TRUSTING GOD … IN ALL OF LIFE

"After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s
burial. But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and
pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said. So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father
died, he instructed us to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in
treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph
received the message, he broke down and wept. Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph.
“Look, we are your slaves!” they said. But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you?
You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of
many people. No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by
speaking kindly to them." (Genesis 50:14-21, NLT)

(SLIDE 2)

INTRODUCTION

In Charles Schultz’s carton strip ‘Peanuts’ Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “Sometimes I get discouraged”. Charlie
philosophically responds “Well Lucy, life does have its ‘ups’ and ‘downs’ you know…” Lucy objects “But why? Why
should it? Why can’t my life be all ‘ups’? If I want all ‘ups’, why can’t I have them? Why can’t I move from one ‘up’ to
another ‘up’? Why can’t I just go from an ‘up’ to an ‘upper up’? I don’t want any ‘downs’! I want ‘ups’ and ‘ups’ and
‘ups’!”

Like Lucy sometimes we wish that life only consisted of good things. However the reality of life is that there are
difficulties, ranging from minor disappointments to major life changing tragedies. This often leaves us saying … why?
Where is God in all this? If we truly believe that God is working all things for our good, then one of the great
challenges is trusting God when the hard and painful experiences of life come crashing in on us. It is easy to trust
God when the sun is shining and all is going according to plan. It is another matter trusting God when the storm
clouds rage about us.

The Bible is filled with biographies and narratives about real life men and women who faced real life problems. The
amazing thing is that these characters are presented warts and all. There is no attempt to present these real life
heroes without flaws. Indeed often these flaws are highlight. For it is through facing, sometimes failing, that these
characters can teach us valuable lessons on trusting God as we face and overcome the difficult circumstances of life.
DL Moody put it this way …

“The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives” (DL Moody)

Paul confirms this when he says …

"Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and
encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled." (Romans 15:4, NLT)

Notice they have a dual purpose, to teach and to encourage! In view of this we are embarking on a new series of
messages entitled …

TRUSTING GOD

In this series, it is my prayer that as we week by week examine one of these Heroes of Scripture, Joseph, that we will
learn some important lessons about trusting God and that through applying God’s Principles to the difficulties of life
we will "despite all these things, (experience the) overwhelming victory (that) is ours through Christ, who loved us."
(Romans 8:37, NLT)

Have you ever felt that that life has dealt you a bad hand? Have others through no fault of your own caused you
trouble? Have you been rejected by family members? Has someone lied about you and it has been believed despite
your innocence? Has someone you called a friend double crossed you? Has someone failed to keep their end of an
agreement? Have you had to suffer because of the wrong doing of someone else?

If anyone knew what that felt like it was Joseph. Not only once but several times. Yet at the age of 49, following the
death of his father Jacob, as Joseph faced his brothers they were scared to death fearing that he was going to exact
revenge on them but contrary to their expectation and their pathetic attempt to save their skins, Joseph treats them
with a compassion they do not deserve. Joseph wasn’t bitter, wasn’t eaten up with a desire to get payback for what
his brothers had done. Rather he displayed and continued to do so for the remaining 61 years of his life an incredible
trust in God’s sovereign power over his life.

As we look at the life of Joseph and in particular his response to his brothers’ pathetic attempt to placate him … ‘Am I
God, that I can punish you? You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position
so I could save the lives of many people’ … we see that …

JOSEPH LEARNED THAT HE COULD TRUST GOD IN ALL OF LIFE BECAUSE HE KNEW…

• GOD WORKS SOVEREIGNLY

• GOD WORKS STRANGELY

• GOD WORKS SLOWLY

By way of introduction as we reflect upon the life of Joseph we will look at each of these lessons Joseph learned.
Many of the aspects we will revisit in more detail as the series unfolds but for now … the lessons.

(SLIDE 3)

First and foremost Joseph learned that GOD WORKS SOVEREIGNLY in the lives of those who are His …

It is evident that as we study the life of Joseph, as you read his biography in Genesis 37-50, he never doubted the
fact that God was sovereignly at work in his life.

