July 10, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
Have you ever just sat back and marveled at how the Lord works in the lives of his people? Have you ever considered just how the Lord has orchestrates the events of history so that all things do, indeed, work out for the good of those who love the Lord their God? Though we may not always see it or understand exactly how the Lord does these things, we know that he is the one who is constantly working in the lives of his people. He is the one who led the Israelites to the Promised Land and carried them on Eagles wings as he brought them to himself. (Exodus 19:3) He is the one who saw to it that at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly so that we might be justified and declared not guilty by our God from whom we received reconciliation. (Romans 5:6-11) He is the one who provided the Apostles as his messengers and sent them out to proclaim the message of salvation (Matthew 10:1-8) Because they went preaching and teaching wherever Jesus sent them, that message of salvation was passed on from generation to generation until finally it came to you and you came to faith in the Lord your God who is constantly at work in your lives.
But the question still stands. Have you ever just sat back and marveled at how the Lord works in your lives? Though it is not always easy to see what the Lord is doing or what he is seeking to accomplish on a day to day basis, when we look back at our lives we can more easily see all that work that the Lord has done in our lives, and we can marvel at what he has done. Take for example Joseph. Though Joseph wasn’t able to see exactly how the Lord was working in his life until he hit certain milestones and looked back, from the Scriptures, we can see exactly how the Lord worked in Joseph’s life. We can see just how the Lord orchestrated different events in his life that were designed to prepare him to be the second in command of all Egypt, the reigning super power of the day. As Moses tells us in Genesis 41:44-44, “41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. 44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” (Genesis 41:41–44, NIV84) But before we get too far ahead of ourselves this morning, lets take a few steps back and start at the beginning of the story, so to speak, so that we might more fully marvel at how the Lord was at work in Joseph’s life.
Now, you may or may not remember Joseph’s birth, but he was the first born son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel. Of course he was born as the 11th of 12 sons. Though Benjamin was born to Rachel as number 12 not long after Joseph, Joseph was his father’s favorite son, as Moses tells us in Genesis 37:3-4, “3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. (Genesis 37:3–4, NIV84)
Not only did they hate him because he was the favorite son of their father, they hated him for his dreams. They hated him for his dreams of sheaves of grain; even the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him. They hated him for his dreams. They hated him for his robe. They hated him because he was the favored son. They hated him so much that when Joseph was 17 years old his brothers were willing to kill him, just to be rid of him. I’m sure you remember how it was. The brothers had taken the sheep up to Shechem and then up to Dothan (roughly 60 miles from home) for grazing and during the time they were away Joseph’s father decided to send Josef to check on them. But, as Moses tells us verse 18, “18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” 21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father…25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. (Genesis 37:18-22, 25–28, NIV84)
Though the brothers intended to harm Joseph and take his life, the Lord worked in his life to spare him. The Lord worked in his life through his brother Ruben and his brother Judah, to set in motion the events that would take place during the next 13 years; the events that would culminate in his becoming the second in command of all Egypt. Jump with me to Genesis 39 where Moses tells us, “1 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2 The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.” (Genesis 39:1–6, NIV84)
Though the Lord had given Joseph success in everything that he did, sadly, his position in Potiphar’s house was not to last, for we all remember the accusation that Potiphar’s wife made against him. We remember how Potiphar burned with anger when he heard the story his wife had told him of how Joseph was supposed to have tried to seduce her. Yet, here again we marvel at how the Lord worked in Joseph’s life. Though we know that Potiphar was angry, we are not told exactly why. It is possible that he was angry because he suspected that his wife was not telling him the truth and her lie was going to cost him an amazingly gifted, competent and conscientious business manager. A clue to this is the fact that in the ancient world for a slave to make such advances toward his master’s wife that slave would almost certainly find himself facing the death penalty. Yet this is not where Joseph found himself. It seems that because Potiphar could not publically humiliate his wife by ignoring her accusation, Potiphar led Joseph off to the King’s prison. Not a cell where he would await death nor a dungeon where he would simply be forgotten. Rather he was led off to the King’s prison—a prison where the king’s prisoners were confined; prisoners such as the chief baker and the chief cup bearer. Yet even in prison, the Lord was working in Joseph’s life. Take a look at the middle of verse 20: “But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. (Genesis 39:20–23, NIV84)
