Genesis 40-41

Transcript

We study through books of the Bible here at the Village Chapel, and we’re going to continue our
study of the book of Genesis this morning. In particular, the story of Joseph. We’re going to
continue there. If you want a paper copy, just lift up your hand and someone can bring it to you.
And we do have 80 verses that we’re going through today. So a paper copy or some kind of
copy would be good for you to keep with us.

So glad you’re here. And also Tom and I welcome those who are worshiping with us online.
Grateful that you’re here with us today. I was really excited when I got a notification on my
phone that Coldplay had a new album out this week. And I’m a big fan. I don’t know if anybody’s
a fan in here. It’s not for everybody, but I like it. I like some of their music, some of it, I don’t
know where they are spiritually, but some of their songs seem to have some kind of seekers
heart. But the hot new single on this album is called Higher Power. And I thought, “Oh, well, I’m
a pastor. I guess I should probably read the lyrics and see what this song’s about. What do they
mean when they say higher power?” And it’s a fitting example of the spirit of our age and it
beckons us to look inside ourselves, deep inside of ourselves to find out who we are, who I am,
to look deep inside ourselves to decide what’s true, what’s good, what’s beautiful, what’s right,
what’s wrong. To look inside ourselves to figure out what it means to be human. And Chris
Martin, the lead singer said, “This song is about finding the inner astronaut in all of us.” And now
in his defense, I don’t mean to pick on him but in his defense, they’re not writing a theological or
philosophical treatise in this song. That wasn’t their goal when they wrote it, but it’s indicative of
the spirit of our age to be sure. The song says the chorus at the very beginning of the chorus,
“You’ve got a higher power, you’ve got a higher power.” And one of the core themes of Genesis
and really all throughout scripture is that there is one with a higher power and you aren’t it. And
it’s also not deep inside you. Now on the other side, I think it’s important to affirm that we are
fearfully and wonderfully made each of us individually and we bear the image of God. But it’s
only when we have a proper understanding of who God is. We just sang about him, and who we
are, that we even have a foundation for something like human dignity, human flourishing, a
foundation for any of that.

We have to have a proper understanding of what that higher power is and his believers who that
higher power is. But the Bible doesn’t leave it just at that. He is the Creator, but He’s also the
one that… He’s revealed himself to us. You could say He speaks. So he is the creator God. He’s
revealed himself to us in his kindness, He speaks. And even more than that, the Bible tells us
that He’s with us most fully in the person of Jesus, Emmanuel God with us. So he’s the creator,
yes. But even more than that, he speaks and He’s with us. And we see that already as we’ve
been studying Genesis and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and now in the story of Joseph. As
we’ve mentioned in our study, in the book of Genesis, Joseph gets just as much airtime as
Abraham or almost as much, 13 chapters the way that we have put it together.

So it tells us something at least that we should sit up and pay attention to this man of exemplary
character of integrity, certainly of gifting. He’s not perfect, but the text gives us a portrait of a
man who the Lord works through to accomplish His purposes. I love this story. And throughout
this story and in particular with our study last week, if you remember in chapter 39 on four
occasions, the author tells us that Joseph was not alone. The Lord was with Joseph. And if
you’re here last week, you might have underlined that four times. The Lord was with Joseph. He
wasn’t alone in the pit. His brothers had devised a plan to kill him and eventually they sold him
into slavery. But he wasn’t alone then. He wasn’t alone in the palace where he’s unjustly
accused and he’s not alone now in the prison where we left off last week serving time for a
crime he didn’t commit, four times.

I think the author is telling us something here. They’re framing the story of Joseph in a particular
way. The Lord was with Joseph. There was a higher power guiding and directing, but it wasn’t
from deep within Joseph. And he’ll actually say that in the text we read today. It was with the
creator God, the personal God, Yahweh, who had set His steadfast love on him. That’s what the
text said last week. God set His steadfast love on him and the Lord was with him. Many years
later, King David would say something similar in a different way, “Even though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death” and Joseph now in the prison unjustly accused feels a similar
weight, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

But how can that be? Well, he tells us, “For you are with me.” Our text last week, like I said, set
up and it framed the story that we’re going to read today. Joseph was placed in prison and the
text says, but in English, but, “The Lord was with Joseph.” So keep that in mind and as we read
this story, I want us to keep this question in mind. It was something that was ringing in my head
as I was studying this week, “What does a life shaped by the withness of the Lord look like?”
Withness may or may not be a word. We’re not quite sure. Some dictionaries say it is, some
don’t. But we use it here at TVC and I think we understand what it means.

