Trusting God in the Mystery

Genesis at Nov Givot  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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How can we trust God when we don't know the future?

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This morning we will be reading from . but before we begin I want to remind us of what has been happening so far. God made many promises to Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation that would bless all of the families in the whole world, and that they would inherit the land of Canaan. God set apart Abraham’s family and made a special promise to them to be their God forever no matter what. The story continues through many ups and downs until we get to Jacob who has twelves sons who would be the seed of that great nation God was talking about. Our story begins in with the story of how Jacob’s family worked. Joseph was the son of Jacob’s most beloved life and he made sure everyone knew about it by giving him an expensive coat. Not only was Joseph his father’s favorite son, but he appeared to be God’s favorite as well. He had several prophetic dreams where all 11 brothers and even his parents bowed down before him. Joseph thought that this was pretty great and decided to tell everyone, even though it was clear that he would only be stirring up conflict. His brothers hated him even more for it, and rejected God’s desire to make him ruler over them. They sold him into slavery and said “let’s see what comes from his dreams now.” They told their father that their brother was dead, and he refuses to be comforted in his grief. But though the sons of Israel rejected the one through whom God would lead them, God was not so easily thwarted.
Joseph served faithfully in Egypt, knowing that the Lord had not abandoned him, and eventually God lifts him up out of slavery by making him privy to his plan to bring about a worldwide famine. Pharoah in response makes him the governor of all egypt, so that through him God could save many lives and make Egypt a regional powerhouse. by the way Joseph named his children, we can tell that he has come to terms with his suffering and can see God’s hand in all of this. By the events of our passage, more than 20 years had passed and Joseph had not heard any word from his family. would he ever be reunited with them? Does the promises that God made to Abraham, still apply to him? Or was he and his family destined to be an egyptian noble family and be cut off from the God’s promises by his brothers evil actions? What about the dreams that Joseph had? this is a very long passage this morning, so we are going to do something different. rather than reading it all at once, we will read it as we progress through the story and discover what the passage is teaching us as we go. As we read it i want you to ask yourself this question:

What does faith look like when the future is uncertain?

Let’s start to answer this question by reading ,
read passage
What does faith look like when the future is uncertain? In order to answer this question we should look at what faith looked like for Joseph when he sees his brothers for the first time. The famine that we talked about last sunday was not limited to Egypt but covered most of the inhabited world. People from all over Mesopotamia were starving and desperate for food. Jacob heard the rumor that food could be bought in Egypt and so he sent his 10 of his sons to buy some, just like everyone else in Canaan. Jacob kept back only his most beloved son Benjamin to keep him safe from all harm. the last time he sent his most precious son on an errand like this, he was apparently torn to shreds by wild animals. he would not risk the death of this one, it would be too much for him to handle. Killing joseph did not soften their father’s heart towards them, their father just found a new favorite. the work of God on their heart was that they accepted this and moved on.

