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He’s got the whole world…and you in His hands
Sermon 07
November 8th, 2009
How bad is the economy? Well, the economy is so bad that…I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail. I ordered a burger at McDonalds and the kid behind the counter asked, “Can you afford fries with that?” And McDonalds is now selling the “Quarter Ouncer.” If the bank returns your check marked "Insufficient Funds," you call the bank and ask if they mean "you" or "them.” Parents in Beverly Hills have fired their nannies and actually learned their children's names. The CEO of Wal-Mart now shops at Wal-Mart. A truckload of Americans was caught sneaking into Mexico. African television stations are showing “Sponsor an American Child” commercials and mothers in Ethiopia are telling their children, "Finish your meal! Don't you know there are starving children in the United States?" Motel Six won't leave the light on anymore. Bill Gates had to switch to dial up. Rapper 50 Cent changed his name to quarter. The highest-paying job in town is jury duty. And the number one sign that the economy is really bad is that this year instead of a coin toss at the beginning of the Super Bowl, they're going to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors."
Joking aside, our world seems to be reeling out of control. Iran is developing nuclear weapons. North Korea already has them. The situations in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to deteriorate. Swine flu is closing schools and is already responsible for the deaths of over 1000 Americans. It could develop into a worldwide pandemic. Massacres by deranged gunmen, like Fort Hood this past week, are not uncommon. Unemployment continues to escalate. It seems like our world is completely out of control.
In dark days Genesis 41 is a wonderful encouragement. It reminds us that God not only has His hands on our lives individually, He has the whole world in His hands and under His control. God is sovereign, He controls all of the events of our lives and all world events, Genesis 41:1-40 (p. 31). He has everything under His control. This chapter reminds us God has the whole world…and you and me in His hands.
It’s the turning point in the Joseph story, recording how Joseph came to power. The story began with Joseph’s brothers’ disbelief that he’d rule over them, so they sent him on a one way trip to Egypt. But in the end we see his dreams fulfilled (Genesis 45). At the center of all of this is Joseph’s coming to power in Egypt. When Joseph stood before Pharaoh the favor of God on his life and the destiny of God for him came into the sharpest focus. At the center of this dramatic moment the dialogue confirms that God was working behind the scenes in both the life of Joseph and world affairs. God is in control, even when it doesn’t look like He is. God is sovereign – He always has been, always is and always will be!
The events of Genesis 41 propel Joseph from the prison to the palace, from prison garb to royal gowns, from a slave to a prisoner to ruler over all Egypt. Pharaoh’s two dreams are recounted and upon learning of them, the king’s cupbearer remembers the Hebrew inmate who was an interpreter of dreams and whom he had promised to keep in mind. After Pharaoh retells his dreams to Joseph, Joseph interprets these dreams that forecast the coming seven years of plenty and seven years of famine. The divine insight that Joseph displays motivates Pharaoh to appoint him second in command of all Egypt. God uses a providential chain of events. The various strands of human experience now are so connected in such a way that the bits and pieces of the dream from thirteen years earlier begin to come together. God has the whole world…and you in His hands. If you’re taking notes…
1. For the believer, waiting though difficult, is never hopeless. Waiting, especially in suffering is so difficult. But as Chuck Swindoll writes, “There are benefits that only come through struggles.” Tozer observed, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.” No life evidences this truth more clearly than Joseph’s.
The chapter/verse divisions in our Bibles are not in the original manuscripts and are not inspired. This chapter break between Genesis 40 and 41 isn’t a good one. Genesis 40:23 ends with, “The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.” 41:1 picks up with, “When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream.” Two full years drag by, the cupbearer forgets Joseph. Our hero spends the entire time in prison. Seventy-two hours after Joseph’s interpretation of the cupbearer’s dream, he’s set free. Joseph eagerly waits, fully expecting his imminent release. Hours become days, which became weeks, which become months and years. Specifically, it’s 17,520 hours or 730 days or 104 weeks or 24 months we’re talking about here! No matter how you figure it, it adds up to a seemingly needless period of enforced and excruciating waiting.
What must get our attention is that during all of his suffering and waiting, not once do we read of Joseph slumping in depression or angrily bouncing accusations against God off the walls of his cell. He doesn’t bitterly blame his troubles on God, or even on those who have treated him so abominably. Instead, his attitude is one of graciousness, worship and trust.