“What does a life shaped by the withness of the Lord look like?” It looks like something. So turn
if you would to Genesis chapter 40. Like I said, we have a lot to cover. We have dreams, we
have interpretations of dreams, we have famines, a span of nine years. So no pressure
whatsoever to get through this today. But before we do that, let me pray for us.

God with us, we need to hear from you today. God with us, I need to hear from you today. Lord,
I pray you’d by your spirit illuminate your word so that we might follow in all faithfulness and
obedience to your great glory. In Jesus name we all said. Amen.

Alright, chapter 40:1. “So sometime after this,” so Joseph is in prison “sometime after this, the
cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their Lord, the king
of Egypt.” Some of your translations might say butler instead of cupbearer. So the cupbearer
and the baker have committed this offense, verse two. And Pharaoh was angry with his two
officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the
captain of the guard in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard
appointed Joseph to be with them and he attended them.” So not only is Joseph in prison, but
he is now serving these two officials, the cupbearer and the baker. He’s serving them. “They
continued for some time in custody.”

Real quick, these two professionals, the cupbearer and the baker, these were esteemed
positions.The cup bearer, almost like a secret service. He was protecting the king, Pharaoh,
from someone who might poison him. We don’t know this, but it could be that the cupbearer and
the baker, some folks thought that maybe they were going to poison Pharaoh. Maybe that’s why
they were in prison. It’s interesting that it’s both around food. The baker, it’s interesting. Baked
goods in that time were a big deal. Baked goods in Egypt, there’s actually some extra biblical
sources. These weren’t like Great British Bake-Off home bakers kind of a thing. This is a real, a
science, a profession there. Extra biblical sources tell us there are 38 varieties at least of cake
and 57 varieties of bread. So not a low carb diet there in Egypt at this time. But the cupbearer
and the baker, these were important positions and they’re now in prison. Joseph is serving
them.

Verse five, “And one night they both dreamed the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt
who were confined in the prison each his own dream and each dream with its own
interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So
he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, why are your
faces downcast today? Joseph has some empathy here.

Verse 8: “They said to him, ‘We have had dreams and there’s no one to interpret them.’ And
Joseph said to him, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God?’”

I encourage you to underline that or highlight it. Joseph, we see here has a proper
understanding of what belongs to God, of who God is and who he is in light of God.

“Please tell them to me.” (verse nine) “So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said
to him, ‘In my dream there was a vine before me. And on the vine there were three branches.
As soon as it budded its blossoms shot forth and the clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s
cup was in my hand and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the
cup in Pharaoh’s hand.’”

“And then Joseph said to him, ‘This is its interpretation. The three branches are three days. In
three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office and you shall place
Pharaoh’s cup in the hand as formerly when you were his cupbearer. Only remember me when
it is well with you and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh. And so get me out
of this house for I indeed was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews. And here also I have done
nothing that they should put me into the pit.’”

So Joseph is here making a request to the cupbearer. Perhaps this might be the only occasion
that we see some of his sorrow. It’s a little speculation, perhaps some sorrow, some despair, but
also some hope that maybe the cupbearer would help him out of this pit, this prison. Verse 16,
“When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, ‘I also had a
dream. There were three cake baskets on my head and in the uppermost basket there were all
sorts of baked goods for Pharaoh.’ (Told you, not a low carb diet!) ‘but the birds were eating it
out of the baskets on my head.’ And Joseph answered and said, ‘This is its interpretation. The
three baskets are three days. In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and hang
you on a tree.’” So there’s literally a play on words there, “’and the birds will eat the flesh from
you.’”

So not a favorable interpretation. Verse 20, “On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he
made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of
the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his position and he
placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hands, but he hanged the chief baker as Joseph had interpreted to
them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him.” So we can add this to
the list of injustices against Joseph. He’s thrown into the pit, he’s unjustly accused. He’s now in
prison and now he’s been forgotten.

