God, Where Are You?

Take your Bibles this morning and let's turn to Genesis chapter 39. Genesis 39. Before we begin, let's ask God to help us. Father, this is a familiar story, and yet we pray that we would look at it with eyes that understand the purpose of this, that understands what you want to accomplish in our hearts. Not that we find another story that fills up our Bible storybook, but that we would see the purposes you would have for your people today in giving us this passage. we want to thank you for your faithfulness and pray that we would see your faithfulness in all of our lives open our eyes to that we pray thank you again for your mercy in Christ and the faithfulness that are promised to us in him and so now Father guide our thinking as we look into your word help us to think deeply help us to think biblically help us to determine that we will change by the power of your grace as we hear what you have for us.

And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Isn't it great to gather in a church on Sunday with other believers and hear some sermons that cause you to praise the greatness of God, discuss theological concepts that enlarge your understanding, to talk about situations that you might face in light of scriptural truth and share with others God's work in your lives.

But then it hits. Real life. Outside. Tuesday comes and the hatred leveled at you at work makes you wonder about the greatness of God. You lose the baby. And the theology doesn't make sense anymore.

That shocking cancer diagnosis makes scriptural truth distant and irrelevant. Real life makes you doubt whether God is working or just sitting this one out. That's something that might describe the episode that we find in Genesis chapter 39. Great things, and then real life hits. Let's look at chapter 39, verses 1 through 20. Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who brought him down there.

The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed. in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him. And he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake.

The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, lie with me. But he refused and said to his master's wife, behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge.

He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her. But one day, when he went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment saying lie with me but he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house and as soon as he saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house she called to the men of her household and said to them see he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us he came into me to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice and as soon as he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.

Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home. And she told him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you brought among us came in to me to laugh at me. But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house. As soon as his master had heard the words that his wife spoke to him, this is the way your servant treated me.

His anger was kindled. And Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in prison. Now, recall that Joseph had a comfortable life at home. Remember? A comfortable life at home.

And he had been exalted to the place of most honored son. But then finding himself in a dry cistern, and then on a camel, making his way to Egypt, only to be put on the market as a slave. And so then we find him laboring as a slave and exalted into the highest position in the household only to be plumbed to the depths of humiliation and being thrown into prison Now that's what the writer wants you to see in Joseph's life, and that's why the scene stops at verse 20.

That's the cut-off point. Let me show you why, so that you understand the ebb and flow of this story. You will notice in chapter 39, verses 1 through 5, Watch what he says. Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the garden of the Egyptians, had brought him from the Ishmaelites, had brought him down there.

The Lord was with Joseph. He became successful, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. The master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From that time he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake.

The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in house and field, so he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but what he ate. Now compare that to verses 20 to 23. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison, and the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison.

Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed. Do you see the comparisons there? And what the writer is doing is showing you each scene begins with the obvious blessing of God and then what happens?

He's plunged. He goes from exaltation to humiliation. So he says, here, God's blessed him. Isn't this great? Boom! Humiliation.

Then again, look! Look how great God is. He blessed him. Then boom! Humiliation again. So that's how he wants you to see it.

So that you really get the full impact of that. Exaltation. Honored son. Slave. Exaltation. overseer of all this master's household. Boom!

Prison. Exaltation to running the prison. Right? Boom! Forgotten. You see?

So he wants you to get the point that, listen, if you didn't know before, Joseph had it really rough. Because it's not just one rough spot, is it? It's exaltation! And then humiliation. That's the story of his life, it appears. And so that's what he wants you to see.

Now the story of Joseph is not much different than your story or mine, is it? Our thinking seems to revolve around two poles. Here's the first. Man, everything is going well. And so we thank God for his faithfulness and his presence. And we find it easy then to talk about the Bible and our theology, don't we?

