Fear Not, God Is With You

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“The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master.” Genesis 39:2

Main Readings: James 1 & Genesis 39

Supporting Readings: Genesis 40 & Genesis 41

The first instalment of the Joseph story last week reminded us; life rarely pans out the way we had hoped it would.

In fact, that’s where we left Joseph at the end of chapter 38 – we imagined him wondering to himself how he had wound up sold into Egypt as a common slave.

Now if we cast our minds back, we’ll remember that he had been his father’s favourite son. He’d been given a special coat as a sign of his dad’s special favour. But he’d also been given dreams by God that elevated him in his family.

And the sum of all that favour was that his brothers couldn’t stand him. 

Jealousy and hatred actually ruled their minds and their hearts, and they had nothing good to say to or about Joseph. Such that in the end, they plotted to kill Joseph, and ended up selling him to traders on their way to Egypt.

That’s how Joseph went from the heights of his home in Hebron to the depths of Egypt. And how he went from the heights of favour to the depths of slavery in a few short months. Remember also that he was only 17 at the time!

As much as it left us wondering last time if Joseph despaired at his misfortune. We traced and tracked God’s movements in all the details of the first chapter, and we reminded ourselves that God is a sovereign mover. He has promised to work all things together for good unto them that love him – Romans 8:28. So in it we saw a bigger picture – but then we have the benefit of hindsight, Joseph didn’t.

Now, you’ll know, if you like a good Disney movie for example, that the arc of an exciting story starts cheerfully, descends into disaster, plunges down a bit further, and then rises like a phoenix from the flames in glory. And that’s the Joseph story in a nutshell.

The basic scenes of the story today are these: Joseph does really well in the house of his slave master, Potiphar. But out of nowhere he falls victim to baseless lies and finds himself banged up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. 

But he does well in prison too, only to be forgotten by the cup bearer, and end up spending two more years there. Finally, he does get remembered and massively impresses the king – Pharaoh. 

So much so, he gets put in charge of the whole land of Egypt. And in the climax ending, he saves the whole nation from starvation. It’s got intrigue, power, honour; glory, hope, deception - you name it, it’s got it.

As much as I like a good story though; I like them when they point to God even more. And the Joseph story does that in spades.

Joseph is a radical God-lover – even at 17 you can see that. And so, there’s not much in this story that doesn’t connect Joseph to God. 

And to me, there are four major themes that stand out and connect Joseph to God. And it’s through these four themes that I’d like to tell this next instalment of the Joseph story to you this morning.

My hope is that by telling it this way, you’ll be able to resonate with it in your own lives.

The first theme I’d like us to see is that Joseph experiences and understands God’s providence even in the middle of trials.

One of the great dangers of being doctrinal is not that doctrines are bad – and we should all be doctrinal - but it is when doctrines become disconnected from relationship with God.

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is a beautiful and God-honouring doctrine, but it’s cold until it becomes rooted in relationship with God.

And here, from the beginning of our passage, we can see that in spite of Joseph’s disconnection from his family. In spite of him being estranged from the family, God had chosen for himself – the family of Abraham. In spite of Joseph being in Egypt and not in Israel, God is not far from him!

Verse 2 tells us right up front – in case we might be doubting it, given everything that’s happened – ‘God was with Joseph’. And it’s because God was with him that he prospered under the Potiphar’s roof.

In fact, verse 3 says that the Lord was so with Joseph that ‘he gave him success in everything he did’. And that had a real knock-on effect because Potiphar thought to himself, ‘this is great! This slave I bought was a bargain – there’s nothing he can’t do. I can literally put him in charge of the whole house, and it will all be looked after well!’ And so, it was.

Now, I don’t think we should draw the conclusion from this that God will turn our trials into health and wealth prosperity – as much as we might like that. 

But what we can be sure of is that God is not disconnected from us in the trials of life, he’s right here with us. And, because that is true, he will cause us to prosper in the ways he can see are best for us – which for new covenant Christians is always that we grow more and more into the likeness of Jesus. 

The currency of our faith strengthens. The bonds of our hope deepen. The core of our reliance on him broadens.

He has promised he will never leave us or forsake us, and that is true, even in the depths of our trials.

The fact, that God was with Joseph when he was in Potiphar’s house, is no less the case when he ends up in prison. Again, we’re told that ‘God was with Joseph and that he showed him kindness and granted him favour in the eyes of the prison warden’ (verse 22).

God gave Joseph success in whatever was asked of him, so that the warden put him in charge of the whole prison.

The fact that God is sovereign is not in question, but what is also true is that God is for us in that sovereignty. When all is said and done, Joseph is still a thousand miles from home and still a slave in Egypt. But God demonstrates that he is with him and is for him where he is at.