Chapter 41:1, “After two whole years.” So we’re skipping ahead here. Joseph’s been in prison
another two years. “Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile.” We’ve moved now to
the king’s palace. “Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile,” (verse 2) “and behold
there came up out of the Nile, seven cows, attractive and plump and they fed in the reed grass
and behold seven other cows, ugly and thin came up out of the Nile after them and stood by the
other cows on the bank of the Nile. And the ugly thin cows ate up the seven attractive plump
cows and Pharaoh awoke.”

Kind of a weird dream. I don’t actually know what the difference is between an ugly cow and a
good looking cow, but obviously Pharaoh does. They would. But there’s a theme that’s going to
run through Pharaoh’s dreams here that the unhealthy is going to eat up the healthy.

We’ll continue on verse 5, “And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time and behold seven
ears of grain, plump and good were growing on one stalk and behold, after them sprouted
seven ears thin and blighted by the east wind and the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump
full ears. And Pharaoh awoken, behold it was a dream. So in the morning his spirit was troubled
and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his
dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.”

Now this is important because at this time dreams and the interpretations of dreams, this was
actually an academic science from the extra biblical accounts we can put together in this time in
Egypt. This was a science. So when Pharaoh calls the magicians and the wise men, it’s almost
like we would say calling all the top minds from Yale and Harvard and Stanford and Vanderbilt to
come and try to interpret these dreams.

And Pharaoh, the title, the Office of Pharaoh, the king was closely linked to the Nile. Remember
Egypt’s in a desert and the Nile being the primary source of water, of food, of transportation, the
economy was all wrapped up with the Nile. And their mythology in Egypt the Pharaoh was
supposed to try to keep the cosmic order, the universal harmony in their mythology and any sign
of a breakdown that might affect the Nile and everything that comes with the Nile could look bad
on Pharaoh. So he’s very interested in these dreams. What do these dreams mean? So verse 9,
“the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh,” Okay, now the cut bearer’s coming back in two years
later. “I remember my offenses today.”

“When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the
house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a
dream with its own interpretation. A young Hebrew, he was there with us, a servant of the
captain of the guard. When we told him he interpreted our dreams to us giving an interpretation
to each man according to his dream and as he interpreted to us. So it came about. So Joseph’s
gifting the Lord himself, his power is being authenticated here and the cupbearer is
remembering this. I was restored in my office and the baker was hanged.”

So why two years? We don’t know. Many of the psalmists ask similar questions, “How long? Oh
Lord.” We don’t know but we continue to read this story.

Verse 14. “Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph,” and there’s a turning point, “and they quickly
brought him out of the pit and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in
before Pharaoh.” That wouldn’t have been a Hebrew thing to do, but they were honoring the
office of Pharaoh likely.

So he comes clean shaved and verse 15, “And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I’ve had a dream and
there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you
can interpret it.’ Joseph answered Pharaoh, ‘It is not in me.’ God will give Pharaoh a favorable
answer.’” And if there’s something to underline, that’s it. “It is not in me.”

Again, Joseph remembers who God is and who he is in light of the Lord. The Lord is with
Joseph. Verse 17, “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Behold in my dream I was standing on the
banks of the Nile.'” So he’s going to repeat it. “Seven cows, plump and attractive came up out of
the Nile and fed in the reed grass. Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly
and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt.” So Pharaoh adds a little bit of
flourish here. These are really ugly cows. Verse 20, “And the thin ugly cows ate up the first
seven plump cows, but when they had eaten them, no one would’ve known that they had eaten
them for they were still as ugly as at the beginning.”

Wow. “Then I awoke.” Verse 22, “I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stock full
and good. Seven ears withered, thin and blighted by the east wind sprouted after them and the
thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one
who could explain it to me.” None of the wise men, none of the top minds of the land. But verse
25, then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has revealed to
Pharaoh what he’s about to do. The seven good cows are seven years and the seven good ears
are seven years. The dreams are one. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them
are seven years. And the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of
famine. It is, as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he’s about to do.

