The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying God's providence or divine providence in the lives of David and Joseph and how we can apply His providence in their lives to our lives today.
The providence of God is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. Divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. He is sovereign over the universe. He is in control of the physical world. He is in control of the affairs of nations. He is in control of human destiny. He is in control of human successes and failures. He protects His people.
In last week's session we see how God was with Joseph even in slavery to the point that everything that he touched was blessed so much so that slave owner was blessed because God was with Joseph. We see that Joseph was able to resist the temptation offered by his master's wife. After resisting the temptation, which was the right thing to do, Joseph was thrown in prison.
This week we see that the Lord was with Joseph even in prison, to the point that the warden of the prison ut Joseph in charge of everything including prisoners. This gave Joseph an opportunity to interpret a dream of a person who would have been able to help Joseph by putting in a good word to Pharoah and perhaps get Joseph pardoned and released from prision. However, this person forgot all about Joseph.
To this point, although the Lord was with Joseph in all situations his life was one of mistreatment, disappointment, and abandonment which would have caused the average person to become disillusioned and embittered, but not Joseph who continued to trust God.
The application for us today is this; We have two choices: We can become disillusioned and embittered, or we can use that difficulty as a platform for putting our hope and trust in the living God. God has not abandoned you. He has not forgotten you. He never left. He understands the heartache brought on by the evil which He mysteriously permits so that He might bring you to a tender, sensitive walk with Him. God is good Jesus Christ is real —your present circumstances notwithstanding.
The providence of God or divine providence is the governance of God by which He, with wisdom and love, cares for and directs all things in the universe. Divine providence asserts that God is in complete control of all things. He is sovereign over the universe as a whole, He is in control of the physical world, He is in control of the affairs of nations, He’s in control of human destiny, He’s in control of human successes and failures, He protects His people. Through divine providence God accomplishes His will.
Last week we saw that Joseph was able to resist the advances of Potiphar's wife and he was thrown in jail for maintaining his integrity. He was able to resist the temptation because of his loyalty to his master who had entrusted his entire household with the only exception being his wife, and in loyalty to God. He was able to maintain his integrity under tremendous temptation.
Genesis 39:8-9 NIV But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
And what was his reward for doing the right thing? He was thrown into prison.
Genesis 39:19-20 NIV When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison,
So Joseph does the right thing and he ends up in jail.He was not only innocent, he had resisted blatant temptation over and over again. He did the right and had suffered wrong for it. But remember what it says in verse 21
Genesis 39:21 NIV the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
So now Joseph has been wrongly imprisoned just like his being wrongly done by his brothers and sold into slavery. However because of the providence even in difficult and situations the Lord was with him.
Genesis 39:22-23 NIV So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
All of us, I would dare say, have been in situations where we were wrongly accused and treated unfairly after doing the right thing. I’m not talking about those times we deserved whatever happened to us after we did something dirty or wrong. I’m talking about those times when we did the right thing. If you are honest you do question God about why.
1 Peter 2:18-20 NIV Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.
But that is using our logic, our human logic and quite often God uses things that are not logical for a human point of view.
Because
Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We humans believe that you should be rewarded for doing what’s right and punished for doing what’s wrong. We have to trust God that he will even things out but He may not do it right away. He may have something else in mind. His reasons are beyond comprehension but we do know that God loves us and that no matter what He is on our side, if we have done the right thing according to His will.
Romans 8:28 NIV And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Ok so we know that God works all things together for good so we expect that things will work out for Joseph. He is positioned to receive favor. He is the head trustee and the warden trusts him.
Genesis 39:20-23 NIV Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
He even gets an opportunity to interface with some people close to Pharaoh.
Genesis 40:1-4 NIV Some time later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time,
We see through all this, his time as a slave and now in his false imprisonment that theLORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper.”
We never see anywhere that Joseph becomes bitter. Yes he does tell people that he is innocent and hasn’t done anything wrong be we never see him becoming bitter. He even looks out for other prisoners, Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker are two of them. We should not give ourselves pitty parties because if we do we may miss an opportunity that God gives us to help others.
Genesis 40:4-7 NIV The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”
He noticed that they were down. This is a guy who is in jail because he did the right thing but rather than saying whoa is me I wanted to know why they were down. Are we able to look beyond our own circumstances to reach out to others who are in need? Joseph did.
Psalms 118:24 NKJV This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Make lemonade out of lemons.
So they tell Joseph why they are down. He both had dreams about Pharaoh and their positions but they didn’t know what they mean so they are probably perplexed. We remember that Joseph is a dreamer, telling others about his dream is what got him in trouble. However he was willing to interpret their dreams but he told them that the interpretation was not his but God would do it.
Genesis 40:8 NIV “We both had dreams,” they answered, “but there is no one to interpret them.” Then Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.”
So the cupbearer tells his dream and Joseph interprets it and tells him that he is going to be restored to his former position in Pharaoh's court.