FCF: It’s hard to trust, when there’s so much unknown

the ten brothers come into the presence of the governor of the land, who is secretly their long lost brother who for all they knew was dead to them. Joseph recognizes them and is given a choice as to what to do. The first option is destroy them for what they did to him. they ruined his life, and for all he knows they killed his little brother too. the penalty for man stealing in the law is death and almost all present were guilty of this terrible crime. Everyone in Egypt who heard this story would have called him just for destroying these men that God put into his hands and had he done so he would have completely cut off all ties to the past. He would be a part of the ruling elite of the most powerful nation on earth! And yet, Joseph does not do this, but instead contrives to reunite with his family. Why is that? It’s because in his heart, Joseph is not an egyptian. Joseph is a Hebrew and an heir of the promises of Abraham! He will never throw away those promises for something so cheap as earthly wealth and power. God has promised him an induring inheritance and he trusts that God will keep his promises.
So how does Joseph regain access to these promises? By pursuing reconciliation with the brothers who rejected him, beat him, destroyed his life and tore him from the father he loved. Joseph can only be brought back into God’s special family, by forgiving the ones who killed him. Joseph had faith that God’s promises to his family, were worth such a huge sacrifice.
The same is true for us today. the issue of church discipline can be dealt with in another sermon, but i want to talk about what’s going on in your heart. When we don’t forgive our brothers and sisters who wrong us, we are not casting them out of the family of God, that judgement belongs to God and to God alone. But Jesus says in we are casting ourselves out of God’s family and therefore cutting ourselves off from God’s promises. Is harboring your resentment worth being cut off from the promise of eternal life? It was not worth it for Joseph, and if you believe that God is real, it should not be worth it for you.
Forgiveness is not easy. forgiveness feels like death sometimes. Often it is not so easy a matter as to just say the words “I forgive you.” there’s a lot of hard work that has to be done in order for it to be real in your heart. We don’t get to see how Joseph worked through the pain of the betrayal of his brothers, but we do see the end result of it. he had twenty years to do so.
If you are harboring resentment towards another believer here are a few helpful steps that might help you work through it. These are not things that can be done alone but it may be helpful to confess your bitterness to a brother or sister. not in such a way as to be a time of gossip, that feeds bitterness, we are trying to destroy it. but find someone who will push you to take the next step.
One first step towards forgiveness is surrenduring judgment of that person to God. The Lord says that vengeance belongs to him. do you trust that he is the just judge who knows right from wrong better than we do? Do you trust that he is powerful and able to exact justice in a much better and more satisfying way than you could ever imagine? God’s judgement is much more thorough than yours is, so leave it to him. But be warned, when we surrender judgement to God, we cannot even continue to judge in our own hearts. surrenduring involves silencing bitterness by saying, the Lord is taking care of that, i don’t have to. it does not involved picturing in your heart your enemy burning in hell. that judgement doesn’t belong to you
This is not where you are called to stay. the next step is praying for your enemies. this involves more than a vague prayer to bless so and so, but asking for specific ways to bless the person who wronged you. this not only surrenders judgment to God, but it asks them not to judge your enemy. it may mean when you think of them, praying that they find 20 leva that they didn’t expect. it may mean that when you here they are sick, taking the time to pray specifically that they would feel better knowing full well that our God is a healer and can heal them. it means praying that they would be happy and have fulfilling relationships. and most of all it means praying that you will get to spend eternity with them. God uses these prayers to grow love in your heart for your enemy.
Only when you have surrendered bitterness and hatred can real reconciliation happen. this may mean letting go of something that might not have been as big an offense as you once thought it to be, or it might mean confronting someone and telling them how they hurt you if they have not come to you first. If you have already said you have forgiven someone but were still harboring bitterness in your heart, you don’t need to forgive them again, that’s already been done. but it may mean that you need to go to them and confess your sin of unforgiveness. they may or may not repent. they may or may not be someone you can trust as fully as you once did. But we are not trying to pretend like nothing ever happened. the damage that Joseph’s brothers did could never be undone, and i doubt he ever asked them to babysit his kids for him. But steps were taken to be a family once more because only then, can Joseph be a part of God’s family.
So Joseph was in power and ten of his brothers bowed before him. This recalled to Joseph’s mind his dream he had more than 20 years before. but something was missing! in his dreams all 11 brothers bowed before him, and his parents as well. Was this what that dream was referring to? Was his father still alive? What about his brother? Had they destroyed him too? Joseph in his heart had begun to reconcile himself to his family but steps had to be taken to complete the work. He was in a place of power over them, he could not trust an honest answer if he were to reveal himself right away, thus he contrived to create a crisis and reveal their hearts in a stressful situation. he accused them of being spies and demanded that they prove their honesty by bringing the last brother to him
Joseph in his heart had begun to reconcile himself What were the steps that Joseph took to reconcile himself to his family? He was in a place of power over them, he could not trust an honest answer if he were to reveal himself right away
ask again, what does faith look like when they future is uncertain?

