When things turn bad to worse… (Genesis 37-50)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon

Last Saturday morning, I received a call from a man. He needed to talk to someone from church about his life. He said he was waiting for Loan modification for his home. As the economy has tanked last couples years, he too was hit hard financially and needed a favorable and affordable loan term to pay back his mortgage. Things were looking bad, but he got a call from the loan office that he was going to get the loan modification he applied. He was ecstatic that it came through knowing that many were praying for him in regard to this.

But, then just few days ago, he received the devastating news that turned things bad to absolute worse. He was told that the loan modification fell through; not only that, he was told that he had a month to clear out and vacate his home. All that happiness evaporated, gone! He asked me, “Why is God doing this to me?” “I was so happy to hear that the loan modification was going to be approved, but not only did it fall through, now I am going to lose my home. Why is God allowing this? This is death to me.”

We’ve all been there when things go bad to worse. Perhaps, you are there now and you are asking the big “Why” questions. You are trying to make sense of your life but you can’t. You try to get traction in your life, but you are slipping further into deeper hole. And, you can’t make sense of what God is doing now in your life. You feel either God is against you, or he has abandoned you. God seems distant, indifferent, and capricious to you seemingly inflicting pain in you for no purpose. And, you don’t what to think and what to feel about God.

Or perhaps, you know friends or families who are bitter in life because things are going bad to worse and they are not able to make sense of life. They are angry, perplex, and confused. And, they are looking to you for advice and direction. But, all you can say is, “Gee, I don’t know what to tell you.”

I want you know to know that the Bible is not silent about this concern. God has laid out in his word the way to make sense when things go bad to worse. Consider with me the life of Joseph.

• Joseph’s rise preceded by 12-13 years of sustained fall.

If you know the Bible even little bit, you’ve heard about the story of Joseph. A musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is based on the story of Joseph from Genesis. An animation, Joseph- King of Dreams is based on the story as well. The story of Joseph is a powerful story that can help us make sense when things go bad to worse.

The story goes something like this. Joseph grew up in a completely dysfunctional blended family; he was among twelve brothers and one sister. When you read the account from Genesis 29 and 30, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. It is worse than even the worst of soap operas. Two sisters, Leah and Rachel both married to Jacob, were at each other; Jacob favored and loved Rachel more than Leah. In those days, women who were able to have lot of children were highly esteemed. It happened that un-favored and unloved Leah was the first one to give birth to the four sons. Highly jealous, Rachel who couldn’t have any children took matters into her own hands; she enlisted her maidservant Bilhah and produced two children. Leah who couldn’t have children after her first four sons counteracted Rachel by enlisting her very own maidservant Zilpah and producing two more sons. Then, the race resumed when Leah started having more children of her own adding three more. The race ended with Rachael having Joseph and later dying after giving birth to the youngest son Benjamin.

Seriously dysfunctional, won’t you say? The children grew up in a toxic environment poisoned with jealousy and hatred. No wonder the half brothers turned against Joseph.

Jacob favoring Rachel over Leah, he also heavily favored Rachel’s children, Joseph and Benjamin. And, of all, Joseph was Jacob’s favorite. And, talking about poor parenting, he made sure everyone knew about who was his favorite. It says in Genesis 37:3, “Now Israel [that is Jacob] loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age, and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.”

What’s was the result? It says, in Genesis 37:4, “When his brother saw their father loved him [Joseph] more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.”

To make things worse, Joseph was a dreamer; literally a dreamer who told the dreams that horrified and enraged his brothers. The theme of his vivid dreams was basically that all his brothers and even his father and mother would bow and submit to Joseph. It says in Genesis 37:11, Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and that in verse 18 they were plotting to kill him.

Well, all wasn’t lost since Reuben came to his sense how ridiculous was the plan to get rid of their own half brother. In spite of his effort to free Joseph, the rest prevailed in getting rid of Joseph. They sold Joseph to the Midianite merchants (Genesis 37:28) and later Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potiphar (37:36).