But then real life happens and we begin to wonder about God's faithfulness and presence. Isn't that true? Is God faithful in good times but not in bad times? Are you tempted to ask, where are you, God, in the bad times? Is it possible that you might be thinking, I've served God. Why is this happening?

Right? That's what he wants you to see. That's what he wants you to see. So what do we find here? Well, the first is this. You need to be convinced of God's faithfulness when you experience exaltation.

You need to be convinced of God's faithfulness when you experience exaltation. That's what we find in the first six verses. Now what do we find here? A high-ranking, prominent Egyptian by the name of Potiphar buys Joseph. He sees the strapping young man in the slave market and chooses. He says he'll make a good slave.

And so he buys him. But even though Joseph was in a terrible situation, Yahuwah, the Lord, was with Joseph when that happened. Look what happens to him. First, he's bought by a prominent aristocrat. Okay? He's bought by the cream of the crop.

Second thing you notice is that Potiphar makes him a house slave rather than a field hand. Right? Is it better to be a slave in the household or out in the field? It's better to be a household slave. And so that's what he did. And the third thing you know is that he wins his master's esteem.

It says there's finding favor in his eyes. And then he becomes his master's personal attendant. He attended him. And then finally, finally, Potiphar puts him in charge of everything that he owns. absolutely running everything. All his property, all his belongings, all his assets, all of them. Every last bit of it given to Joseph.

Joseph oversees absolutely everything except his master's most private affairs, which is that manner of saying there that says except for his food. That's like an idiom that says except for the most private things. He had charge of absolutely everything in that man's property. Now the way this is written makes it clear that Yahuwah was obviously behind all of this.

Please note look in those first six verses Yahuwah or as it translated in our Bibles the Lord is mentioned five times Do you see that? It's mentioned five times. You know what else you see? You see all mentioned five times. The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with him.

And the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. And so the master made him his overseer and put him in charge of all that he had. From that time he made him overseer. All that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptians' house for Joseph's sake. The blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and field. So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge.

He's just pouring it on. He's making you see. God has blessed this man. He is behind all of his success. Not only that, he blesses them with good looks. Right?

Now notice that you find here, note that God is faithful to his covenant promises. Turn back to the promises made to Abraham in chapter 12. Let's turn back there very quickly. This always should be in the back of your mind somewhere as you read through Genesis. The last half of Genesis beginning in chapter 12. Verse 2.

Genesis 12, verse 2. God's speaking to Abraham. and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. What's God doing here? Joseph appears at this point to be headed for a great name and that through God's blessing.

I will bless you and make your name great. That seems to be what's going on with Joseph. He is a blessing. Right? And you will be a blessing. And he is.

He's a blessing to Potiphar. And note, and I will bless those who bless you, and those who dishonor you I will dishonor. So what's happening here? Right? Because Potiphar is treating him well, God continues to bless. He who blesses you, I will bless.

So God is being faithful to His covenant promises. And in all this, Joseph serves his God. He remains faithful himself to God. God's faithfulness produces faithfulness in the life of Joseph. You know one thing, and I really burrowed in this week to studying this passage, but one thing, every time I read this passage, I noted this. His master saw that the Lord, let's give him his Hebrew personal name.

This is the God of this particular people, Abraham's family. His master saw that Yahuwah was with him and that Yahuwah caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. How in the world did his master know it was Yahuwah? I always wondered that. He's a pagan. He has all his own gods.

Remember the way of thinking then. Yeah, Joseph, you have your God. But we have our gods. And he's saying, he notes that this God, Yahweh, is the one blessing. How did he know it was Yahweh? There's only one way.

Joseph told him. Joseph was faithful in speaking of him. That's the only possible way that Potiphar would know it was this God who was blessing his household. because Joseph has spoken of him. Joseph's the one that introduces him to this God, if you will. And I don't think that's speculation. I don't think that's speculation at all.