One of the remarkable testimonies to me in recent weeks, despite the trials of these weeks, has been God’s clear and evident answers to some of my prayers. He has shown me that he is with me in spite of the difficulties. I’ve prayed specific prayers for specific time frames, and he has answered some of those in remarkable ways. So, I know this is true – he is sovereign, and, in his sovereignty, he is for me. What a comfort that is!

With Joseph what is amazing to see is the way in which God’s working for Joseph serves God’s bigger providential picture also. And I think you’ll find this encouraging.

It’s because God was with Joseph and gave him success in Potiphar’s house that he was in a position where Potiphar’s wife noticed him. And yet that particular turn of events winds him up in prison.

In fact, we could say, it’s because of God’s providential working that Joseph got bought by Potiphar - who was also the captain of the guard - so that when Joseph was sent to prison, he was sent to the place where the king’s prisoners were held and not some common prison. That’s what verse 20 reveals. 

If that hadn’t been so, Joseph wouldn’t have been remembered by the man who put the cup in Pharoah’s hand, and he never would have had his audience with Pharoah at all.

So, we see God’s purposeful sovereignty in every detail of Joseph’s life, but also in the even bigger story of God’s promises to Abraham - whose seed is Jesus of course.

In other words, it is not for us to say that God is not using our lives to special ends. In fact, we have to be confident that he’s doing something through us, otherwise, why would he have left us here in this spiritual Egypt called the ‘world’? 

Indeed, he would not. But rather, he has wise and mysterious plans for our lives many of which come through trials like Joseph’s did.

Even when it comes to Pharoah’s dreams, Joseph knows that it is God who has given Pharoah the dreams and by them shown him what he will do in the near future. 

Joseph says in verse 28, ‘God has revealed to Pharoah what he is about to do’. And then when Pharoah is looking for someone to appoint commissioner over the land, Joseph is right there in front of him – ‘one in whom is the spirit of God’ Pharoah says.

And so, Joseph winds up second in command of all Egypt and no less than saviour of the entire nation!

The lesson is, let’s be on the lookout for how God is working in and through this trial for good. Because when we do that, we see how great God is and we see that he is working for our benefit in it all.

Joseph saw God’s hand in it all which made choosing names for his kids quite easy it seems. Choosing names for the children seemed a lot harder for us – maybe because we hadn’t seen enough trials! I don’t know.

I sense Joseph had an easier time of it. You see, Joseph recognised what God had been doing in his life and that’s how he named the kids. Manasseh – ‘God has made me forget my trouble’. And Ephraim – ‘God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering’.

‘God had done it’, you see! So far as Joseph was concerned that’s how it was, and it had turned out for good in his eyes.

The second theme that connects God to Joseph is that of patience under trial. Joseph shows great long-suffering as he treads the path of suffering here.

Patience manifests itself in lots of ways, doesn’t it? Like watching cricket for example – I don’t have patience for watching cricket; others can sit there for hours watching ones and two’s being hit all afternoon, but that’s not me.

The difference with Jospeh is that in all the areas that he shows patience; there is honour in them.

He shows patience in the role of a slave in the house of Potiphar. It is not where he would have wanted to be, but that’s when impatience can really get us isn’t it? We want things to be different now and so we’ll even be tempted to use dishonourable means to get our way.

But Joseph got up every morning and went to work in Potiphar’s house. He did his work well and he worked hard with consistency. He displayed his patience in God’s plan for his life through honourable practice. And God blessed that.

Even as Potiphar’s wife came to seduce him, he might have thought to himself, ‘I’ve had nothing but trouble since I left to find my brothers, I think I deserve a bit of pleasure’ and given in to her advances. But he waited patiently and did the honourable thing before God.

He could have sat despondent in the prison knowing that he was completely innocent and that, yet again, God had put him prison just when he was starting to make progress.

He doesn’t do that. Again, he gets busy, working in the situation God has placed him. And when God put’s two of Pharoah’s servants in Joseph’s way and he finds them gloomy one morning, he’s not so consumed with his own problems that he hasn’t got attention to show them.

Looking not to our own interests only but to the interests of others, is an expression of patience – waiting for God’s good timing.

Even when Joseph is forgotten by the cup bearer and he has to spend two more years in prison - when Pharoah calls for him, his confidence and faith in God have not been shaken by the long wait. His first words to Pharoah are ‘I cannot interpret your dream, but God will give Pharoah the answer he desires’. That’s patience for you!

Put me in a dank cell for two years and see what my confidence in God looks like at the end of it. It won’t be pretty I’ll tell you!

So, patience under trial is a sign that Joseph is trusting God in all that’s happening to him. And I think we can seek to emulate that.

The third theme that connects God to Joseph here is Joseph’s commitment to God’s honour in the trial.

Trial is no basis for dishonouring God through sin or doubting his good plans - hard though they are. And Joseph models this for us beautifully.

His specific objection to the advances of Potiphar’s wife is that it would be sinning against God if he were to have her. 