Joseph is now thirty years old. Nearly half his life, thirteen years have been spent in either slavery or imprisonment, yet he’s achieved incredible emotional and spiritual maturity. Joseph is a man of godly character. He has waited and waited…and not grown weary of waiting. He’s been lied about but has not lied. He’s been gossiped about but has not gossiped. He’s been hated but has not hated. Through it all, he’s kept a steady perspective. His life has been God-centered rather than man-centered. He’s become a man of God.
How did he do it? Joseph fleshes out in living color that wonderful promise from Isaiah, “[God] will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in [God]. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal” (Is. 26:3-4).
Waiting is often God’s plan for us. It’s in waiting He burns away dross from our lives. And God’s timing is always flawless. Joseph is released from prison at just the right time so he could be at just the right place.
These two full years for Joseph were neither exciting nor eventful. But it only seems like nothing is happening because in reality a whole lot is happening. Events are occurring apart from our involvement. Furthermore, we’re being strengthened, matured and refined. In the waiting Joseph is being molded for greatness…and so are we. If we trust and wait, it’s not hopeless. Our rewards may not be like Joseph’s and be in this world, but they will come nonetheless. And Joseph’s greatest rewards were not before Pharaoh’s throne but before God’s. It’s in the routines of life that real gains are made, real joy is found, and the reality of God’s provision becomes most obvious. God works patience into us in the routine of our days.
Many Biblical heroes went through long periods of waiting. Abraham waited for decades to have the son God promised. Moses spent forty years leading Israel in circles before getting to the Promised Land and then God didn't let him go in! David spent years as a fugitive from King Saul. Many just like us never saw what they were waiting for. Hebrews 11:13 “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.”
Unlike Joseph, most believers do not see God’s promises fulfilled in their lives here on earth. They have to wait until they get Home. Warren Wiersbe wisely observes, “The ability to calm your soul and wait before God is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life. Our old nature is restless...the world around us is frantically in a hurry. But a restless heart usually leads to a reckless life.” God wants us to learn how to wait!
2. The nations cannot understand God’s purposes over the affairs of people. One wife asked her husband, “Shall we watch the six o’clock news and get indigestion or wait for the ten o’clock news and just have insomnia?” How is a believer to view a world in chaos?
John Maxwell shared that at the San Diego Padres baseball games, sometimes between innings, they put a little puzzle on the score board. It has the outline of a baseball player and a trivia question; you try to guess who the player is. They start off by filling in one piece of the puzzle, and it’s usually the bill of a ball cap. Nobody can figure out who it is; everybody’s trying to figure out who it is. As the pieces come together people start to talk. Excitement begins to mount. Why? They begin to see a face, and they’re beginning to hone in on who that baseball player is.
That’s the way it is with God. We usually only get a piece or two of the puzzle. Many of the things that happen to us cause us to just shake our heads and say, "I don’t understand. I don’t understand this in my life." But God knows exactly what He’s doing and has everything under His control.
The sovereignty of God is the underlying theme of Genesis 41. The economy of Egypt, in fact Egypt’s whole future is all subject to God’s will and plan. Scripture teaches that God raises up kings and sets them down (He does that for Presidents too). God controls the destinies of governments in accordance with His plans for His people. In this instance, He controlled Egypt’s life source, for it was God who determined that His wise servant would be the means of delivering Egypt.
A critical part of Genesis 41 are Pharaoh’s dreams. They provide God’s revelation of things to come, but they also signify something more. These dreams given by God, take the initiative away from Pharaoh. Pharaoh is the subject, not the object. He’s receiving messages, not generating them. Behind Joseph’s rise to power is the loss of Pharaoh’s power and initiative, as well as the impotency of his advisors. We find this same emphasis on the loss of power under God’s sovereign plan at the time of the Exodus, again in the book of Daniel, and later in the New Testament with King Herod, who couldn’t stop the birth of baby Jesus, and also with Pilate, who Jesus points out only had the power which was given to him by God.
To his credit Pharaoh doesn’t resist this revelation from God. Instead he recognizes that God was the source of wisdom. Because Pharaoh wisely submits to the more powerful Sovereign, his kingdom and lands are spared.
