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Genesis 37, 40-47
! Introduction
I use my computer a lot and sometimes when I do, I press a key and nothing happens.
My reaction is to press more keys and before I know it, I have gotten myself into a mess.
If I had been patient, the expected reaction would have happened.
Instead, I make problems because I don’t trust the computer to do what it is supposed to do and I make problems.
The other day someone asked about making dough using yeast.
They were having less than satisfactory results.
When told that they needed to allow the yeast to rise in a warm place, they suddenly realized what they had done wrong.
They didn’t trust the yeast to do its job and didn’t know that you just had to wait for it to react.
Those of you who farm know all about waiting and trusting the seed and the ground.
I often look at the black fields in spring and wonder if anything will ever come up.
If a farmer planted a field and then went out the next day and decided to reseed because the crop wasn’t up yet, we would suspect he was not a farmer, but a city dweller.
Yet we have a similar lack of trust in God many times.
We expect God to act, but when he doesn’t act as and when we expect, we begin to doubt God and we go out and act on our own.
Yet the Bible encourages us to “wait on the Lord” and promises us that He will act.
This morning, we will look at a very encouraging story which helps us understand the need to trust in God.
Joseph’s story is one which teaches us that if we have patience and trust in God we will see how God will work.
! I. It’s A Tough Life!
All of us go through hard times in life.
Joseph had some significant hardships in his life.
!! A. Joseph’s Hardships
!!! 1. Sold by his brothers.
We are introduced to Joseph when he was 17 years old.
He was the second youngest of Jacob’s children.
Because he was Rachel’s son, he became his father’s favorite and that did not sit well with his other brothers.
Genesis 37:4 says that they hated him.
He did not endear himself to his brothers when he mentioned to them that he had a dream in which their sheaves of grain were bowing down to his sheaf.
Genesis 37:5 says, “they hated him all the more.”
After a second similar dream in which 11 stars and the sun and moon bowed down to him, it says that “they were jealous of him.”
One day, his father sent him to see how they were doing with the flocks and when they saw him coming, they plotted to kill him.
Reuben, the oldest brother, prevented them from doing so.
Instead, reasoning that it would not be good to be guilty of murder, that they could perhaps make some money and that he was, after all, their brother, they sold him to a group of Ishmaelite traders.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to be sold into slavery, much less to be sold by your own brothers.
Family bonds are strong even in dysfunctional families and such an action speaks of a powerful rejection.
It must have been frightening and devastating for Joseph!
!!! 2. Life as a slave.
Joseph was taken to Egypt by the traders where he was sold to Potiphar who was the captain of the palace guard.
He was not hired as a manager, nor given the freedom to choose his career or get an education.
He was sold as a slave and lived and worked as a slave.
He had no freedom.
Joseph was the favoured son of his father.
Although we have often thought of the coat that Jacob had given him as a multi-coloured coat, the Hebrew does not necessarily support that translation.
An alternate translation is that it was a long sleeved coat, which could suggest the garment of a person who did not work.
The fact that he was sent to inquire of his brothers makes one wonder why he was not shepherding with them and this supports this kind of an interpretation.
What a great change from favoured son to slave.
!!! 3. Falsely accused
Last week we looked at the story of Joseph in Potiphar’s house and how Potiphar’s wife was trying to seduce him.
When he refused to give in and had to flee, she accused him of trying to abuse her.
One wonders why the servants, who probably knew, did not say anything.
One wonders why such an offence that was punishable by death resulted in a prison term instead.
Did Potiphar know his wife was guilty?
Nevertheless, this man who had a strong reputation for trustworthiness, was accused of a crime he never committed and there was no legal recourse, no way of convincing anyone he was innocent.
And so Joseph languished in jail.
He went from favoured son to slave to falsely accused prisoner.
!!! 4. Imprisonment
After some time in prison, two of Pharaoh’s servants were put in prison.
One night, each of them had dreams which disturbed them greatly.
They wondered what the dreams meant.
In that society, dreams were taken seriously.
Some dreams are obviously the result of something we have eaten, but some dreams are clearly messages from God.
They had a sense that these dreams were.
Joseph was responsible to take care of these prisoners and when he saw them, they mentioned the dreams to him.
He indicated that God could interpret dreams and when they told him their dreams, he was able to tell them what they meant and they happened just as he said.
The baker’s dream indicated his death, but the butler’s dream indicated his reinstatement.
Joseph asked him, in Genesis 40 “when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness.”
But when the butler was released and reinstated, he forgot all about Joseph and Joseph spent another two years in prison.
The total time of his slavery and imprisonment was approximately 13 years.
Genesis 37:2 indicates that Joseph was 17 years old and later in Genesis 41:46 says that when he began to work for Pharaoh he was 30.
What a long time to hold on to hope!
What a long time to trust that God is at work!
What a difficult life!
Joseph must have felt what the Psalmist expresses in Psalm 13:1, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?”
!! B. Life’s Hardships
Sometimes life is like that.
The Psalms express life’s hardships very well.
Sometimes we live with hardships of our own making.
Psalm 38:5,6 says, “My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.
I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.”
One chapter later, in Psalm 39:5,6, we have an expression of hardships that are a part of life - illness, loss, trial.
There we read, “You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Each man’s life is but a breath.
Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.”
Then two chapters later in Psalm 41:5,6 we have expressions of hardship imposed on us by others.
“My enemies say of me in malice, ‘When will he die and his name perish?’ Whenever one comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it abroad.”
Which of these hardships do you identify with?
How does it feel?
!! C. Living With Hardship
!!! 1. God Is With You
Sometimes we say to a person in the midst of trial, “God is with you.”
It is interesting how many times this phrase is spoken in the story of Joseph.
In Genesis 39:2,3, 5, 21,23 we read over and over, “The Lord was with Joseph.”
But how could that be?
How did Joseph experience that?
How could that be when he was hated and almost killed by his brothers?
How could that be when we was a slave?
How could that be when he was falsely accused and put in prison?
Did Joseph believe it?
Do we believe it when we are in the midst of trials??
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