A Study of the Doctrine of Providence Pt 10 Governing Providence: A Case Study
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Governing Providence- God guides and governs all events, including the free acts of men and their external circumstances, and directs all things to their appointed ends for His glory.
What Does the Bible Say?
What Does the Bible Say?
Genesis 39
Genesis 39
God in His providence, may allow us to be falsely accused and unjustly maligned
God in His providence, may allow us to be falsely accused and unjustly maligned
God, in His providence, gives us favor with those of His choosing
God, in His providence, gives us favor with those of His choosing
Genesis 40
Genesis 40
God, in His providence, gifts us to minister to others
God, in His providence, gifts us to minister to others
God, in His providence, allows our suffering to be prolonged, our gifts and abilities to go unnoticed, our deeds to be forgotten, sometimes for a long time.
God, in His providence, allows our suffering to be prolonged, our gifts and abilities to go unnoticed, our deeds to be forgotten, sometimes for a long time.
Genesis 41
Genesis 41
After two full years God is finally ready for Joseph to be released. God did not keep Joseph in that cell a moment longer than was necessary!
9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today.
14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.
God, in His providence, causes us to be remembered and recognized in His timing, and lifts us to minister to others.
God, in His providence, causes us to be remembered and recognized in His timing, and lifts us to minister to others.
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37 This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. 38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. 40 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.” 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 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. 43 And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.
Let’s back up for a moment and look at Joseph’s life thus far through a wide lens. How old was Joseph when the story began in chapter 37? 17 year old.
God gave Joseph some dreams and what did God communicate in that revelation? What kind of life was Joseph destined for? Ruler of the most powerful nation in the world.
Was 17 year old Joseph ready to be vaulted to such a high destiny all at once?
What was God’s plan for getting Joseph ready for rule? What it a gradual series of steps up?
God’s plan for preparing Joseph was actually a gradual series of steps down!
Hated by his brothers
Nearly murdered but cast into a pit instead
Sold into slavery in a foreign land
Falsely accused and imprisoned
Forgotten two more years in prison
ONLY then, was he finally vaulted to the throne of Egypt
How do we tend to see each downward step in our lives? Delays, detours, rerouting
How does God see them? Each apparent downward step, each seeming delay, is actually the most direct and necessary step toward the place of God’s purpose and appointment.
Have you ever played the game of Monopoly? Do you enjoy it? I can’t stand it! I call it “Monotony.” Why? It takes forever right?
What is your perspective of the game board when you play Monopoly? You have a top down, bird’s-eye view of the whole board, you know when it is going to be your turn, and about how long it will take to be your turn again. It might still be a long game, but it is usually bearable.
Now imagine that instead of a player you are one of the pieces on that board. What is your favorite piece? In real life what kind of perspective do we have? The player or the piece’s perspective?
We work our way slowly from square to square, landing on “INCOME TAX” or “LUXURY TAX” or “GO TO JAIL” (Joseph did anyway). And there we are spending an unknown amount of time waiting for our turn to move again so that we can get somewhere. Only our squares say things like, “FINISH SCHOOL” or “PAY OFF BILLS” or “WORK TWO JOBS” or “NO MARRIAGE YET” or “SERIOUS ILLNESS.” There is one other significant difference. Monopoly boards have “CHANCE” squares, but life’s boards have what else instead? “PROVIDENCE” squares!
And God is the one moving us! He sees all our downward steps as the necessary movements of His child in exactly the right direction all the way along. And He is NOT ROLLING DICE!!
There was no other route that would have led 17 year old Joseph to a thirty-year-old man fully prepared to rule the throne of Egypt. God knew exactly the down-ward path that Joseph had to take!
And we can’t forget this part of the process too- everything that happened to Joseph (good or bad) happened because he consistently resisted sin and temptation!
God weaves delays in the patter of our lives for our ultimate good. Time is only a worry to us. It never has been to God. We must learn to rest in Him, walk with Him, obey Him, and cultivate contentment wherever His Hand has put us.
What we call delays God calls opportunities to effect our spiritual maturity.
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Delays are God’s opportunities to complete our preparation. Joseph was not ready for the throne with its enormous responsibilities until he was done with Third Year Prison Classes.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Delays and afflictions are to God our preparation so that He can lift us up at the proper time to minister to others.
What do we do in the mean time? What should we do during a delay? Learn to wait on the Lord, learn the secret of contentment, continue to faithfully obey His commands.
Genesis 42-44
Genesis 42-44
God, in His providence, may allow His own people to suffer need
God, in His providence, may allow His own people to suffer need
2 And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.”
What does the end of v. 2 (that we may live and not die) suggest about their situation?
“It is corrupt-minded and truth-depraved men who preach the health-and-wealth gospel that godliness and gain go hand in hand.”
5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
God must often use a material crisis to get our attention so that He can then redirect that attention to our deeper spiritual need.
How long had Joseph’s brothers squelched their unquieted memories? 17 years
God, in His providence, causes us to face the consequences of our sins and actions
God, in His providence, causes us to face the consequences of our sins and actions
What is God causing the brothers to realize in these verses?
21 Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
They identified the deed that has triggered their predicament.
28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”
Acknowledge that God is dealing with them.
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11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city. 14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?”
16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.”
Confess the iniquity of their deed.
God, in His providence, can effect a total transformation of character, though it be years later.
God, in His providence, can effect a total transformation of character, though it be years later.
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30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
What is the mark of genuine and humble repentance? It is not merely admission of guilt. It is also a willingness to submit to whatever consequences God deems appropriate.
Can you see a supernatural transformation in the lives of Joseph’s brothers?
Genesis 45, 50
Genesis 45, 50
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Genesis 45:4–8 (ESV)
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.
Did you hear in the repetition of Joseph his understanding of the providence of God?
18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
What is significant about this verse?
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.
1 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
Psalm 105:16–19 (ESV)
16 When HE summoned a famine on the land and (HE) broke all supply of bread,
17 HE had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19 until what he had said came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.
A Look in the Mirror
A Look in the Mirror
What is your natural reaction to hatred, betrayal, and neglect?
How would you feel if you had Joseph’s brothers?
More importantly, how would you feel about God?
How much revelation did Joseph have on which to base his understanding and interpretation of His circumstances?
Yet how did Joseph respond?
How much revelation about God do we have? How do we respond to similar kinds of injustices?
If you ever feel unfairly treated, unjustly maligned, wrongly accused, ungratefully forgotten—compare your experience to Joseph’s.
Measure your response to his.
C.S. Lewis once said this, “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”
God’s best may sometimes be painful. But by eternal standards our affliction is light and momentary!
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
How do we measure our present affliction by those eternal standards?
18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.