Will God Forsake You? Just Ask Joseph

I marvel at how God arranged His holy book. He could have just listed the important facts we need to know and it would have thrilled our souls, but in His divine wisdom He chose to reveal the facts and then emphasize them in amazing ways so that we would never forget. This week’s bulletin article is the first of two articles to show this.

God, who cannot lie (Titus 1:2), has promised His children He would always be with them. David was assured that God’s protection would be with him both day and night and that his Protector would never slumber (Ps. 121:3,6). Jesus told the apostles, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20).  The writer of Hebrews states this truth in these words, “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5).

God not only expressed this truth, but He illustrated it again and again as He cared for His people. The truth is that God’s unchanging nature is that He will never leave us nor forsake us. This truth is emphasized in the amazing story of Joseph’s life.

At a very young age God began to work in the life of Joseph. The dream Joseph had of his brothers, sheaves bowing down to his sheaf, and the dream of the sun, moon and stars bowing to him did not originate in Joseph’s mind. They were messages placed there by God. They immediately brought trouble into his life because his brothers hated him (Gen. 37:8). They mocked him and gave him the nickname, Dreamer (37:19). They plotted to kill him and would have done this had Reuben not intervened. Stripped of his coat of many colors he was cast into a pit, then sold into slavery. Because you know the rest of the story you know that God was with him throughout all of this, but one wonders what Joseph must have thought.

God was with Joseph when he arrived in Egypt and was bought by Potiphar. Moses wrote, “The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian” (Gen. 39:2). It is hard to imagine what emotions might have characterized that teenager who had gone from being his father’s favorite to being a household servant, but one does not have to imagine where God was! He was there with Joseph.

This is His nature. He cannot forsake those who love Him. Even when we may question His presence, He is still with us! (We will continue this study next week).

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More Evidence that God will not Forsake You – Just Ask Joseph

The next time you read Genesis take time to notice how God was always with Joseph. Look at the following list of all the times God was with him. He was with him:

¨ When his dreams were misunderstood, yet later proved to be right.

¨ When he receive a coat of many colors and he didn’t ask for it—and the coat became a source of trouble.

¨ When his brothers talked about killing him.

¨ When his brothers put him in a pit with no intention of ever releasing him.

¨ When he was sold by his brothers for only 20 pieces of sliver.

¨ When he became a servant in Egypt, where he went from being a favorite son to being a common slave.

¨ When his father did not come immediately to buy him back.

¨ When he stood for right, refused the advances of an evil woman and got in trouble.

¨ When he was in prison where we are reminded “God was with him” (Gen. 39:2, 3, 21, 23).

¨ When he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s baker and cupbearer.

¨ When the cupbearer forgot to keep his promise to remember Joseph when he returned to the palace.

¨ When years later he stood before Pharaoh. He had been in Egypt 13 years, yet His faith was still strong.

¨ When his brothers first came and he hid his identity from them.

¨ When his brothers returned.

¨ When he used wisdom in dealing so wisely with his brothers.

¨ When he revealed himself to his brothers.

¨ When he first saw his father.

¨ When Goshen became the Israelites’ land.

¨ When his father blessed his sons.

¨ When his father died.

¨ When he returned to Egypt after burying his father.

¨ When he asked for his bones to be some day returned to the promised land.

Child of God, take time to meditate of God’s promise to never forsake us and how His providence is illustrated in Joseph’s life. Then take time to see His presence in your life. God, who cannot lie, will always be with you!

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God Waited Two Years Before He Answered Prayers

If there is any truth affirmed in the Bible, one of those truths must be this one—God answers our prayers. Before Jesus left the earth He told His disciples, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you” (John 16:23). The apostle John heard Jesus say these words, obviously practiced them and years later affirmed, “Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).

Sometimes we fail to appreciate these truths because we think we know precisely how God should answer our prayers and precisely when He should do it. To help us understand these matters better consider the following illustration.

When Paul was headed to Jerusalem to deliver to the Jewish congregations those contributions made by the Gentile churches, he met with the elders from Ephesus. He told them that as he had traveled toward the holy city, time and again, prophets had foretold what would happen. He said, “The Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me” (Acts 20:23).