“There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them
there will arise seven years of famine and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.
The famine will consume the land and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the
famine that will follow for it will be very severe.” Thus the really ugly cows. There was a point to
it. Verse 32, “And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God and
God will shortly bring it about.” So Joseph there interprets these dreams for Pharaoh and a
quick side road here. What do we make of dreams? Dreams play an important part in the life of
Joseph. We see that in the very beginning when we’re introduced to Joseph and he tells these
dreams to his brothers and his father and it’s part of the reason why his brothers really don’t like
him and try to have him killed and eventually sold into slavery. And then with the cupbearer and
the baker and now with Pharaoh.

So what do we do with these dreams? Do I need to have somebody interpret the dream that I
had last night today or last night or did I just have some bad hot chicken? It’s an important
question though. What do we do with dreams today? And I think it’s important when we’re
studying a text like this to put it in proper context, and we’ve talked about this a little bit in our
study already, but one of the obvious points is Joseph does not have the book of Genesis. He’s
living the Book of Genesis. Joseph does not have the written revelation of God. That will come
at Sinai in later. Joseph doesn’t have the Bible. The fullest expression of the word of God may
flesh his revelation to us is in Jesus. And of course Jesus will come much later on. So it’s
important to remember the context here.

Joseph does not have the Bible. So the Lord in his kindness is revealing himself through
Pharaoh in his dreams. It’s important. So what about today? I mean what about dreams today?
At first, if somebody asks me the question, “Does God still reveal himself through dreams or
through other things?” I would say, “The Lord can do anything he wants, anything he chooses.”
That’s true. But now that we have the written word of God ordinarily and there’s nothing ordinary
about it, but ordinarily the Lord reveals himself through one, the written word that we have here,
preserved for us in the scriptures by the illumination of the spirit of God in the context of the
people of God.

It’s an important thing for us to know. That doesn’t mean if you have a prompting or perhaps you
have a dream, but we have the Bible to test it against to consider and test it against you have
other brothers and sisters to consider and test it against. I was talking to a friend yesterday,
though, this is an important one, in the Middle East and other parts of the world where the Bible
is not easily accessed, there’s no good translations. And in other parts of the world where
missionary activity is very limited. There are reports from trustworthy folks that I personally know
where visions have been used, dreams have been used by the Lord in conversion. So I think
the Lord can do anything He wants. But as we look at a story like this, it’s important to put it in
context that the Lord is being kind. He’s accommodating himself in revealing himself to Pharaoh
through these dreams.

So we’ll continue reading if you would with me at verse 33. So he’s interpreted these dreams for
him and now he’s going to get strategic. Verse 33, “Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a
discerning wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint
overseers over the land and take one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven
plentiful years.” So really practical. Set someone in charge and then give them some folks to
help him. So it’s a team effort here.

Verse 35, “And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up
grain under the authority of Pharaoh for the food in the cities and let them keep it. That food
shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of
Egypt so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

Verse 37, “This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants in Pharaoh said to his servants,
‘Can we find a man like this and who is the spirit of God?'” Pharaoh, of course, doesn’t have a
fully developed theology of the doctrine of the spirit of God, but he does, he sees something.
There’s something in the life of faith. It looks like something.

Someone whom the Lord is with, someone walking a life in faith that actually looks like
something and Pharaoh at least recognizes that.

Verse 39, “Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has shown you all this, there is none so
discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house and all my people shall order
themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne, will I be greater than you.’ And
Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.’ Then Pharaoh took his
signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen
and put a gold chain about his neck.” The one who started his story at least where we picked it
up with a coat of many colors. It was stolen from him, taken from him, is now being given the
finest linen in all the land.

Verse 43, “And he,” meaning Pharaoh, “made Joseph ride in his second chariot.” So he even
gets Air Force One or Two, he’s Air Force Two, “and they called out before him bow the knee.
Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I am Pharaoh
and without your consent, no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.'” He’s given a
lot of power here. “And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name, Zaphenath-paneah and he gave him a
marriage, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of
Egypt.” He gets to work.

Verse 46, “Joseph was 30 years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.”
This has been 13 years that Joseph has been enslaved in one way or another. “And Joseph
went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt during the seven
plentiful years the earth produced abundantly and he gathered up all the food of these seven
years which occurred in the land of Egypt and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the
food from the fields around it. And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of
the sea until he ceased to measure it where it could not be measured. The Lord was with
Joseph.”