In the midst of the rampant fear of his brothers he says in effect to them “Come on guys, how do you think I came to
be where I am today at the top of the pile with all this clout, the second most powerful person in all Egypt. Random
chance, coincidence, luck of the draw, my own ability, being well connected? No way! I am here because God before
even you or I was born planned it all.”

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of
many people.” (Genesis 50:20, NLT)

What does it mean to say God works sovereignly in Joseph’s life and ours?

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY MEANS

• GOD CREATED ALL

• GOD OWNS ALL

• GOD CONTROLS ALL

Let’s look at a few of the many verses in the Bible that tell us this …

"The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. For he laid the earth’s
foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths." (Psalm 24:1-2, NLT)

He made it, He owns it!

"I know that the Lord is great. Our Lord is greater than all the gods. The Lord does what he pleases, in heaven and
on earth, in the seas and the deep oceans." (Psalm 135:5-6, NCV)

No one tells God what to do!

“Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? Does not the Most High send both calamity and
good?” (Lamentations 3:37–38, NLT)

"The Lord of Hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so it will be; as I have purposed it, so it will happen. …The Lord of
Hosts Himself has planned it; therefore, who can stand in its way? It is His hand that is outstretched, so who can turn
it back?" (Isaiah 14:24, 27, HCSB)

If God says it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen!

"Lord, you are my God. I honor you and praise you, because you have done amazing things. You have always done
what you said you would do; you have done what you planned long ago." (Isaiah 25:1, NCV)

God doesn’t shoot from the hip! All that happens is part of His Plan! That is AWESOME! God is in everything that
happens in this world!. History is indeed HIS STORY!

Let’s personalize that! God is in control of you, of your life and everything that happens in your life! WHAT IS MORE
… GOD HAS A DEFINITE PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE… God is not caught by surprise at what is happening in your
life… He is perfectly executing what He has planned for you … on time and on schedule. What is even more
important is that

GOD IN …

• HIS LOVE ALWAYS WANTS WHAT IS BEST FOR US

• HIS WISDOM ALWAYS KNOWS WHAT IS BEST FOR US

• HIS SOVEREIGNTY HAS THE POWER TO BRING ABOUT WHAT IS BEST FOR US

WOW! Before we choke on the thought, let’s try to understand what it means! First off let’s clear away what it doesn’t
mean.
SOME WRONG CONCEPTS OF SOVEREIGNTY…

• WE LIVE IN A RANDOM WORLD WHERE THINGS HAPPEN … In other words God created the world, the world
rejected Him so he left it to stew in its own juice! Whatever happens, good or bad is simply the result of chance
interplay between random forces.

• WE LIVE AMIDST A BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL, BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN. … We are caught up
in a Cosmic battle between good and evil, what happens depends on what side we choose or if we are caught in the
crossfire!

• WE LIVE IN A WORLD CONTROLLED BY AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL TYRANT … All that happens is the Will of
God. God behind the scenes manipulating everything, causing good or bad to happens in order to suit his own
predetermined agenda. The logical outcome of this is that … An airliner crashes killing all on board; a child is killed
by a drunken driver; a soldier is sent home in a body bag and the cleric officiating at the funeral intones “We have to
accept the tragedy as God’s will” THAT IS RUBBISH, BLASPHEMY! Did God make Joseph’s brothers jealous; did
God make Jacob show favoritism; did God supercharge a middle-aged woman’s hormones and the make her lie; did
God cause an official to forget a favor done? Did He allow it … YES! Did He cause it … Of course not! Do we always
understand … No!

So how can the Bible say God is in control and yet demonstrate that time and again man violates His revealed will
causing evil and sin to prevail?

(SLIDE 4)

HOW CAN DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY AND FREE WILL COEXIST?

Our problem is that we equate God’s Sovereignty with our concept of human sovereignty. We think that in order to be
in control, He must make everything go His way. This makes us puppets with God pulling the strings.