I think that that's a clear inference from this passage. There's no other way this pagan would have known of this other God except through Joseph. what's the only possible explanation for jesus joseph's exaltation from hated abused brother and slave on the market to a man in charge of that a vast estate and tremendous finances there's only one way you can explain it the only possible explanation is for such turns of turn of fortune is. It must be God.

Or, to put it in our terminology, it must be a God thing. Right? It's got to be a God thing. Look at all the good things that are happening. This is God clearly remaining true to His promises. What do you think when everything is going well for you?

When you ask God for help and it arrives in time. And this is a silly example. I remember one time when Levi was headed to Miami University down in Oxford, Ohio. And he couldn't come with us. Beck and I went down to look for an apartment for him. And this is what people were telling us.

It's like two weeks before school starts. And they say, you're not going to find anything. Everything's taken up. This town is full. Well, guess what? We got an apartment.

You know why? It was a God thing. That's why. When you have a steady job and steady income, you thank God for His blessings. When He spares the life of your child in that accident you had, you praise God for His mercy. When that mass on the x-ray turns out to be non-cancerous, you rejoice with the brothers and sisters at your flock meeting that night. right and all of those responses are right and good we ought to thank God for those things But what happens when everything goes wrong What happens then?

You know what's interesting to me in this narrative? What's interesting to me in this narrative is for the next 14 verses, Yahuwah's name does not show up once. five times in the first six verses. The next 14 verses, not a mention. There is one general reference to God. Just one. It looks like the Lord disappears from his life, doesn't it?

What happens when real life comes crashing down on you? What happens then? Well, let me just say this. You need to be convinced of God's faithfulness when you experience humiliation. You need to be convinced of God's faithfulness when you experience humiliation. The fall for Joseph from exaltation to humiliation was fast and unjust.

Potiphar's wife takes a fancy to this handsome young man and propositions him, we find. The text makes it clear this is nothing but lust. Clearly, that's all that it is. And Joseph immediately responds, How can I abuse the trust of my master and show such ingratitude to him? How can I trample on his marital rights because you are his wife? And to sum it all up, if I were to do this, it would be a sin before God.

Unlike Judah, and you're supposed to see this contrast, unlike Judah who lives among the Canaanites and like the Canaanites, Joseph honors God among the Egyptians. now I want you to know this is what strikes me about this verse so I can run off on a little as we say today a rant contrast what Joseph says here to what people are constantly told today right don't get involved in unprotected sex you know don't do that you know why Because you'll have unwanted consequences. Because you won't respect yourself the next day. Because unwanted pregnancy brings unwanted consequences.

You know what the problem is? It's a sin against God. And that's what Joseph says. That's what Joseph says here. Well, anyway, let's continue here. The woman does not take no for an answer.

And she tries to wear down his resistance. Tries to wear down his resistance. In verse 10, as she spoke to Joseph, note, what? Day after day. She's going to wear down his resistance. Now understand something here.

Joseph has something to gain. Not just pleasure, but, right? You play the game, you advance. This is an aristocratic woman who's got lots of power. You play her game, you may even go further. And the last thing you want to do is to cross to say no to a powerful woman like this.

But, he remains faithful to his God. Please note, he remains faithful to God. It will be sin. And he'll not have any part of it. Finally, when no one else is in the house and Joseph goes about his business, probably he wasn't aware that he was alone in the house. Quite possibly, she sent everyone out of the house.

Who knows? But, Potiphar's wife assaults him. Now, it's interesting that that word caught, right? in verse 12, she caught him by his garment. That word is used to describe an act of violence. It wasn't that she beat on him, but she came after him in such... It was no longer honeyed words.

It was no longer seduction. It was, I'm going to have you. That's what it is. She assaults the man. You get the idea of this woman attacking him. This is unique in all of Scripture.

It's never used of any other woman. She's after this guy. And if he would be true to God, if he would remain faithful to God, there's only one thing he could do. Just one thing. You know what it was? Run.

