God, Where Are You?

I'd ask you to take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 39. Genesis 39. Genesis 39. Let's pray. Lord God, we now sit before you with the text of Scripture open before us, and we're asking that you speak to us. Lord, you do speak to us in your word, in the text.

And so we're asking that we hear you in this text, and that your spirit would apply this, would move us, would mature us as we understand what you say. And so depending on you, we now look to the word of God, knowing that you will give us hope, you will give us help, you will bring conviction, you will encourage us, you will do as you see fit. and for that we thank you now in Jesus name Amen Isn't it great to gather in church with other believers and hear some sermons that cause you then to praise the greatness of your God to discuss theological concepts that expand your understanding to talk about situations that you might face in the light of scriptural truth to share with others God's work in your life, but then it hits. Real life.

Tuesday comes, and the hatred leveled at you at work makes you wonder about God's greatness. You lose the baby, and your theology doesn't make sense anymore. The shocking cancer diagnosis makes scriptural truth seem distant and irrelevant. Real life makes you doubt whether God is working or just sitting this one out. That might describe the scene that we encounter in this chapter.

You follow along as I read Genesis chapter 39, the first 20 verses. 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 had 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 and 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 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 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. As soon as she 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's brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to lie with me and I cried out with a loud voice.

And as soon as he heard that, that I lifted up 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, that 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 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 in the prison the place where the king's prisoners were confined confined and he was there in prison now recall that Joseph had a comfortable life he'd been exalted to the honored position as honored son position in his family but then he found himself in a dry cistern by his brothers and sold into slavery on a camel to Egypt. His labors though as a slave achieves an exalted position but then again he finds himself at the bottom Now that's how the writer wants us to see Joseph's life, and that's why the scene stops at verse 20. That's the scene that stops.

Now you need to compare verses 1 through 5 with 20 to 23. Let's look at it real quickly. now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt and Potiphar an officer of Pharaoh the captain of the guard an Egyptian had brought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there the Lord was this Joseph and he became a success 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 at his house and put him in charge of all that he had from the time that 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 the house and field in house and field then dropped down to verses 20 and 23 um and joseph's master took him and put him in the prison the place where the king's prisoners were confined and he was there in prison 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 all right so here you are Joseph at the top bottom top again all right both scenes scenes begin with the obvious blessing of the Lord and then they switch to real life verse 7 of chapter 39 where it says and after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said lie with me here's real life hitting him now right and then chapter 40 verse 1 sometime after this the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt and they enter the picture with all the things that happen there. Real life.

Real life hidden. Okay? The story of Joseph, though, is not much different than the stories of you and me. And our thinking tends to revolve around two poles. The first is when everything goes well, we thank God for his faithfulness and his presence and we find it easy to talk about Bible and theology. But then when real life happens, we begin to wonder about God's faithfulness and about his presence.

So our thinking tends to resolve, revolve around those two poles, don't they? When everything's going our way, man, we thank God. But when things get hard and things get difficult and things get tragic, then we start wondering where is God, right? Isn't that the way we tend to be? 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, so why is this happening to me? You ever been tempted with those thoughts? You don't have to answer because I already know. I already know. And I know that having talked to most of you after 40 years, but I know that because that's what we all do. Where is God when things get hard?

Well, let's look at Joseph's life here for a moment, shall we? You don't need to be convinced of God's faithfulness when you experience exaltation. You don't need to be convinced of God's faithfulness when you experience exaltation. You see that in the first six verses which we just read. So here we find a high-ranking prominent Egyptian by the name of Potiphar buys Joseph.

He sees this strapping young man and he says that guy will make a good slave. But even though Joseph's in a terrible situation, Yahuwah is obviously with Joseph. Look what happens to him. Just look what happens after he gets bought. First of all, a prominent aristocrat purchases him. So he's going to a good place.