At this same time he wrote to the church at Rome and told them of his plans. “Now I am going to Jerusalem to minister to the saints….When I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain” (Rom. 15:23,28). Yet there was this problem. How could chains and tribulations await him, and at the same time he promised the Romans he would come to see them. The answer lies in looking at what he added in his comments to Rome. “I beg you, brethren,…that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me…That I may come to you with joy by the will of God” (Rom. 15:30-32).

So both Paul and the Roman Christians were praying that he some how might go to Jerusalem and come to Rome. Now God answers prayers, but often not in the “how” or “when” we think. You know the story. Paul went to Jerusalem and was arrested and spent more than two years as a prisoner (Acts 24:27) before he arrived in Rome. God answered those prayers in God’s own way.

So the next time you are praying about a matter and you cannot see God moving to answer you, just remember that we simply are unable to understand precisely how or when He will keep His promise.

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When Others are Gossiping about You

Have you ever had an experience like this? In the midst of a conversation the person you are talking to says something like this, “Well, I may have said something I should not have said, but have you heard what they have been saying about me?” Responding to what others are saying about us is a major problem each of us faces. We may be entirely innocent, but they simply will not stop running us down. We take it for a while, then we become fed up with their actions and simply tell them off. How does God expect us to deal with this kind of situation?

Think for a moment about what the enemies of Jesus said or insinuated about Him. They accused Him of being a glutton (Matt. 11:19). They sought to destroy Him by charging Him with hanging around the wrong people (Matt. 9:11). Some said He drank excessively (Luke 7:34). The religious leaders really had a problem with Him and said His sin was blasphemy (Matt. 26:65). When His friends heard what He was saying, they said that He was crazy (Mark 3:21). His moral character was attacked by saying He was demon possessed (John 7:20). Finally, He was accused of treason (John 19:12).

Now I’m not sure what others have said about you, but I seriously doubt that it is anything as vile as what they said about Him or what they said to Him. It certainly appears that He “turned the other cheek” to those who smote Him with words. He seemed to practice what He taught about loving your enemies, blessing those who were cursing you and doing good to those who hated you and were persecuting you (Matt. 5:44).

Peter seems to say it best about how we should respond when others are gossiping about us. “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps . . . When He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered He did no threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 1:21-23). Here’s the key, it doesn’t matter what judgment others make of us, we simply leave the matter in the hands of Him who judges righteously.

So the next time you are hurting and situations seem out of your control, think about how little control the Master had about what others were saying about Him and what He did. There is a place for wrath, but it is not in your heart! Remember who said, “Vengeance is Mine I will repay,” and remember that He will!

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Three Simple Truths

We have just finished a remarkable Leadership Training Camp with some remarkable young people. This past Sunday our young ladies spoke to a ladies class and our young men spoke at our Sunday morning auditorium class and at our worship. It was thrilling to see the progress being made by each of them. Brayden Gilles challenged us to be more fruitful and I would like to share with you three comments from his lesson.

“It’s not very hard to bring someone to church, just ask them.” At first glance this might not seem especially important until we consider that so many are not doing this now and so many more have never done it at all. Let me ask you, when was the last time you “just asked them”? Have you considered the worst thing they could say to you is that they are not interested. That line from the movie Field of Dreams, “If we build it they will come,” probably doesn’t apply to a church building, but Brayden was simply saying, “If we ask them, they will come.”

“That second of embarrassment can change their lives.” When I heard Brayden say these words I thought of the hesitancy we have in talking to others, and how our fear of rejection compares to the price others have paid. Remember that He left heaven, endured the extreme cruelty of men to change men’s lives. Our timidity is meaningless when compared to what He did. The end result also shows the foolishness of our fears and our failure to extend ourselves. Compare the fifteen seconds it takes for us to ask another to come with us to the eternity lying before them and us.

“You don’t have to go to Europe or South America to be a missionary. Just stay in your home town and reach out to others.” It frustrates me that we cannot see the truthfulness of these words. Another way of looking at being a missionary is to remember that mission work starts at your front door and extends around the world. Properly understood, every Christian is a missionary. You don’t have to go on a mission trip to do mission work. You are on a mission trip. The concept of “going on a trip” lasts about two weeks, the second concept lasts for a lifetime!

Thank you, Brayden, for touching our hearts. But this cannot end with having our hearts touched, we must take his words and make them an active part of our lives. Brayden taught the truth. It’s not hard. A few seconds effort can touch eternity. We all live in a mission field.

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