Get out. One scholar says the way the Hebrew is, and I'm not sure about this, but it's interesting, it says he ran through the house, which is the implication that he ran through the house and when he got outside he just started to walk normal. Like, okay. Alright, we're done with this. Well, as a result, he left his cloak in her hand. And with that piece of evidence in her hand and her hatred for Joseph now, she begins to execute her plan.

First, she calls the men of the house. She calls the men of the house and accuses Joseph of attempted rape. This is her attempt to get some witnesses. and she appeals to their hatred of foreigners. Do you notice that? Right? It's real easy to...

That foreigner. You know how they are. how those people are. Well, he tried. And then she holds on to that garment until her husband gets home. And isn't it interesting that it says she lays up that garment by her. It almost sounds really dramatic, doesn't it?

She's going to lay there with that garment there. She's really going to make her point. And when Potiphar comes home, she says, and by the way, do you notice he gets a little bit of the blame? This Hebrew that you brought in? He tried this. He tried to rape me.

And Potiphar is incensed. And Joseph ends up in prison. Where is God in all of this, you might say? Because look, Joseph, listen now. Joseph did everything right, didn't he? Wasn't he obedient to God?

Does he not give God credit for all that's happened? It seems that way, implied that way in verses 1-6. Doesn't he work hard and consistently? And did he not run away from temptation? He did what God would want him to do. And what does it get him?

He remains faithful to God, so why doesn't God remain faithful to him? And notice that he's in prison because of a false accusation. Not even a true accusation. First of all, he does everything right. Where does he go? Prison.

Second, it's a false accusation. It's a lie. Not a bit of it is true. Where does he end up? In prison. She lied about the whole thing.

And not only that, it happened again. His brothers lied about him. And what did they do to support their lie? They used his garment. She lies about him. and she uses his garment. Now, if you were Joseph, what would you be saying?

It's happening again! What's going on, God? Where are you? It's the same old story. Right? He remains faithful to God, so why doesn't God remain faithful to him?

Now you might find yourself in the same situation. You say, Lord, I've served you faithfully over all these years, and you reward me with a husband who cheated? God, I did what you commanded at work all these years and I get a bunch of people hating me? I have a friend of mine who just recently, a dear friend of mine, whose sister, who served God and her husband and her children faithfully for all her years, was found with an inoperable brain tumor.

Real sudden like and she died in two weeks. Is this what you get? God, is this the payoff? Where's the faithfulness? I remain faithful to God. You might be saying, I remain faithful to God, so why isn't he faithful to me?

You might be tempted to say that. Was God unfaithful to Joseph? Or was he faithful? Joseph, I believe, thought God was faithful. I believe that Joseph thought that God had not left him or abandoned him. Look at his reply to this woman.

How can I do such a thing and sin against God? You know what One writer put it this way and I can say it any better Listen to what he says His refusal though spontaneous is well thought out from the world and life view of people of faith. In other words, that was a spontaneous response to her, wasn't it? It wasn't like, okay, What do I say? He knew exactly what to say.

Why? Because he believed God is faithful. Could you think anyone could remain faithful if they think that God is unfaithful? Would anybody remain faithful if you thought the one to whom you were going to be faithful was unfaithful? If God had left you, would you say, well, I'm still going to serve him. God?

No. and once more we find that what we found throughout the book that God remains faithful to his promises not just in the good times but in the confusing disorienting unjust wicked crazy times that we go through in life Joseph is learning to put aside cloaks trusting the Lord to clothe him in dignity and honor there's only one reason for Joseph's faithfulness he believed that in this worst of situations God was still present and God was still faithful besides that we're all aware of another truth that even Joseph didn't know but we know we know because we know his story remember if you're Joseph you don't know how this is all going to turn out All of us who know the story know exactly how it's all going to turn out. And we know this. God remains faithful to His sovereign, gracious purposes.