Second, you see that he becomes a house slave rather than a field hand, right? He's working in the house. And then you see that he wins his master's esteem, where it says he found favor with Potiphar. He wins his esteem. And then he becomes his personal attendant, right he serves potter for his personal attendant and then finally potter for elevates him to the place of running his entire property everything running all of his property that is that joseph oversees absolutely everything except for potter for his most private affairs when it says he oversaw everything except for the food that he ate that's an idiom that is it's a way of expression That means he oversaw absolutely everything in Potiphar's household except for the most private affairs.

Now, the way that this is written makes it clear that Yahuwah was obviously behind all of this. Now, let me just back off here just a second. Let me give you a little bit of translation information. when you look in the old testament look look in the verse in uh in these verses do you see the term lord what's interesting about that when you look through the old testament oftentimes you'll see the lord in all capital letters have you ever noticed that why is that well i won't tell you the whole translation history but here's what you need to understand When you see Lord in all caps, that is God's personal name.

Like my name is Tim right There sits Dan Over there it Mike Okay We all have personal names God name the best we can figure out how to pronounce the Hebrew is Yahuwah So when you see the word LORD in all caps, that is God's personal covenant name. Yahuwah. Okay? So, here's what I want you to see. It's clear that Yahuwah was obviously behind this. You note in those first six verses, Yahuwah is mentioned five times.

And you will also notice that all is mentioned five times. Right? The Lord blessed him. He was over all. Right? This is God's blessings.

These are good times. God must be involved in this kind of blessing. It says over and over, the Lord, he was successful in all things. The Lord blessed him and the Lord blessed Potiphar's house. It's clear. God blesses all, God must be involved in all these blessings.

Not only that, but he blesses the guy with good looks too. Something some of us cannot be aware of. But he blesses this guy even with good looks. And notice here, here's what you need to see. You find God faithful to the covenant promises he had made to Joseph's family, to Abraham. If you would turn back to Genesis chapter 12, you will see that covenant that God made with Abraham.

And here's what he says in the covenant. 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 will be blessed. What do you find here? You see, Joseph appears headed for a great name.

And all of this through God's blessing. You notice, he is a blessing to these peoples. Now what God said, I'm going to make you a blessing. He is a blessing. And what does he do? God blesses the man who blesses Joseph.

Potiphar. Potiphar is the recipient of blessing. Why? Because he's blessed Joseph. In all of this, Joseph serves his God. Joseph remains faithful to God.

How do you know that? You know, it's interesting. How do you think this pagan Potiphar knew the name of Yahuwah? How do you think he knew the name? Because it says there, Potiphar knew that it was Yahuwah who had blessed him. How do you think he knew that?

Joseph might have been talking to him. You've got to go back into that culture. Every nation had its own gods, right? They all had their own pantheon of gods. Egyptian, Canaanites, Assyrians, they all had their own gods. And here Potiphar is hearing about this other god named Yahuwah, right?

Joseph obviously has been talking about Yahuwah to his master. No doubt Joseph informed him of the fact. He spoke about his God. Joseph is faithful to God. Now, what's the only possible explanation for Joseph's exaltation? From hated, abused brother and slave on the market to a man in charge of vast estates and incredible finances.

What's the answer to that? Well, of course, the only possible explanation for such a turn of fortunes must be God. It must be a God thing. Right? Gotta be a God thing. That's what people would say today.

That's true. This is God clearly remaining true to the covenant promises that he'd made with Abraham. Right? Now let me ask you, what do you think when things are going well? What do you think when things are going well? when you ask God for help and it arrives you know it's God who's done it I can think of a silly example I remember when Levi was headed to Miami University and a week before school started he was roughing so we said we'll go find a place for you to live so Beck and I go down to Oxford Ohio to find a place and we start asking around and people are looking at us like what are you crazy if you want to find a place to live you got to start that that you have to start in May doing that, you're not going to find anything now.

A week before school starts, what goofiness. Guess what? Found a place. Within a matter of hours, we found a place. Must be a God thing. Right?

I mean, we were clearly, we thank God for that. Wow, that was real God. We need help. And so he provided it. When you have a steady job and a steady income, you thank God for his blessings. When he spares the life of your child in that car accident, you praise God for his mercy.