Verse 50, “Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the
daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn,
Manassa for he said, God has made me forget all my hardship in all my father’s house. The
name of the second he called Ephraim for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Interesting that these two sons would be elevated to tribes of Israel along with the rest of
Jacob’s sons. Verse 53, “The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to
an end and the seven years of famine began to come as Joseph had said. There was famine in
all lands, but in the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the
people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph what he
says to you, do.’ So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the
storehouses and sold to the Egyptians for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover,
all the earth came to Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain because the famine was severe over all the
earth.”

Do you remember when the covenantal promises to his great-grandfather, Abraham, “Through
you, all the nations will be blessed.” And here we’re starting to see some of the fruit of that
because of what Joseph has done, what the Lord has done through Joseph, it says that all the
earth as they were aware of it was in a famine. They were blessed because of the work of
Joseph. What the Lord has done through Joseph. Such an amazing story. Stories like this
should make us stand in awe of the goodness of the kindness of the faithfulness of God. Amen.

I love this quote by Marilyn Robinson when we study a text like this. I think she gets at some of
this, “We are grass, no doubt of it,” meaning the grass withers and the flowers fade. “We are
grass, no doubt of it. But with a sense of history, we can have a perspective that lifts us out of
our very brief moment here. Certainly this is one purpose of biblical narrative.” (The Giveness of
Things: Essays) And I think that’s so true. So I suggested we ask this question all along the way
as we read this story. What does a life shaped by the withness of God look like? And I just have
two very simple points for us to consider. Because the Lord is with me. And that is true by the
way for you, “Because the Lord is with me…

1. I can wait with hope.

13 years Joseph was in prison mistreated. Like I said, we may be witnessing a little bit of his
sorrow, of his despair and hope when he asks the cupbearer for his help. And the cut bearer
forgets Joseph, and I’m speculating, but I imagine for those two years before the cupbearer
remembers him again that he’s in prison. And for those two years, every time there’s a footstep
down the prison stairwell, every time the iron doors are opened up, “did the cupbearer
remember me today?” In a room like this, I know many of you and there’s bound to be hearts
that are in the throes of waiting.

I have some in my own family who are wondering when the doctors are going to finally figure
out “what this chronic pain is”. They’re waiting. Some might be in this room today wondering
“when is the trust in my marriage going to be? When is my marriage going to be healed?” How
long, oh Lord. “When’s my child who’s far from the Lord going to come back to the Lord?” How
long, oh Lord, might be a question you’re asking. It might be your prayer this morning or this
week and you’re in good company.

We’ve already said it. The psalmist, “how long, oh Lord?” We don’t know the answer to that
question often. Why did it take two years for the cupbearer to remember Joseph? We don’t
know.

Psalm 105 tells us the Lord was testing Joseph. So we know that that at least, but we don’t
know all the reasons. God could have reminded him at any point. Two years. We don’t know
often why and it’s okay to wrestle with that. And you should hear that from us this morning, from
me. It’s okay to wrestle with that. How long? Why am I waiting? Sometimes I don’t wait with
hope. Sometimes I don’t wait with patience. I wait with anger or anxiety or despair. And that
hope may not be fully realized until glory. But our hopeful waiting, and this is important, is
grounded in the truth that for those in Christ, and I hope that’s you today, for those in Christ the
Lord is with you. It’s not just a platitude, it’s not just a verse your grandma had on our coffee
mug. It’s a truth that’s been born out through redemption history, fully proved in the life of Jesus
and His death in his resurrection.

Emmanuel, Jesus’ name God with us. Isn’t that amazing? He walked the earth, He sent us his
living and act of spirit and He dwells among us in this room today among his people. And that is
a guarantee. It says that the Spirit being sent to us is a guarantee that He will once, He will
come again as we wait and hope and He will restore all things new.

There’ll be no more tears, no more suffering, no more waiting. Can’t wait for that day. And Jesus
himself says this, when he is with his disciples at the end of Matthew, “And behold, I am with
you to the end.” Words of Jesus.