Instead of being in solitary confinement, Joseph was put in charge of the other prisoners, he had access to all the prisoners, and when the time was right the Lord introduced Joseph to the prisoner who would change his life as the Lord allowed Joseph to correctly interpret the dreams of the chief baker and the chief cup bearer. Though Joseph would have to wait in prison for two more years, when the time was right, the Lord brought Joseph before Pharaoh, the Lord allowed Joseph to correctly interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, and when Pharaoh heard Joseph’s solution to the coming famine, the Lord placed Joseph in charge of all Egypt as Pharaoh’s vizier; Pharaoh’s right hand man. Though the brothers intended to harm Joseph when they sold him into slavery, “it was to save lives that God sent [Joseph] ahead of [his brothers]” (Genesis 45:5, NIV 84)
Now, just think about this for a moment. Just think about how the Lord worked in the life of his servant Joseph. For 13 years Joseph dealt with all sorts of situations that were designed to prepare him for what the Lord had in store for him to do. But while Joseph was living it, he wasn’t able to see how the Lord was working in his life to prepare him for the future. He wasn’t able to see it until after he had passed through it. Only then was he able to look back and marvel at how the Lord had worked in his life. Sound familiar? How often hasn’t it happened that you have passed through some frustrating hardship, only to discover after it was over just how the Lord was at work in your life even in the midst of that hardship? How often haven’t you looked back on your life and recognized just how the Lord was working in your life as he moved you through one struggle or another, helping you to grow and stretch, as he prepared you for the next phase of your life?
Just think back to those days when you were teenagers. Do you remember that feeling that your life would never start? Do you remember that feeling that you would never get your shot? Do you remember wondering what the future would hold for you and how the Lord would work in your life? Though you really didn’t know exactly what the Lord had in store for you then, you can look back now and see just how the Lord was at work in your life. Even if you are currently a teenager or a young child, the same thing is as true for you. Though you may be wondering what the Lord has in store for your future, you can still look back and see just how the Lord has been at work in your life up to this very day. You can see how the Lord has led you through your lives so that you arrived at this very point at this very time. No matter what age you are at, you can do that very thing. You can look backward and marvel at how the Lord has been at work in your life leading you to this very point. Though you may even now be at a sort of cross roads in your life, or may find yourself facing struggles or hardships, you can take comfort in the fact that the Lord your God is at work in your life even now.
Though we may find ourselves like Joseph did, unable to understand why all these things were happening to him, we know that through the Lord’s work in our lives he is drawing us closer to himself, he is strengthening our faith, and he is preparing us for what is next to come. Just think about the work he has already accomplished in your life. He is the one who called you to faith through the waters of baptism. He is the one who taught you the precious truths of salvation through your parents, through your Pastor, through your Sunday School Teachers, and if you had the privilege, through your Lutheran Elementary School teachers. He is the one who has sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts who constantly reminds us of all that Jesus did for us and how he freed us from our sins by his death and resurrection from the dead. He is the one who shaped every single experience of our lives as he molded us and prepared us for the situation in which we find ourselves. Though we may not be able to see exactly how the Lord is using our present situation, be it the sluggish economy, the scarcity of the job market, the constantly changing gas prices, debts, payments, or whatever it is. Though we may not be able to see exactly how the Lord is using our present situation for our good, soon we will be able to sit back and marvel at what the Lord has accomplished in our lives, just as Joseph was able to do.
Though it is always difficult to see what the Lord is working to accomplish in our lives on a day to day basis, whenever we look backwards we are able to marvel at all that he has done. After all, he is the one who led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land carrying them on wings like an eagle. He is the one who went to work while we were still powerless and brought us to faith in the one who saved us. He is the one who prepared the Apostles and sent them out proclaiming the message of salvation. He is the one who orchestrated the events of Joseph’s life, preparing him for his position of power, and he is the one who causes us to marvel every time we consider just how the Lord has been at work in our lives.
Amen.
Pastor David M. Shilling
