Jacob’s house

·      Tension, animosity, jealousy, etc. defined the home

(3) Hatred from His brothers

He had 10 of them and every one of them knew Joseph was the favorite. In case you were to think that they really did not hate him, it says it 3 times and 1 of jealousy…

·      37:4 – hated him and could not speak peaceably with him.

·      37:5 – when he told it to his brothers they hate him even more.

·      37:8 – so they hated him even more for his dreams and his words.

·      37:11 – and his brothers were jealous of him.

·       

            The Bible’s Validity

***One of the reasons the Bible has so much validity to it is that the main characters have so many flaws.  There is so much honesty concerning the key players, which affirms in so many ways the strength and truth of the scripture. The Holy Spirit as He authored the Scripture did not hide any of these, but led men to write them down.***

            Family Dynamic

In every one of our lives, we have things that have happened or are happening in our family that are not so shiny and neat, even in our attempts to make sure everything appears so clean and all-together.  We make a bad decision to spend more energy making sure everything looks okay, instead of dealing with the reality of what our family may be going through.

With Joseph’s family, there is not a great way to tidy it all up other than to simply say that He grew up in the midst of great dysfunction, but it never defined who he was.  

This reality leads us to consider some really good points to ponder. Let’s begin now by learning some things about dealing with family…

            Two Things about Family

(1) Dysfunction Does Not Have to Define Our Lives

There is no doubt that our environment can really affect us and expose us to things that are not best for us, but we should never see our family environment as some kind of sovereign shaping environment.  A difficult or bad family does not mean someone will automatically turn out angry, make bad choices, etc. We don’t have to be defined by the choices and words of our parents or siblings.  It does not have to be this way. By trusting in Christ, people in difficult family settings can find a stability & shaping that is transforming for the good. 

It is clear from the text that we will see today that Joseph was able to navigate his way through all of the hatred, four moms, etc.

He did so because he trusted God at a young age, and that is why I believe God revealed Himself to Joseph in dreams, for Joseph’s heart was already bent toward God and that faith allowed Him to find stability in his life.

            The Work of Christ

Christ does that for so many people, he allows us to move on and find freedom from things that are devastating or right in the midst of them. 

(2) Don’t let Dysfunction Justify Bad Decisions

In our current culture, there are so many who justify their bad decisions based on their family life being less than a grand place to live.  They allow the past grievances to condone and validate the choices they are currently are making that are destructive, assuming they can do bad things just because they have had bad things happen to them. This is a lie!

We don’t have to continue to make bad decisions.  Joseph shows us a great example to follow and learn from.

            God at Work in Difficult Settings

So often, God uses the difficult settings of our lives to shape us and make us more like His Son - as that is the Father’s aim for our lives.  These moments and environments can serve as steppingstones to a deeper life in Christ. In my life of ministry and in my own life, I have seen family pain lead to the greatest intimacy, ministry, and influence.

So how is it going with your family in these days? Let's make sure we don’t let the dysfunction define us regardless of our position in the family or how we see ourselves in God's eyes.

That concludes part 1.