The unjust, wicked plot that landed Joseph in prison will accomplish the gracious purposes of God. Which is what? To save his family. To save Joseph's family. That's why he goes to prison. And as you keep reading the story, you know what happens to prison and where he ends up in a position where he can save his family.

God was at work in sending him to prison. That's part of the plan. And what's going to happen because he preserved his family? There's going to come from that family a seed that will bless all the nations. Do you see that? God is not being unfaithful.

And for all that to happen required Joseph going from the highest point to the lowest. Okay? For all that to come about, that's what God had to do. And so God is not unfaithful to Joseph and He's not unfaithful to His greater purposes. He's faithful to Joseph. isn't it interesting that Joseph is put in charge of this vast amount of property what happens to him later he put in charge of a country do you think God might have been doing something there right you don know what God doing in your life do you With the pain that you experiencing with the heartache that's coming, with the difficulties, with all the things when real life crashes in.

God is up to something in your life. Don't ever forget that. He is remaining faithful to you. because he's got a better plan for you. I remember my dear friend Rick Wilson. We were counseling together down at Clear Creek and John Street was there and Rick and I and we did the counseling training at Clear Creek in the first few months of the year and so part of that training is counseling and our students would sit in and watch us counsel.

Rick one day was counseling a man who had just gotten out of prison. This guy had been converted. But he had lost his family. And Rick said to him, You know what? God had something better for you. And the guy got so angry.

I've never had this happen to me. He got so angry, he got up, picked up his chair and went like this, like he was going to go after Rick. Now the point of that story is, he didn't hit Rick by the way, but the point of that story is when Rick said to him, God has something better for you, he did not like it. What could be better? I've lost everything. I've lost everything.

And to make the story even unbelievable, when the guy came back in the room he said to him, what do you know? What do you know about losing family? And Rick said I lost my father and my mother. My father killed my mother and shot himself. Rick knew. Rick knew that God can be up to good things even in the things that are hard and unbearable in our lives.

And we see that with this man here. To go from the highest to the lowest God remains faithful. God, where are you? Have you forgotten me? Will you keep your promises? That's what you may think as you face the incredible difficulties of life in this broken, hostile world.

You may have experienced the heights of exaltation and now in some form or another you're experiencing the depths of humiliation. And you may think that because God exalted you for a time that His faithfulness requires that you stay there. It does not. It does not require that. Yet, God remains faithful to you in whatever low circumstances you find yourself And I am convinced I am convinced that God will be with you through it all You know how I know that?

You know how you can know that? You know, how can you know that God's going to be completely faithful to you no matter what your circumstances? Here's how. Joseph was not the only one to experience this, was he? Was he? No, no.

Another king. His name was Jesus. And you know what? He did everything right. Did he not? He obeyed God to the very end of the law.

There was not one bit of God's commandments that he ever disobeyed. And not only that, he made blind eyes to see, he made deaf ears to hear, and he proclaimed the good news of God's reign. And guess what? He faced the greatest temptation that anyone would ever face. Face to face with Satan himself. And he did not give in.

And what happened to him? What happened to Jesus, the One who did everything right? The One who took temptation and never succumbed. What happened to him? You know what happened to him. You know what he got for his faithfulness.

He was humiliated. Humiliated on a cross. And he was humiliated in the same way he was falsely charged and falsely condemned on the basis of lies. You see? The difference is this. he was abandoned by his father when he was on that cross why why in that terrible moment on the cross the father was not with Jesus so that he might be with you forever you see Jesus washed away the filth and the guilt fully and finally so that the Lord's smile rests on us all the time for His sake.

Is God faithful? Will He remain faithful? Is He faithful in exaltation? Yes, we would all say. Is He faithful in our humiliation? and the answer is yeah he is faithful and he is at work father thank you for your word which is not some abstract propositions but lays before us those who have experienced exaltation and humiliation and we thank you this day that one came that experienced this to the greatest degree so that You would be faithful to us.

Thank You for Your faithfulness. In Jesus' name, Amen.