Joseph’s of view of God is high and holy you see. And he won’t do that which would dishonour his God for a few moments of cheap pleasure.

In fact, he’s so valiant for the honour of God in the whole thing that even though she came to him ‘day after day’ it says, ‘he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her’. And I take that to mean that he made sure that he was a far away from temptation’s path as possible.

Trials can make us vulnerable to temptations, can’t they? It was like that for Jesus in the wilderness with hunger. And if you remember, it was God’s Word and the honour of God’s name that moved him to resist temptation.

Before prisoners and princes alike, Joseph honours God. He says to the baker and cup bearer ‘Do not interpretations belong to God?’ And when he could have taken the glory for himself - doing what Pharoah’s magicians and wise men could not - he said to Pharoah, ‘God has revealed to Pharoah what he is about to do’.

When God’s people honour God in their trials like this, it commends God to the godless. Godless Pharoah actually acknowledges that God has made all this known to Joseph.

The world often mocks Christians for their commitment to God as a convenient comfort, doesn’t it? But commitment to God’s honour in the face of trials can be a powerful testimony to unbelievers that God is real and not just a comfortable idea for good times. We’re Christians in both the good times and the challenging ones.

The final theme that connects Joseph to God here is the that of faithfulness to the call of God as the goal of the trial.

All of God’s purposes in our lives are working to accomplish something – they are not for nothing. And so, it is here too.

The threat looming large on the horizon was a famine so great it would have wiped out all of Egypt and the surrounding nations.

Chapter 47 gives a good flavour of how bad the famine was: ‘there was no food…in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine’. 

And as a result, Joseph collected money from the people until they ran out of money. Then he collected livestock from the people until the livestock ran out. He then collected property from them until they sold him even their own freedom. And still they said, ‘you have saved our lives…may we find favour in the eyes of the Lord’.

If you remember, the dreams Pharoah had were one of cows and one of grain. And they were God’s way of telling Pharoah that he would send 7 years of plenty before 7 years of dreadful famine.

And God put Joseph in just the right place, at just the right time, to execute God’s plan of rescue. You see without Joseph, all of Egypt would have perished and most of the surrounding nations as well.

The land management plan that Joseph came up with was cleaver – a fifth collected here, grain stores erected over there in each city, and so on. But the principle was really very simple: save during the abundance so that you can supply during the famine.

And you can’t help seeing how that principle would serve us all very well in our spiritual lives if we employed carefully what Joseph did for Egypt.

You see, it was only as Jesus had stored up in his mind and in his heart a warehouse of God’s word that it was available to him in his time of greatest need. And we would all cope so much better – honour God more, be more patient, understand his providential ways better – if we, like Jesus, stored up in less trying times a stockpile of God’s promises and words, ready for the more trying times.

The main point though is that God had a rescue plan which he sent Joseph to execute in order to save many souls. God’s rescue plan was detailed, and it took a whole lot of cost at Joseph’s expense to bring it to completion.

And yet, when all was said and done, Joseph found himself exalted to the second highest place in the whole land of Egypt. Which is now the third time this had happened. It happened under Potiphar. It happened in the Prison. And now it happens in the Palace. Pharoah says, ‘you shall be in charge of my palace’.

So, now Joseph has Pharoah’s signet ring on his finger, robes of fine linen on his back, and a gold chain around his neck. All echoes of the dreams and the royal robe he had received back home. 

But if you’d said that was going to be the case a year or two earlier, no one would have believed it! Joseph was nothing but a slave and a prisoner back then.

So, what we see now are the similarities that exist between Joseph’s humiliation and Jesus’ humiliation, as spelt out in Philippians 2: ‘taking the very nature of a servant…he humbled himself becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross’.

But not just the humiliation, also the exaltation: ‘Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow’.

And there is no doubt who was sent on the greater mission to save – it was Jesus. 

About Joseph, it says in verse 57 of chapter 41, ‘all the world came to buy grain’.

And around about us there is a famine of the hearing of the word of God, and Jesus has come to this lost world to save anybody who would come to him for life.

Just as I imagine any well fed Egyptian after a visit to Joseph would have said to his starving friend, ‘there’s a man called Joseph who has food – go to him, buy, and eat’ – so we can say to our starving friends ‘there’s a man called Jesus (the god-man) who can save you from your desperate need – go to him, trust him, and live’.

So, as we close this second chapter in the life of Joseph, we’re reminded that behind every twist of his story - every betrayal, every injustice, every long and lonely day in the dark – was a God who was not absent, but always present. 

The God who led Joseph through the pit, and the prison, all the way to the palace is the same God who leads us. 

And just as Joseph’s trials were not wasted but woven into a far greater rescue story, so too our hardships are not aimless.

They are shaping us, preparing us, and positioning us to be part of God's saving purposes in the lives of others. 

And all to the glory of God.