Joseph’s faith looked like forgiveness

but Joseph is not the only character in this story who excercised faith, what did faith look like for Jacob?
let’s read ,
Jacob does not seem much like a good model for faith in this chapter. When the brothers come home he cries out in despair that Joseph is dead, and now Simeon is as good as dead rotting in the prison of a power hungry despot, and he refused to put his most beloved son in harms way to save him, even with Rueben’s guarrantee of safety. Simeon is dead, and there was no point in Jacob’s eyes in sacrificing his most beloved son to save him.
You can see where Jacob is coming from when he proclaims how all this has come against him. He had the promises of God saying that he would be made into a great nation, but he has passed through more terrible suffering than many of us have. His daughter was raped, his most beloved wife died in childbirth, his most beloved son was torn apart by wild animals, and now another of his sons was probably dead in Egypt. he had the promises of God, but what good are God’s promises if they can’t save his family! He had to protect Benjamin at all costs, because it didn’t seem like God was interested in keeping the people that he loved alive. For Jacob he was willing to trust the promises of God enough to move wherever God told him to go, and to get rid of all foreign gods from his family, but for all he could tell, God’s blessing stopped at the grave. Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he was so certain that God’s promises were true that God would raise Isaac from the dead. Jacob was not willing to risk Benjamin because he didn’t think God’s promises extended that far. He would leave Simeon to die and wait out the famine, hopefully they would never have to go to Egypt again.
It’s hard to believe God’s promises when they involve the death of someone that we love. For Ruthie and I this is not our first pregnancy. about this time last year we had a miscarriage at 8 weeks. it was the first sad thing that had ever happened to us. When we got pregnant again, we were terrified. Could we handle it if our second baby died? So we pray and pray that God would protect her. And so far he has! Our baby is perfectly fine and healthy and everything is proceeding smoothly. And yet we are still unduly afraid anytime something strange is happening and we cry out God please protect our baby! And I still am afraid What am i asking God for in that moment? I’m not asking for protection, I’m asking for perfect knowledge that the baby will be born healthy and everything will be ok. And do you know how God responds to that prayer? he says no. he does not tell me what the future holds. What he tells me to do is trust his promises. His promises are that no matter what happens, even if death is on the other, God will protect me and my family. Even my first baby is safe in his hands. We are not comforted by knowledge, we are not God and can’t know what will happen. We are comforted by faith that our God is the kind of God who keeps his promises.
Jacob had yet to trust in the God of life who can even raise the dead so it wasn’t until he was forced by the threat of starvation to send Benjamin with his brothers to buy food in Egypt. and even then it was only with the promise of Jacob that he was willing to send him.
SO what was the difference between Judah’s garrantee and Rueben’s? Reuben gave an extravagant promise that he would let Jacob kill his two sons if he didn’t bring Benjamin back. But what grandfather would kill his grandsons? Jacob would be forced to forgive Reuben even if he failed because he could not carry out his promise. Though reuben gave a grand promise, in reality he was promising nothing. But Judah on the other hand. he promised that if he did not bring Benjamin back, no matter what, he would bear the blame forever. Remember that so far in the book of Genesis, the patriarchs passed the covenant blessing of God down from father to son at the end of their lives. Judah is saying that if he does not bring Benjamin back, he will not expect the covenant blessing but the curse of God on him and his descendants forever. He would be cut off from all the blessings of God. With these as the stakes, Jacob knew that Judah would do whatever it took to bring Benjamin back.
In response Jacob does whatever he can to make sure their journey is a success by preparing a gift to placate this crazy despot who had kidnapped his son and he offers this desperate prayer of faith from teh pits of despair. may God almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and benjamin. and as for me, if i am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. Sometimes this desperate prayer is the only prayer we can offer. But little did Jacob know how fully God can answer his prayer, because Simeon would not be the only brother raised from the dead in his eyes.
Jesus says that if we have faith like a mustard seed we can say to the mountains be moved and they will be tossed into the sea. Jacob did not have strong faith in this moment. He was forced to do something that terrified him by his circumstnaces and he called out to God to protect him and his family. and God heard his prayer and he answered him more abundantly than he could ever imagine. And God hears your desperate prayers. the prayers you make when you have no where else to turn! And he will answer them in his time! So trust the promises of God, that hi blessings for his people are so secure that even if we only recieve them on the other side of the grave, he will more than make up forever whatever we can lose for his sake. Though Jacob and his family had experienced tremendous suffering as a result of their own sin, and the sins of those around them, God had not cast them off, but he was still working to keep the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But he does not tell us how he will answer them. Cry out to God, and trust that he hears you
So what does faith look like when the future is uncertain?

Jacob’s faith looked like desperate prayer

and so Jacob’s sons went back to Egypt and all 11 were ushured into presence of Joseph. and We will finish this morning with the image of how God keeps his promises, because all 11 of Joseph’s brothers prostrated themselves before Joseph. fulfilling the prophecy made twenty years before. The brothers said among themselves: let us kill him, and then we will see what becomes of his dreams. Even death can’t stop the plans of God!

Faith looks like trusting God’s promises, even when they seem impossible.

Christ himself was prophesied to rule over God’s people, just like Joseph over his brothers. Yet he was rejected by God’s people, they beat him, mocked him, and hung him on the cross to die. Even his father forsook him in that moment. Unlike Joseph, he did nothing to deserve their abuse, but suffered quietly, trusting that God would keep his promise to him. And through his death, many people were saved, and through his resurrection, we can be part of the family of God and recieve his inheritance. God’s promises are so sure, that they even transcend death! Will you be a part of God’s family?
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