A modern example of this principle would be the many scientists who worked in America during World War II. Some were Jewish refugees from Europe. If these Jewish scientists had been allowed to stay in Germany, Hitler might have developed the atomic bomb before America. Man proposes but God disposes. That’s because…
a) God knows how to even get a pagan leader’s attention. What kind of nightmare would cause you to wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat? The Nile River was the backbone of the Egyptian economy. It had had been deified in Egyptian religion. The appearance of the cows from the river may have suggested to Pharaoh a close connection to the gods.
Pharaoh’s government was responsible for maintaining the irrigation of the Nile, distributing land grants, gathering taxes and storing grain. Despite the success of natural irrigation and human engineering, high and low Niles occurred, producing famine and its ill effects on Egyptian society. That’s why this nightmare really got Pharaoh’s attention. The potential wasn’t a recession or a depression, it was potential starvation and desolation.
Because of the Nile, the land of Egypt weathered famines fairly well. There was usually grain in Egypt. If there was grain, the livestock would flourish, and all life was well. These two dreams, repeating the same basic message of poverty and doom, struck at the soul of the Egyptian economy. Because of the Nile itself, the prosperity of the field and herd would cease.
Most people dream several times a night and well over 1000 times a year. The average dream lasts about thirty seconds. Pharaoh doesn’t just have dreams; these are direct revelations from God. Dreams generally have little significance in Scripture, with the exception of dreams in Genesis, Daniel and Matthew. The only dreams mentioned in the New Testament all occur in Matthew. They’re primarily warnings and announcements related to Christ’s birth, except the one of Pilate’s wife which concerned Jesus’ trial.
Dreams though play a significant role in Joseph’s story. They always come in pairs. Pharaoh has a petrifying pair that get his full attention.
b) Secular wise men have only limited answers, vs. 8. “In the morning [Pharaoh’s] mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.” Socrates once made the statement that he was the wisest of the Athenians. That shocked everybody because he was known to be a very humble man, so they asked him what he meant. And so he said something like this, "Well, there are a great many of the Athenians who think they know, and I know I do not know, I am the wisest of the Athenians."
This word “magicians” is an interesting word. It doesn’t mean magician like we think today. They were the wise men in Pharaoh’s court, highly educated and intellectually capable advisers. When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into the Greek for the Septuagint, the translators used a term that meant “men versed in the sacred writings.” In other words, these men were the highly skilled, wisest ones in the land. They spent their time deciphering everything from the Egyptian hieroglyphic texts to studying the movement of the stars in the heavens. Yet, as wise as they are, they can’t tell Pharaoh what his dream meant.
You have to admire their honesty. They could have, as other counselors did, made something up…but they didn’t. They candidly admit, “We don’t know what your dream means.” All of a sudden the light dawns on Pharaoh’s cupbearer, vss. 9-14.
Don’t you wish some of the “wise” people of our day would admit that they don’t have all the answers? I wish some Christians would acknowledge that too. Ours, foolishly, is a day when to acknowledge being stumped is looked upon as being stupid. But real stupidity is to blither on and on…when you really don’t know. It’s to loudly espouse opinions that have not been carefully thought out or tested. We need more wise men like these. Counselors who ultimately turn to God for real answers and admit that in spite of their gifts, they’re still dependent upon the Sovereign God.
3. God uses His servants to reveal His plan for the world. The Mayans have a prediction that the world will end on December 21st, 2012. If global warming advocates are right, we may only have another hundred years. But the world was supposed to also end in 2000 with the New Millennium. It was also predicted that the world would end in 2006, but it didn’t.
As Bible-believers, we know how this world will end, we just don’t know when. The Book of Revelation and a host of other passages are very clear that Planet Earth has an expiration date. The problem is that a lost world is not listening and unfortunately, too often, neither is the Church. That was not the case with Pharaoh. God has this monarch’s undivided attention.