How does this work?

• GOD DICTATES THE OBJECTIVE

• GOD DETERMINES THE OUTCOME

• GOD DOES NOT DECIDE THE CHOICES we make

• GOD DOES INTERVENE IN THE PROCESS using even the bad choices we make!

This is best illustrated by the Exodus of Israel from captivity in Egypt.

God dictated that His people after four centuries of bondage in Egypt should be set free and placed in a land that
would allow them to prosper and grow in their relationship with Him.

God determined that they would leave Egypt and enter Canaan, the Promised Land.

Had God rigidly decided for the Israelites the choices they made, they would have crossed the Sinai Peninsula in a
week, yet it took forty years with grumbling, rebellion, backsliding and fear. God’s sovereignty does not do away with
our duty to act responsibly and make prudent choices on all occasions.
They got there in the end. Did God intervene? Yes! Could God have stopped the rebellion in the ranks? Of course He
could, in a heartbeat. But He did not. Could God have stopped Joseph’s brothers or Potipher’s wife or made the
butler remember. Of course He could. Does failure on our part to do what is right frustrate the sovereign plan of God?
God’s sovereign plan includes and uses even our failures and sins to accomplish His ultimate good. But be warned
… we will still be held accountable for our sin and wrong doing even when God uses it to accomplish His Purpose.

Listen to two wise men…

“Our God is a God who not merely restores, but takes up our mistakes and follies into His plan for us and brings good
out of them. This is part of the wonder of his gracious sovereignty” (J. I. Packer)

“I thank God for the Unseen Hand, sometimes urging me onward, sometimes holding me back; sometimes with a
caress of approval, sometimes with a stroke of reproof; sometimes correcting, sometimes comforting. My times are in
His hand.” (Vance Havner)

Just as Joseph trusted God, knowing He was sovereignly working out His Perfect Plan for Joseph, so to you and I
can trust God with all the events of our lives. He is working out His purpose.

Behind our life the Weaver stands

And works His wondrous will;

We leave it all in His wise hands,

And trust His perfect skill.

Should mystery enshroud His Plan,

And our short sight be dim,

We will not try the whole to scan,

But leave each thread to Him.

econdly, GOD WORKS STRANGELY

As you look at the incredible process of Joseph getting into the position of 2nd most powerful man in all of Egypt,
surely there was an easier way. If it was left to us we certainly would have done it differently. But listen to what God
has to say about our logical ways and plans …

"“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could
imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts
higher than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9, NLT)

Life doesn’t always happen as we would plan it! Sometimes things happen that we cannot understand at the time but
when we look back in hindsight we can see the wonderful hand of God!

Life must be lived forward; it can only be understood backwards. (Søren Kierkegaard)
The Unseen Hand may be obscured at times by the fogs of circumstance but just because we can’t see the sun on a
cloudy day doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. (Vance Havner)

William Cowper passed through a great crisis in his life and suffered from bouts of depression. On one such
occasion, he called a cab to take him to the Ouse River, three miles away, where he planned to kill himself. A thick
fog enveloped the area. The driver lost his way in the dense fog, going up one road and down another. The driver
kept going in circles. Eventually in frustration, Cowper ordered the cab to stop. When he got out, he realised he was
back home. Cowper paid his fare, went inside, and pondered how he had been spared from harming himself by the
merciful providence of God. That same evening as he reflected on his experience he rejoiced in the providential
power of God. Cowper summed up his faith in God’s loving dealing with him penning words of a hymn that have
become a source of blessing among Christians:

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace:

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste

But sweet will be the flower. (William Cowper)

Do you sometimes wonder why things are happening to you? Every situation in your life is not random, but is there
for a purpose. Don’t ask why, rather what is God teaching me. We all love that wonderful promise in Rom 8:28 …

“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.” (Romans 8:28, NLT)

What we fail to see is that there is a direct link with v29 …

“For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the
firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29, NLT)
Why does God cause everything to work together for our good? … so that we might become like His Son … God’s
goal for you is not your comfort but for your character, to accurately produce His character in you! He allowed some
very strange and very painful things happen to Joseph. Do you think you are different?

