So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. ‘Here comes that dreamer!’ they said to each other. ‘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.’ When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. ‘Let’s not take his life,’ he said. ‘Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.’ Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 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. Judah said to his brothers, ‘What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 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. 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. When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, ‘The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?’ Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, ‘We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.’ He recognized it and said, ‘It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.’ Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.’ So his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

-Genesis:37:17-36

My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?

-Genesis 39:9

When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, ‘This is how your slave treated me,’ he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.

-Genesis 39:19-20

  

Now, if you had been Joseph, would your bitterness decrease or increase?

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 39:23

‘We both had dreams,’ they answered, ‘but there is no one to interpret them.’ Then Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.’

-Genesis 40:8

Joseph still believes in God…and knows the power of God but is most probably struggling with God.

But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon.

-Genesis 40:14-15

The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

-Genesis 40:23

Everything that happened to Joseph happened before his 30th birthday.

  

Every one of us has been wounded, betrayed, or abused.

  

‘I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.’ 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.

-Genesis 41:42

But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

-Genesis 50: 19-21

  

Joseph asks one question and makes two powerful statements.

  

First: A Question: Am I in the place of God?

  

We understand the relationship between temporary pain and ultimate victory. How much more does God?

We must consider two things here:

• You have no idea how much evil God prevents every single day and how much evil He has prevented coming into your life.
• There is nothing God allows from which He cannot recover.

When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

-1 Corinthians 15:37

  

Second: A Statement:

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

-Genesis 50:20

Intended: Khaw-shab: To weave…

  

God wants to weave and plan to get Joseph to Egypt. Why?

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. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,…

-Romans 8:28-29

‘Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?’

-Matthew 12:25b-26

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

-Genesis 50:20

  

The Grand Weaver is always working to bring what men meant for evil into ultimate Good.

  

“God whisper to us in our pleasure. He shouts to us in our pain.” - C.S. Lewis

Think about what has been done to you. It will make you bitter or make you broken.

Bitter: Driven and controlled by what someone did.

  

Which is worse:

Temporary suffering or eternal separation from God?

“When God wants to drill a man,

And thrill a man,

And skill a man,

When God wants to mold a man

To play the noblest part;

When He yearns with all His heart

To create so great and bold a man

That all the world shall be amazed,

Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects

Whom He royally elects!

How He hammers him and hurts him,

And with mighty blows converts him

Into trial shapes of clay which

Only God understands;

While his tortured heart is crying

And he lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks

When his good He undertakes;

How He uses whom He chooses,

And with every purpose fuses him;

By every act induces him

To try His splendor out—

God knows what He’s about.”

—Anonymous

  

Third: A Result:

‘So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.’ And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

-Genesis 50:21

  

Joseph forgave them and wished them well. How was he able to do that?

Joseph was able to forgive because he realized that God had never abandoned him. God was most present during the most difficult times. He was taking what was meant for evil and using it for ultimate good.

  

Do you know what is going to help you forgive the one who offended you?

• When you see that you too have offended so many.
• When you see that God has forgiven you of so much.
• When you identify with the perpetrator and ask: What influences did this person have in his/her life that contributed to such dysfunction and evil?
• When you see how God used it all to bring about Ultimate Good?
• When you consider that maybe, just maybe, God allowed this into your life, to shape you, skill you, or even save you.

  

  Mary look up at Jesus on the Cross and speaks..

The soldiers stare, then drift away,

Young John finds nothing he can say,

The veil is rent; the deed is done;

And Mary holds her only son.

His limbs grow stiff; the night grows cold,

But naught can loose that mother’s hold.

Her gentle, anguished eyes seem blind,

Who knows what thoughts run through her mind?

Perhaps she thinks of last week’s palms,

With cheering thousands off’ring alms

Or dreams of Cana on the day

She nagged him till she got her way.

Her face shows grief but not despair,

Her head, though bowed, has faith to spare,

For even now she could suppose

His thorns might somehow yield a rose.

Her life with Him was full of signs

That God writes straight with crooked lines.

Dark clouds can hide the rising sun,

And all seem lost, when all is won!

—Jeremiah Denton, Easter 1969

  

  

  

  

What are you main takeaways from this message?

Make a Decision When Hell Was In Session by J.A. Denton