When that mass on the x-ray turns out to be non-cancerous, you rejoice with all your brothers and sisters at flock meeting that night. And all of those responses are good and they're right. But what happens when everything goes wrong? What then? what happens when everything goes wrong you know what's interesting about the rest of this narrative the next 14 verses the proper name for yahuwah the lord never appears once there's only one reference to god in the whole thing it looks like the lord disappears from Joseph's life.

It looks like he's gone, because he's not mentioned. That's fascinating. What happens when real life comes crashing in? Well you need to be convinced of God faithfulness when you experience humiliation You need to be convinced of God faithfulness when you experience humiliation You need to be convinced of God faithfulness when you experience humiliation So let's see what goes on here.

And after a time, this is verse 7, 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's not greater in this house than I am nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself because you are his wife how 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 she 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 him see he's brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us that is to to mock 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 up 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 have brought among us came in to mock 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 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 look, the fall of Joseph from exaltation to humiliation was fast and unjust. Potiphar's wife takes a fancy to this handsome young man and propositions him. the text makes it clear it's nothing but lust joseph immediately responds how can i abuse the trust my master gives me and the gratitude i owe him how can i trample on his marital rights you are his wife but most of all that would be a great wickedness and i would sin against god I find that answer fascinating. Is God in his mind, right?

How is it proposed today? Don't be very careful when it comes to sex. Unprotected sex, we don't want that. And you certainly don't want the consequences of that, right? You certainly don't want that. Or it will wreck the chances for a good future. or you'll just lose respect of the other person.

Joseph doesn't say any of that. He just says one thing. This would be wicked. It's a sin against God. Do you think that way, by the way? It's not pragmatic reasons.

It's simply this. It's sin. I can't do that. But the woman doesn't take no for an answer. And she tries to wear down his resistance. She keeps trying to seduce the guy.

Now understand that Joseph can gain something from this. You realize that? Not just pleasure, but possible advancement. Not to mention, you put yourself in a pretty poor position when you turn down a powerful aristocratic woman. But he remains faithful to his God. It will be a sin, and he will not have a part of it. finally when no one else is in the house and joseph goes about his business probably not realizing no one's in the house potter first wife assaults him that word caught is a very forceful term she assaults him that is man she just goes after him you get the idea of a woman attacking him this is unique in all the scripture you don't find it with any used anywhere else so it's gone beyond seduction she's going to have him and if you'd be true to his god there's only one thing to do and it's run and as a result he leaves his cloak in her hand and with that piece of evidence in her hand and her hatred for joseph she begins to execute her plan first she calls in the men of the household shows them the evidence this is her attempt to gain witnesses she says he attempted to rape me.

She appeals to the fact that he's a foreigner and is intent on shaming her. She keeps the garment with her all day until Potiphar returns home and then tells him the same lie. Here's the picture in my mind as it says the garment lies with her. Can you see her as Potiphar comes home? She jumps into bed with that garment, just lays in bed crying with this garment.

So when her husband comes in, there she is crying with Joseph's cloak in her hand or laying next to her, right? Man, she's really going after him. Well, Potiphar is incensed and he throws Joseph in prison. Question, where's God in all of this? where is he in all of this you see here's the thing Joseph did everything right he did everything right wasn't he obedient to God he was obedient to God did he not give God all the praise for the success that Potiphar had he doesn't even take credit he says it's it's Yahweh who's done this it's not me Didn't he work hard and consistently? in this household.

He remains faithful to God, so why doesn't God remain faithful to him? And notice that he is in prison because of a false accusation. He is in prison on the basis of a lie. She lies about the whole thing. And don't miss this. It happened again to him and in the same way.

Consider this. Think. His brothers lied about him and they supported the lie with his garment. You remember, they put blood on his garment and he ends up a slave. And if you were Joseph, wouldn't you be thinking, hey, it's happening again. The same thing.

Someone lies about me, uses my garment as evidence against me, and then I get thrown in prison. God? Again? Right? He remains faithful to God, so why doesn't God remain faithful to him? You might find yourself in the same situation, right?