After the cupbearer’s admission, Pharaoh immediately sends for Joseph. While the cupbearer should have kept his promise, God was behind his faulty memory. If Joseph had been released from prison two years earlier, he’d have headed home and not been in place to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams or be the savior of both Egypt and his own people. And in the cupbearer’s defense, bringing up the fact that he’d really ticked off the boss and had been thrown in jail for it wasn’t exactly the best way to get back in Pharaoh’s good graces. Please note that…
a) God’s servants give God all of the credit, vs. 16 “‘I cannot do it,’” Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “‘but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires’.” Joseph lives out the Biblical philosophy of, “I am a pencil in God’s hand. He does the writing. The pencil has nothing to do with it.”
What’s amazing is that after all Joseph has been through, the betrayal, being falsely accused, even being forgotten for two years – Joseph has never lost his faith and confidence in God. Wow!! The first words out of his mouth are “God, God, God.” He who is aware of God is both humble and fearless at the same time, knowing and publically acknowledging that even a king is nothing compared to God. Those whom God calls to special service must at some point inform an unbelieving world that any ability they possess comes from God. While they explain God’s revelation to the world, they must also confront the world with God.
Talk about a rush job…Joseph is hurriedly brought out of the dungeon, but he doesn’t face Pharaoh until he’d shaved and changed his clothes. This was not just “cleaning up,” which surely was needed; it was a cultural concession. To the Hebrews, a beard is a mark of dignity, but for the Egyptian it’s an offensive thing. Joseph took the time to shave himself so as not to unnecessarily offend the king of Egypt. God’s message is often offensive. Joseph, though, goes out of his way to make sure that the message was not rejected because the messenger was rejected. We need to be sensitive to that too. Sometimes it’s not our message that’s rejected by a lost world, it’s us.
And what an opportune moment for Joseph to capitalize upon! If his father, Jacob, had been in Joseph’s sandals, I believe things would have gone very differently. Jacob would likely have used the occasion to make a bargain with the king—his freedom for Pharaoh’s request. Jacob would have had a special on interpretations that week. At the very least he’d have made certain that Pharaoh understood the injustice of his present circumstances. “You see, Pharaoh, I would really like to help you with your problem, but my mind is so troubled with my unjust circumstances just now that I can’t think …”
As much as Joseph desired to be released from his captivity, he never brought up the subject. His first concern was not with his own comfort, but with God’s glory. The ability to interpret dreams, which Pharaoh had credited to Joseph, was not his at all. Only God can interpret dreams, Joseph quickly corrected. The young Hebrew slave’s words not only clarified the source of his ability, but they also seemed to give Pharaoh hope that the outcome of Joseph’s ministry to him would bring him comfort in his distress. With these words, Pharaoh eagerly repeats his dreams to Joseph, closing by confessing the inability of his most able counselors to give him any word of explanation.
It’s apparent that it never entered Joseph’s mind that he should be the one appointed over this massive project. Self-interest is not part of who he is. He also never mentions his unjust imprisonment. Furthermore, who could have conceived of a Hebrew slave being elevated to the second highest office in the land? Regardless of who was in charge, the plan would have to be followed in order to deal with the famine which was predicted.
b) God’s Word is always fulfilled, vs. 32 “The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.” The interpretation confronts Pharaoh with God's reality, Pharaoh is not sovereign. The statement in verse 28 conveys that God has (shown) or “caused Pharaoh to see what he (God) is about to do.” The verb form indicates that Pharaoh is incapable of seeing this on his own (or through the expertise of all of the wise men of Egypt). He is the recipient, not the cause! The other point of emphasis is that regardless of the level of abundance – and it will be significant – during the first seven years, the latter seven years will be extremely difficult. The abundance will be “forgotten” and the land “ravaged” (v. 30). The abundance “will not be remembered” and the famine will be “severe” (v. 31), literally grievous, heavy and hard. The word famine is repeated eight times to emphasize this. It’s going to be a horrible crisis. And the Egyptian downslide is coming fast! There is no time to lose. Joseph’s affirming that this was going to happen reminds us of Two Vital Principles we need to be reminded of:
Principle One: God is in control of the economy. He was in control in ancient Egypt and He’s in control today. We need to stop looking to Washington to bail us out and look instead to our Heavenly Father. We need to place the Lord first in every area of our lives. Cooperate with Him. Follow Biblical guidelines in employee, employer relationships and stewardship. We must stop divorcing what we do on Sundays from our workplaces and homes on Monday. There must be no distinction between secular and sacred, so that “Christ is all, and is in all” (Col. 3:11).
