The Goodness of God

the Christian life is not always easy

contending with the world

various forms of temptation

dealing with sin in the world and the consequences thereof

trying to witness to people and the hardships that can sometimes come with that

trying to do the best we can, and it seems like the devil just sometimes gets in the way

throughout all of this, we can know that God is with us

1 John 3:1 KJV 1900

1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV 1900

16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

the Bible tells us that God is with us, and what greater blessing is there

we can think about having our mother or father with us, it’s much greater than that

if you have kids or grandkids, it’s much greater than that

if you have a pet you like more than anyone in this world, it’s even much greater than that

it’s greater than any possession, fame, or status

we can think about what God has done for people like Joseph, people like Peter or Paul, people like Moses, Elijah, David, Gideon, Joshua, or any number of other people

that is the same God that is with us, and He’s with us every day, all the time

Where else can we start with the goodness of God, but at the beginning?

Genesis 1:26 KJV 1900

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

firstly, we see that God made us in His image, after His likeness

God has made us in a blessed way, in a privileged way, blessed in just our very way of being, with our ability to make decisions, to not be a robot or like an animal, responsible for the way we live our life

Secondly, he handed dominion over the earth to man, essentially to subdue it, to be fruitful in it, etc

so not only has He created us in a special way, He has given us a special position in the creation He’s made

Genesis 1:27–30 KJV 1900

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

not only does man have dominion over the earth, but it’s a good earth, Good in God’s standards, not even ours

We can think about the beauty of the earth and of creation, think about all the amazing nature documentaries out there

the beautiful birds, the beautiful fish, the beautiful animals

the food that God has given us, Solomon talks about the simple blessings in life, good food, good drink, time with family, etc.

We can see that just by creation, whether it be the way that we were created, or the creation around us, that God has greatly blessed us in ways that we often may just blow right past every day

sometimes it would help us just to take a step back, smell the roses, and just think about the amazing ways that God has blessed us that we pass up every day

it can be so easy to focus on the negative, but God is with us, and He’s with us in this wonderful creation

With all these things in mind, let’s look at an example of someone who’s life was massively affected by the goodness of God

Genesis 37:23–24 KJV 1900

23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; 24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

you may think, “well this doesn’t sound like a “goodness of God” moment

sometimes we have to think about the bigger picture, like when we’re looking at this story

and sometimes when something is happening to us, there are times we just have to trust God

That’s what Joseph did, he just trusted God

Genesis 39:1–4 KJV 1900

1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. 2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.

v1 - now we see he’s carried off from his homeland, surely he would have been panicking, thinking that he’s in really bad shape

v2 - and here’s where we see it, the Lord was with Joseph and the Lord greatly blessed him

v3-4 - in fact he was SO blessed, that his situation was starting to turn around

here he was, in a pit, a literal pit, and now he’s the overseer of the captain of the guard’s house in Egypt, the most powerful nation in the world at the time

how quickly can God turn a situation around, more than we could ever even perceive of

Then, potiphar’s wife tried to seduce joseph and joseph, being a Godly man, spurned her

she then lied about joseph to potiphar, the captain of the guard, a man with power, and was thrown in prison

Egyptian prisons in these days were rough, often placed way out in the middle of the desert so that escaping was pretty much impossible

this is where Joseph would interpret the dreams of both a baker and a butler who were in service of the pharoah

we know, through the blessings of God, that joseph interpreted these guys’ dreams correctly

this is a very interesting story because dream interpretation was very popular in egypt, and it was systematized

every symbol had it’s supposed meaning in Egyptian dream interpretation

Joseph, did not use the standardized egyptian interpretation, however, he used the interpretations that God enabled him to have

so we know that God has been with Joseph, and that God enabled joseph to interpret these guys dreams

and even though it seems like a bad situation for him, considering he’s in prison, it quickly turns around

one day, the pharoah had a dream, and we’ll pick up reading Scripture here...

Genesis 41:8 KJV 1900

8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

we see here that the magicians of egypt were unable to interpret pharoas dream, egyptian dream interpretation was not up to the task, nor were their magicians

Genesis 41:9–13 KJV 1900

9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: 10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker: 11 And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. 12 And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. 13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

v9 - and we have the butler show back up, one of the people whos dream was interpreted by joseph in prison

so now, through such an unlikely series of events, now the pharoah has heard about Joseph and that he can interpret dreams, right when pharoah has a need of that

we read in earlier verses about how God was with Joseph, and we certainly see that here, how amazing.

so then the pharoah brings joseph to his court and asks him to interpret his dreams

Joseph does, with the help of God, interpret pharoas dreams

the gist of the dream being that 7 years of plenty and afterward 7 years of famine was coming to egypt

Genesis 41:37–45 KJV 1900

37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. 38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? 39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: 40 Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. 41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. 42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; 43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. 44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

v40-41 - we see that Joseph is then given effective rulership of the country of Egypt, with pharoah saying basically only in technicality am I greater than you

v42 - We see Joseph got a right, linen, and a gold chain

this gold chain was all but the highest status symbols in ancient egypt, only given to people of the highest ranks

v43 - we see further how even the public acknowledged josephs new role

v44 - without thee shall no man lift his hand or foot

So joseph has quickly went from prisoner, out in the middle of the desert toiling away under the hot sun, to what is basically the pharoah, the king of egypt

truly we can see the goodness of God working in Josephs life

we see God’s goodness, but that doesn’t mean joseph didn’t suffer, because he certainly did suffer from time to time

but it was all for a reason, and it all worked out for good in the end

Romans 8:28 KJV 1900

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

this is very reminisce of joseph’s life, he stayed close to God throughout all his troubles, yet everything worked out for good for him

So as we look at the life of joseph, we can see some parallels to certain things emerge

first of all, he’s down in a pit, down in a hole, in a terrible place

that’s where we are when it comes to our life without God

we are in bondage to sin, stuck in it’s lifestyle, on our way to death and on our way to hell

but when we are saved, God takes us out of the pit, God gives us newness of life

As believers, God is with us, and we see what happened when God was with joseph, who was close to God his whole life

God took josephs life from something that could have very well been completely terrible, to essentially being the king of the most powerful country in the world at the time

God took joseph’s desperate situation, and turned it into something unimaginably greater

and that’s what God can do for us in our life

we can think about what could have happened to Joseph had God not been there for him, had joseph just been a regular guy who didn’t care at all about God

his brothers would have thrown him into the pit

he would have been sold into slavery

he would have either been a slave for the rest of his life, or he would have gone to prison and likely either been killed or been there for life

and that would have been it.

but we see how massively different God’s goodness and God being there for us can be, it can make all the difference in the world.

Joseph’s story reminds one of this Psalm

Psalm 113:4–9 KJV 1900

4 The Lord is high above all nations, And his glory above the heavens. 5 Who is like unto the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high, 6 Who humbleth himself to behold The things that are in heaven, and in the earth! 7 He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; 8 That he may set him with princes, Even with the princes of his people. 9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house, And to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.

Just like God’s goodness made the difference for Joseph, it can certainly make the difference with us