The story is picked up in chapter 39 with the new scene now in Egypt. Joseph found himself as a slave under the Egyptian master, Potiphar, the officer and captain of the guard. Joseph made the best of the bad circumstance by being responsible, reliable, trustworthy and a hardworking servant; he rose up the rank and earned his master’s complete trust. Yet, when things were looking better, things turned for the worse. Joseph was entrapped and falsely accused by Potiphar’s wayward wife; Joseph lost the hard earned trust of his master Potiphar and ended up in the jail.

And, now in chapter 40, the story is picked up in the jail scene. Just like Joseph earned the favor of Potiphar, here Joseph earned favor and trust from the warden. To Joseph were assigned two new prisoners, high officials of Pharaoh the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt. Both of these two men had dreams that terrified them. Joseph the dreamer interpreted the dreams and it came to pass; Pharaoh restored the cupbearer back to his former position while condemning the baker to death.

And, in chapter 41, the plot moves from the jail scene to the court of Pharaoh. Here too, Pharaoh had two troubling dreams. It is this time when the cupbearer who completely forgot about Joseph remembered him and introduced Joseph to Pharaoh. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream with God’s help; finally Joseph climbs out of the worse and rises to the rank of second-in-command in Egypt.

Now, those of you who are familiar with the story of Joseph, do you know how much time had passed for Joseph from being betrayed by his brother, ended up in Egypt as a slave, then later ended up in a jail? Do you know how long it passed from the time the cupbearer was restored back to Pharaoh and to the time when he actually remembered Joseph?

Genesis 37:2 says that Joseph was “a young man of seventeen.” That’s when he was betrayed and sold away by his brother. And, Genesis 41:46 says, “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” So, that’s about 13 years or so from the time being sold as a slave to assuming the second-in-command position. And, Genesis 41 tells us that two full years had passed since the cupbearer forgot about Joseph to the time he remembered Joseph before Pharaoh.

That’s thirteen years as a slave and a prisoner. That’s a long time for things to go bad to worse, won’t you say?

• Gain perspective when things go bad to worse

What does the story of Joseph tell us about when things go bad to worse?

1. Discern the origin of hardships.

• God made the world with the built it system where making rebellious, sinful, unwise choices will make things bad to worse in our lives. Obviously, this wasn’t the case for Joseph since he was the victim of being wronged.
• In the case of things going bad to worse because of our rebellious sins, the solution is to repent and turn to God.
• God designed the world in such way he allows things to go bad to worse in order to wake us up from persisting in rebellion.
• In the case of suffering consequences of sins and rebellion is to ask God to restore us to the right living, healthy living, righteous living.
• But, then, as was the case for Joseph, there are time injustice are done to us, and there are times we simply cannot explain why things go bad to worse. Joseph didn’t do anything bad, but things got worse for him for long thirteen years before things got better.
• This means we don’t falsely believe that just being Christians would guarantee happiness and trouble free life.
• The most important questions are not, “Why is this happening?” rather ask, “What is God trying to accomplish in me through the hardships that I am facing?” “And, in response to what God is doing and trying to accomplish in the midst of hardships, how should I live?”

2. What is God trying to accomplish in you through the hardships you experience?

• God wants you to believe that he is purposeful and good, not capricious or malicious. He is not allowing hardships in your life just because he wants to mess with you. No, he wants to accomplish greater goal through your life.
• God’s purpose for Joseph… Genesis 50:20, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the savings of many lives.”
• Remember God is God who sent his Son to subject himself to suffering, persecution and death in order to save you and me from evil and death.
• He wants you to believe he cares for you not indifferent or aloof.
• He wants you to believe that God is able to help you because he is in control and he is sovereign.
• He wants you to believe that he knows better than you do. Don’t waste your energy trying to outsmart God. In his timing he will help you make sense of the hardships you face. Don’t waste all your energy to asking “Why” questions.
• Job told God in Job 42:3, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”
• He wants you to experience his power to restore you, heal you, to make you stronger in him, to purify you through the hot furnace of life’s troubles. So, that at the end you emerge as a man and woman fit for the life in the kingdom of God.

3. How should you live your life in the midst of hardships?

• Knowing God has greater purpose for you, knowing God cares for you, knowing God is in control, knowing God knows what he is doing, knowing God wants you to experience his power, what you need to do is
• Live faithfully trusting in God.
• Live patiently waiting on God.
• Live hopefully for God’s right timing.
• Live victoriously for God’s redemption.