Like Joseph, God is with us whether we’re in the pit or the palace. How we conduct ourselves at work should evidence our desire to please God. We’re His servants and His display before a watching world. We’re living, breathing, walking examples of Christianity. Our pulpits are our everyday environments that we find ourselves in; our congregation is the world.
Principle Two: When God says something, we need to pay attention. God didn’t just give this dream once but twice. He sends two dreams to Pharaoh to show that He means business and that He means it now!
How many times has God warned our lost world of His coming judgment? Hundreds of times! How many times does God remind us that this world is not our home? Countless times! So are we listening, are we paying attention? Like Pharaoh, we can’t afford to ignore the message!
Sadly, this is a day when rather than letting God’s Word judge us, we with our puny minds have become the judges of God’s Word. That’s why there is so much confusion, even in the evangelical church, over whether the Bible is true and how far should we go in obeying it.
What a sad contrast to Joseph. He’d slept in the pit but soon would be sleeping in the palace – all because He believed God’s Word and trusted in God’s providence. And what an encouragement to us to know that whether we are in chains or in the king’s chariot, God is working all things out for His glory and our good! It’s that Biblical doctrine that will enable us to keep on an even keel in the midst of the storms of life!
c) God’s servants have both character and wisdom. It’s been said, "To look is one thing. To see what you look at is another. To understand what you see is a third. To learn from what you understand is still something else. But to act on what you learn is all that really matters." Joseph is a man of wisdom and wise action. Pharaoh rightly observes Joseph is both wise and has discernment (v. 39). Spurgeon said, “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”
Pharaoh would never have benefited from the interpretation without Joseph’s follow-up proposal. Joseph senses the importance of applying the revelation he had received, so he suggests a plan that is clear and straightforward, vss. 33-36.
Our world is enamored with appearance and personality but what Egypt needed was not a personality, but a person of honesty, integrity and character. One who was willing to take full responsibility for his actions. In our “pass the buck” culture, those are rare qualities indeed.
If Pharaoh hadn’t already observed Joseph’s wisdom and character, his plan would have come off as presumptuous. Who is this foreign prisoner to instruct Pharaoh? Why doesn’t Pharaoh have him dragged out and executed? But Pharaoh recognizes the wisdom in what this young Hebrew was saying. And why not? Joseph’s suggestion that Egypt store up 20% of the food produced in the good years is a great plan. Apparently, Joseph had done the math in such a way that Egypt would not only have enough food for its own people but also have a surplus to sell to surrounding nations.
The bottom line is that Joseph was telling Pharaoh to get ready for the future. Isn’t that the message our world needs today? Isn’t that the message each Christian needs today? Are we ready to meet God? Are we ready for the famine of God’s Word that is quickly coming and is already here?
It’s increasingly rare today to find even a Christian book that has real Biblical depth. That which is being preached in many churches is little more than spiritual cotton candy. Do we know the Book? Are we preparing for the days ahead? Are we preparing our children? In our neo-pagan world does it really matter if our children have a good education or athletic ability or even know how to make a living? No, while those things are important, what really matters is that they know God and His eternal Word!
4. God always rewards faithfulness, vss. 38-40. I’m so impressed with Joseph’s self-control. He doesn’t manipulate the situation or drop hints, he simply stood there and waited. Somehow in the loneliness of his recent years, abandoned and forgotten in prison, he’s learned to let the Lord have His way, in His time, for His purposes! Absent of selfish ambition, Joseph refuses to promote himself. How refreshing! How rare!
If God is in it, God will take care of it. God has our phone number. That’s precisely what happened here. God was in it and did it. Do you know what Pharaoh saw in Joseph? He saw God…He saw God’s man.
Are you faithfully serving the Lord? Are you becoming discouraged? God’s reward is not when your children are grown or when you retire. His reward is at the end of the age. God will never be a debtor to us! Like Joseph, He will reward our faithfulness more than we could imagine even in our wildest dreams.
Before we tie this up, I want you to see something very important. Too many believers do not realize that they are serving the Lord on their “real” job. Look again at who God used to bring about the deliverance of His people and do real ministry. Joseph is a bean counter, a paper shuffler, a desk jockey, a manager. Mark it down. God didn’t raise up a preacher, but an administrator to deliver His people from extinction. We need to be careful of categorizing occupations in such a way as to make some more spiritual than others. Every believer is a full-time minister in the Scriptures, but some are called to labor in one sphere while others are called to another. Spirituality is totally independent of one’s occupation. One’s job is a matter of both gift and calling, not of spirituality.