R.C. Sproul said it this way, “To me, there’s nothing more comforting than knowing that there is
a God of providence who is aware not only of every one of my transgressions, but of every one
of my tears, every one of my aches, and every one of my fears.” That’s the kind of God we
serve. That’s the God who is with you today. So one, because the Lord is with us, with me, with
you, I can wait with hope. And two, because the Lord is with me:

2. I can trust him with any outcome.

And that is hard work. And I know a lot of our brothers and sisters here can attest to that fact.

Waiting and trusting are inseparably linked. We can only wait with hope if we trust the One who
is all wise, all good, all powerful. We can trust the Lord who is with us with the outcomes. And
let’s be clear, they won’t always be as dramatic. This is quite a dramatic story. That’s why there
was a musical written about it. Not all of our stories are going to have a musical written by
Andrew Lloyd Weber.

But this story is, I think, a glorious display of the reason why we trust God. That’s why Paul and
Silas could sing in prison because our hope is grounded in something. Later in the study, and
we’ll study this in more depth next week, Joseph will meet his brothers again. And it’s
extraordinary if you think about it, the kindness of their Lord and ours, their intention to destroy
Joseph, his brothers, they intended to destroy his life. And the Lord continued to work in
Joseph’s life. And now Joseph is saving his brothers. Isn’t that incredible the way the Lord works
for they intended for destruction and the Lord works for their own deliverance from the famine.
When the Lord is with us, everything changes.

Many others throughout the history of God’s people, of course, understood this. And I just
wanted us to read or I’ll read this aloud from a few psalmists, “Be gracious to me, O Lord,” this
is King David, “for I am in distress. My eye is wasted from grief, my soul and my body also. But I
trust in you. Oh Lord, I say you are my God. My times are in your hands.” Psalm 31:9, 14-15
(ESV, emphasis added)

Another way of saying He’s with David, He’s with you. And we read this one earlier, “Even
though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” How can that be?
“For you are with me.” Psalm 23:4 (ESV emphasis added) Or for my brother, the Apostle Paul,
“Rejoice in the Lord always and again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to
everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything.” Philippians 4:4 (ESV
emphasis added) How in the world could Paul say, how can we say, “Rejoice in the Lord
always?” How can we say, “Don’t be anxious about anything except that the Lord is at hand.”

Paul would also say in Romans, “Neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will
be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” Romans 8:39
(NIV)

In other words, for those in Christ, there’s never a moment that you’re separated from God. Do
you believe that this morning? There will be seasons where you can’t see his hand moving, you
can’t feel His presence. There’ll be seasons where you’ve strayed from His ways, perhaps so
much that you’re calloused to even recognize the presence of God. That can be true.

But it’s precisely in those moments that we’re invited to come, you and I. We’re invited to come
and remember the promises, these promises with hope, a grounded hope, grounded in the
history of God’s saving work in his people. The history of God’s saving work in my life, in your
life, and many other brothers and sisters in here. A holy God rescuing me, a rebel, and adopting
me as his own child. All because of the work of Christ on the cross, the greatest act of injustice
the world has ever seen, and the resurrection, the greatest source of hope that we’ll ever know.
The grounding of our hope is that He is with us. Charles Haddon Spurgeon would say this, “It’s
noteworthy that the clearest promises of the Messiah have been given in the darkest hours of
history…Immanuel is a grand word. ‘God with us’ means more than tongue can tell.'”

All these promises are bound up and found in our union with Christ the king of kings. The word
may flash. Immanuel, we have much to learn from our brother Joseph in a story like this. But as
he said, “It is not on me.” He points away from himself lifting our eyes here in this room today to
the one who’s with us. I don’t know if you’re in a prison or a palace this morning. I don’t know if
you’re perhaps in a pit, maybe at the top of your game. My prayer is that all of our lives would be
shaped by the withness of the Lord. I pray we rest well today with the words of Jesus in our ears
and to hold. I am with you always. It’s good news. Let’s pray.

Lord, make us more attentive to you today. We know You’re with us. Plant that truth deep inside
of us. Shape our work, our play, our rest around that fact. Holy Spirit, You alone can reveal
Yourself to us. And I pray You would continue to do that in this place. Move among us, shape
us, renew us in the name of Jesus, Immanuel. We all say, amen.