CRCF””10-17-10
CRCF””11-15-09
When the Best Feels Like the Worst
Genesis 50:19-20
ME:
“Tough days. We all have them. Some are worse than others. Like the one the hard-hat employee reported on his accident form when he tried to be helpful: ”˜When I got to the building I found that the hurricane had knocked off some bricks around the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple of barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the damaged area, there were a lot of bricks left over. Then I went to the bottom and began releasing the line. Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was now much heavier than I was””and before I knew what was happening the barrel started coming down, jerking me up. I decided to hang on since I was too far off the ground by then to jump, and halfway up I met the barrel of bricks coming down fast. I received a hard blow on my shoulder. I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my fingers pinched and jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground hard, it burst its bottom, allowing the bricks to spill out. I was now heavier than the barrel. So I started down again at high speed. Halfway down I met the barrel coming up fast and received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on a pile of spilled bricks, getting several painful cuts and deep bruises. At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of my grip on the line. The barrel came down fast””giving me another blow on my head and putting me in the hospital. I respectfully request sick leave” (Swindoll, 22).
Thankfully, I”™ve never experienced anything quite like that! But I”™ve had days and seasons of life where it seemed like things couldn”™t get any worse.
“God, what are you doing?! And WHY?!”
WE:
Have YOU ever been there? Maybe some of you are there today? We ALL will most likely face times when we ask those questions. And here”™s what we need to get hold of so that we can weather those storms:
Everything in your life up till now is part of God”™s preparation for your future.
GOD:
The Bible tells us about a guy who had a tough life. But in the end, it was all for God”™s good purposes!
Did you know there are more chapters in the book of Genesis devoted to Joseph”™s life than there are to either Abraham, Isaac or Jacob?
I believe, along with Johnny Hunt, that it is because “there is no one in Scripture who is more like Christ in his PERSON and EXPERIENCES than Joseph”.
Everything in your life up till now is part of God”™s preparation for your future.
Genesis 50:19-20 (NLT)
But Joseph told them, ”˜Don”™t be afraid of me. Am I God, to judge and punish you? As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil. He brought me to the high position I have today so I could save the lives of many people.”™”
Everything in your life up till now is part of God”™s preparation for your future.
And we need to get hold of this so that we can keep perspective about life”™s trials and not miss God”™s purposes.
It all started at home . . .
Genesis 37:3-4, 8
Now Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day he gave Joseph a special gift””a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because of their father”™s partiality. They couldn”™t say a kind word to him . . . ”˜So you are going to be our king, are you?”™ his brothers taunted him. And they hated him all the more for his dream and what he had said.
The Pit
Genesis 37:23-24, 28
So when Joseph arrived, they pulled off his beautiful robe and threw him into the pit . . . So when the traders came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelite traders took him along to Egypt.”
Johnny Hunt: “God may often put us in places that look so wrong, so negative, yet it is there that He is guiding us and equipping us for some great future work . . . Sometimes God may lower our position and lessen our possessions so that He might strengthen our character.”
Rick Warren: “To mature your friendship, God will test it by periods of seeming separation””times when it feels as if he has abandoned or forgotten you . . . The situations that will stretch your faith the most will be those times when life falls apart and God is nowhere to be found.”
Potiphar”™s House
Genesis 39:1-2, 4-5
Now when Joseph arrived in Egypt with the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, a member of the personal staff of Pharoah, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was the captain of the palace guard. The Lord was with Joseph and blessed him greatly as he served in the home of his Egyptian master . . . Potiphar soon put Joseph in charge of his entire household and entrusted him with all his business dealings. From the day Joseph was put in charge, the Lord began to bless Potiphar for Joseph”™s sake.
Prison
Genesis 39:19-23
After hearing his wife”™s story, Potiphar was furious! He took Joseph and threw him into the prison where the king”™s prisoners were held. But the Lord was with Joseph there, too, and he granted Joseph favor with the chief jailer. Before long, the jailer put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The chief jailer had no more worries after that, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him, making everything run smoothly and successfully.
Johnny Hunt: “If God brought you to it, He will bring you through it.”
Pharoah”™s Right Hand Man
Genesis 41:39-40
Turning to Joseph, Pharoah said, ”˜Since God has revealed the meaning of the dreams to you, you are the wisest man in the land! I hereby appoint you to direct this project. You will manage my household and organize all my people. Only I will have a rank higher than yours.”™
YOU:
You must surrender to God”™s design for your life, because God”™s design IS the best possible life for you.
Proverbs 24:10
If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
“Faint”””“to give up”, lit., “to unstring your bow”
The strung bow is taut, it”™s ready for action, it”™s prepared and waiting to propel an arrow. But an unstrung bow? It”™s absolutely useless””just a piece of wood and a limp string!
Rick Warren: Regardless of circumstances and how you feel, hang on to God”™s unchanging character.
Especially, in light of the Cross!
Romans 8:32
Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won”™t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
You must surrender to God”™s design for your life, because God”™s design IS the best possible life for you.
1 Peter 5:6
So humble yourselves under the mighty power of Good, and in his good time he will honor you.
Johnny Hunt: “All the things that we rely on for comfort were missing in Joseph”™s life: home, country, family, friends, security, money, etc.”
“The presence of God does not depend upon the station of one”™s life, but the state of one”™s soul. The key to having the presence of God is to welcome it.”
“God”™s presence can make a prison a palace. On the other hand, God”™s absence can make a palace a prison.”
The important question is not “WHAT do I have?” or “WHERE am I?” but “WHO has me?”
You must surrender to God”™s design for your life, because God”™s design IS the best possible life for you.
Rick Warren: “Will you continue to love, trust, obey and worship God, even when you have no sense of his presence or visible evidence of his work in your life?”
Romans 8:28-30 (NLT)
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.
If God has a loving plan for us from eternity past that extends through this life into eternity future, then don”™t you reckon He”™s got today under control?
You must surrender to God”™s design for your life, because God”™s design IS the best possible life for you.
WE:
Can you imagine what our friends and coworkers, neighbors and other folks in the community would think if we really got hold of this and truly surrendered to God, believing that even the tough times were our Father”™s best for us?
God will show Himself to others through us most when trusting Him is the most unnatural!
I wish I could tell you that I trust and obey all that I”™ve preached this morning faithfully everyday””but I don”™t. I needed this message! But Robin””God has given her an amazing measure of faith to weather this storm. And He”™s using her to show His glory a whole lot these days.
Listen””he can do it in my life and yours too!
Celebration of the Lord”™s Supper
As we come to the Table this morning, this is a feast for the soul on the unchanging grace of God in Jesus Christ. And as you relish God”™s love and mercy and forgiveness through the sacrifice Jesus made, realize that if God did that for you He DOES have good purposes in your most difficult trials, and He WILL get you through it and He WILL get glory from it, if you”™ll only surrender.
–Preparation/Prayer