While I believe God elevated Joseph because he trusted in God and obeyed, I’m just as confident that Pharaoh elevated him because he was diligent and skillful in what he did. Piety without proficiency is folly. We praise God in our work as well as in our words. One without the other is useless. Joseph’s life is a commentary on the principle that: “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” (Luke 16:10). Joseph did nothing different in the palace than he did in Potiphar’s penthouse or in prison. In every instance Joseph used his God-given ability to faithfully administrate. While features of each job differed, the functions were the same. Joseph did well in Pharaoh’s palace because he’d done his work diligently and faithfully wherever he had been previously.
Conclusion: This episode Joseph’s life brings us to a vantage point from which we may look both backward and forward. Looking back, we realize Joseph’s elevation is not the result of some lucky break, but rather of a chain of painful but divinely purposed events. Had Joseph not said “No” to Mrs. Potiphar, and had not been unjustly cast into the dungeon with the cupbearer, he’d never have been recommended to the king. Then, if Joseph had not been hatefully treated by his brothers and sold into slavery, he’d never have been in Potiphar’s house. What a beautiful illustration of Romans 8:28! “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.”
Looking ahead, we see that the story does not end with chapter 42, for while Joseph is the principal character of this section, he’s not the sole object of God’s attention and activity. While there is a sense in which Joseph was blessed because of his faithfulness, there’s the even broader perspective that Joseph’s promotion was not for his own prosperity as much as for his brothers’ preservation, the very ones who had sold him into slavery. Joseph’s position of power and prosperity enabled him to become the “savior” of his family. And Joseph was completely willing, even after how they had treated him to be their savior.
While we must be humbled by the fact that while God cares for us as individuals, He often has a broader purpose for what He gives to us and the places He puts us. Spiritual gifts, for example, are not given for our own benefit as much as for the upbuilding of others. Our wealth isn’t given to us so we can accumulate lots of things, as much as that we can be channels of blessing for God’s Church. Our time is not given to us so that we use it in leisure pampering ourselves, as much as it is given to us to serve our Lord.
We also must be very careful too about using Joseph as a model in these matters of suffering and glory. Please stay with me because it’s vital that we understand this: Joseph is the exception not the norm. While in the ultimate sense, Joseph does illustrate the truth that suffering comes before glory and even prepares us for glory. The Christian life will be marked by suffering, as countless passages of Scripture inform us. We need to be very careful though that we do not view Joseph as a blank check promise that all who are faithful in suffering will be brought to glory and prosperity in this life. Perhaps this is best illustrated by a contrast between the lives of Joseph, who lived out these events, and Moses, who recorded them for us.
Joseph began in the land of Canaan and ended up in the land of Egypt with the nation of Israel under his care. Moses began in the land of Egypt and ended up in the land of Canaan with the nation of Israel under his care. Joseph began his life as a shepherd in the pastures of his father and was exalted to the palace of Pharaoh. Moses was taken as an infant into the palace of the Pharaoh, but became a shepherd among the flocks of his father-in-law.
Do you see how very differently God used these two men to accomplish His purposes? While it was necessary, in the purposes of God, to elevate Joseph from the pasture to the palace in order to save the people of God, it was also necessary for Moses to step down from the palace in order to lead the people of God out of bondage: “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen” (Hebrews 11:24-27).
This is the point. God’s purposes are not achieved through only one method or pattern. He raises some up, giving them power and prosperity, while He humbles others. We have no right to demand that God treat us just like He did Joseph, for He may choose to deal with us as He did Moses. Or, more likely, He may deal with us is some way that is entirely different from the way He directs either Joseph or Moses. My friend, Joseph’s life is no guarantee that faithful obedience will always leads to position, prosperity, and power in this life. One need only recall the life of Job to correct such shallow thinking.
This world is not our Home. God will reward us but it may not be at the end of the adversity, as it was with Joseph, but at the end of the Age. And then it will be beyond anything that we could even begin to imagine!