Genesis 40:9-13 NIV So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, “In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches. As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup and put the cup in his hand.” “This is what it means,” Joseph said to him. “The three branches are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer.
Joseph realizes now that this guy will have Pharaoh' s ear and can tell his story and perhaps get him out of prison. Remember Joseph had done nothing wrong.
Genesis 40:14-15 NIV But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.”
Now the baker hears this good news and he may have been expecting similar good news from his dream, but remember we have been saying that Joseph was a man of integrity and he had to give bad news to the baker. We are often afraid to give bad news but we should always tell the truth when we a put in to position to give not so great news.
Genesis 40:16-19 NIV When the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream: On my head were three baskets of bread. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.” “This is what it means,” Joseph said. “The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale your body on a pole. And the birds will eat away your flesh.”
Since as Joseph said the interpretation comes from God the results were as Joseph gave the men.
Genesis 40:20-22 NIV Now the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cupbearer and the chief baker in the presence of his officials: He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand— but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation.
Good news the cupbearer is restored to his position and Joseph told him so you would think that he would remember what Joseph asked him, but Nooo his is so excited about being restored to his position that he forgets all about Joseph. This happens to us too. We often forget about the people who helped us.
Genesis 40:23 NIV The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.
The story of Joseph’s mistreatment, disappointment, and abandonment resonates with all of us.
Unfair treatment, mistreatment, comes in many forms, but most of it falls into one of four categories.
First is undeserved treatment from family.
The second category of mistreatment is the unexpected restriction of circumstances.
This happens when you are suddenly confined, either emotionally or physically. You either can’t get beyond your own emotions or your physical circumstances.
Sudden injury or a traumatic disease can leave a person disabled, feeling terribly alone. The scars from an abusive past can result in long, dungeons like years of pain as the person struggles to recover.
The third kind of mistreatment is untrue accusations.
You don’t have to live very long on this earth before people begin to say false things about you.
The fourth category of mistreatment is unfair abandonment.
In some ways, this may be the most painful of all. It hurts. Many women can identify with this. You helped your husband through school.
Some of you have graciously loaned a lot of money to someone and that person has exploited your generosity. He or she is not paying anything back.
Some of you have worked with another person to build a business. You labored willingly behind the scenes. He got the credit, and you did most of the work—plodding alongyear after year after year. Then, finally, when it all began to pay off, he dropped you like a bad habit.
Some of you have been misjudged and abandoned by friends because of it. Perhaps even by your brothers and sisters in the local church, because false statements were made against you which they believed. That’s painful.
We have two choices: We can become disillusioned and embittered, or we can use that difficulty as a platform for putting our hope and trust in the living God.
The cause of disillusionment is putting one’s complete hope and trust in people. Putting people on a pedestal, focusing on them, finding our security in them. Beingso horizontally locked in that the person takes the place of God, even becomes God. And when the feet of clay crumble (as surely they will), total disillusionment sets in.
The other and best choice is Putting our complete hope and trust in the living Lord. When we do that, the simplest messages from God calm our spirits.
In the midst of all this, remember, God has not abandoned you. He has not forgotten you. He never left. He understands the heartache brought on by the evil which He mysteriously permits so that He might bring you to a tender, sensitive walk with Him. God is good Jesus Christ is real —your present circumstances notwithstanding.
Do Good to Those Who Oppose You
By Rick Warren
“Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also.” Luke 6:27-29 (NLT)
When you’re persecuted, harassed, or facing opposition, you need to respond with a blessing.
Jesus says in Luke 6:27-29, “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also” (NLT).
Who does that? Not many people, actually. But that kind of response is what sets Christians apart—because it’s not natural, popular, or easy.
It takes a lot of courage to do those things! Anyone can retaliate or say something mean. But it takes a lot of courage to respond with a blessing.
God wants you to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who hurt you, and turn the other cheek. Is that easy? No. But it’s the most powerful form of witness—and you can do it only by being filled with God’s love.
The movie The Butler shows how the Freedom Riders, who fought racism in the South during the Civil Rights Movement, trained people how to not retaliate when they were hit, spit on, cursed, or pushed, or when people threw food at them. It’s an intensely powerful scene of taking a nonviolent stance.
As I watched that scene, tears started coming down my face. I thought, “I want to be that kind of person for Jesus. I want to be that brave. I want to have a heart of courage that won’t cave in to what’s wrong, no matter what they throw at me. And I want to respond with love.”
When you refuse to retaliate and instead respond in love at work or with somebody who doesn’t like you, God will be pleased. And you’re going to be blessed.
Jesus said, “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven” (Matthew 5:10-12 NLT).
Jesus paid a price for you. And he says there’s a price to be paid for following him. When you’re a Christian, popularity on Earth is not a guarantee—but your reward in heaven is a guarantee.
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