You say, Lord, I've served you faithfully for years and you reward me with a husband who cheats? God, I did what you commanded at work all these years and what do I get for it? Hatred from all my co-workers. because I'm doing what you tell me to do at work. God, why did you take my children away in a flood? Right? Why did you do that?

They went off to camp. Now we're trying to find their bodies. I remain faithful to God, so why doesn't God remain faithful to me? It may be the thought that goes through your mind. Was God faithful to Joseph? Was he?

Joseph thought so. Look at verses 8 and 9. In light of the seduction, he says, 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 One writer put it this way His refusal though spontaneous is well thought out from the world and life view of people of faith Could he have remained faithful with the thought that God had abandoned him? Could he have remained faithful if he really thought that God abandoned him? He believed what God had promised. now don't don't just remember that Abraham a covenant because that's what he's living on but also remember that he had two dreams in his life where his father and mother and brothers are bowing down to him he's got those dreams he's got a promise from God he's got the intangible promises of God and he remains faithful because of it once more we find that what we found throughout this book that God remains faithful to his promises, not just in good times, but in the confusing, disorienting, unjust, wicked, and crazy times.

God remains faithful. I love what one writer said, Joseph is learning to put aside cloaks, trusting the Lord to clothe him with dignity and honor. That's good. He's trusting God. He's trusting God. There's only one reason for Joseph's faithfulness.

He believed that in the worst of situations, God was still present and God is faithful. Besides that, we're all aware of another truth. We're all aware of something. God remains faithful to his sovereign purpose. This unjust, wicked plot that landed Joseph in prison will accomplish his greatest purpose. You all know the story, most of you do, that this is going to result in the preservation of his family.

All of this leads to the salvation or the rescue of his family from starvation some years down the road. And that preservation will fulfill God's grand design to preserve the seed that will bless all the nations. Do you see that? All of this, this required that Joseph be in prison. You see, Joseph believed those things and we from the perspective that we have look back and we say you know why Joseph was landed in prison So that we would have Jesus Right?

Was God faithful? Yes, he was. Yes, he was. So sometimes we say, God, where are you? Have you forgotten me? Will you keep your promises?

Will you? You may think that as you face incredible difficulties, you may think that as you face incredible difficulties of this hostile, broken world. You may have experienced the heights of exaltation only to fall into the depths of humiliation. You may think that because God exalted you for a time that his faithfulness requires that you stay there.

It does not. Yet God remains faithful even in your state of difficulty and hardship. You know how you can know that for sure? How can you know that for sure? You know how? Someone other than Joseph experienced the same things.

You know what his name is? It's Jesus. you remember Jesus did everything right he obeyed God in every part of his life Jesus never did anything wrong in the sight of God nothing not only that he made blind eyes to see he made deaf people hear he proclaimed the kingdom of God he faced the greatest temptation that anyone would ever face Satan himself for day after day in the desert and what did Jesus get for his faithfulness what did it get him he died a shameful death on the cross absolutely humiliated isn't that right and he was humiliated in the same way He was falsely charged and falsely condemned on the lies of men And he was abandoned on the cross by his father Because of the exaltation and humiliation of Jesus, you can count on God's faithfulness to you. In that terrible moment on the cross, the father was not with Jesus so that he might be with you forever.

You ever thought that thought? God abandoned his son at the cross so that he would be with you forever. By the righteousness of Jesus, our filth was dealt with fully and finally so that the Lord's smile rests upon us forever for Jesus' sake. Where's God in the darkest hours? He's with you for Jesus' sake. Father, thank you for your word.

Lord, your word in its stories, in its history, in its poetry, in its prophecy, in its propositions, all of it addresses every inch of our lives. We are not left in the dark to figure these things out. So Father, we thank you now that we can know that in the darkest hours you will never abandon us. And we know that because of Jesus. Father, help us again.

Right now, we are in awe of you. Father, when real life hits, when real tragedy comes our way, God, help us to recall these truths so that we can honor and glorify you by remembering and counting on the fact that you will always be faithful. God help us. In Jesus' name, amen.