(SLIDE 6)

Finally, GOD WORKS SLOWLY

We live in an instant world we want it now and we want it quick. We are not prepared to wait. But that’s not how God
works! Peter reminds us …

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: To the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is
as one day. The Lord is not slow in doing what he promised—the way some people understand slowness. But God is
being patient with you. He does not want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts and lives."
(2 Peter 3:8-9, NCV)

Remember Joseph was seventeen when he was shipped off to Egypt as a slave; it took thirteen years for God to
accomplish his plan for Joseph. Remember also it was not an easy ride. As a slave, Joseph had no prospect of ever
being anything else. Then he becomes head of Potipher’s Household. Peace at last, he had it made; better than he
could have expected. But God hadn’t finished with him yet. In a flash, through no fault of his own, he moved from
Potipher’s Palace to Pharaoh’s pit. Talk about starting at the bottom again, but in time he is promoted and then he
gets a chance to get out. A favour asked; a favour forgotten. Two years he spent there, what he didn’t know was that
it would be two years. Then before he could blink his eye, from the pit back to the palace, only this time it wasn’t
Potiher’s Place but Pharaoh’s Palace and what was more he was 2IC to Pharaoh himself. All along God was
preparing him, at time time must have passed so slowly and it must have seemed nothing was happening. Was it?
No! God was at work. It takes time. God forming His character in you is neither instant nor automatic; it is gradual,
progressive and complete.

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on
the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6, NLT)

Don’t be in a hurry! Trust God … His timing is perfect. He is the on time God. We just need to be patient.

I have a sign above my desk, ‘Please be patient, God isn’t finished with me yet’. Whilst it is meant for others it equally
applies to me … reminding me that I am still a work in progress. Wise words from J.I. Packer

“Patience does not just grin and bear things, stoic-like, but accepts them cheerfully as therapeutic workouts planned
by a heavenly trainer who is resolved to get you up to full fitness.” (J. I. Packer)

(SLIDE 7)

CONCLUSION

William Carey considered the father of the missionary movement sailed with his family to India in 1793 to convert the
heathen. Called by God to use his skills to translate the Bible into local dialects, by 1797he had translated the entire
New Testament into Bengali. By 1801 Carey had translated the entire Old Testament with the exception of two books
plus the New Testament into eight more Indian dialects. In 1801, the first printed edition of the Bengali New
Testament came off the press.
Tragically on the night of March 11, 1812 a fire at the press destroyed all Carey’s manuscripts, books and type.
Years of painstaking, difficult work was destroyed in minutes! A devastating loss. A setback to the missionary
endeavour.

It sent shock waves across the world. Churches were moved. Fundraising began. In six weeks, enough money was
raised to replace the press. As a result of the fire World-wide interest in the mission was awakened and money and
volunteers poured in. By the time of Carey’s death, 26 churches, 126 schools, Scriptures translated into 44
languages, grammers, dictionaries were produced and India’s first medical mission, a savings bank, a seminary, an
Indian girl’s school and a vernacular newspaper were started. A devastating loss turned into a staggering gain.

Believe it God knows precisely what He is doing in your life just as He did in William Carey’s, Joseph’s and countless
others. He has a plan and a purpose. You can co operate or object and rebel. People, circumstances may have
meant it for harm, God can use it for good making you the person He planned you to be.

“The more we trust the sovereignty of heaven, the less we fear the calamities of earth.”

(Anonymous)

We too will be able to say with Joseph …

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or
calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? … No, despite all these
things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us." (Romans 8:35, 37, NLT)

AS WE TRUST GOD WHO…

• WORKS SOVEREIGNLY

• WORKS STRANGELY

• WORKS SLOWLY … IN ALL OUR LIVES