The Gift of Difficult Circumstances

Introduction

There is a lot that is happening in our text this morning. It would take us the majority of the morning to read our text to fully comprehend the moment. So what I would encourage you to continue to do is read along with us throughout the week, go home, and as you rest or wind down before you prepare for the week tomorrow, read through Genesis 42-44. Then this week read 45-50 as you get ready for us to wind up our studies in the book of Genesis.

Looking at 42-44 we see that Joseph, having been sold into slavery (having been a better option than being murdered by his brothers) goes through very difficult circumstances:

Sold into slavery (moved, transported away from his home and those he knows/loves, intimidated, and treated like a commodity/cattle).

Trying to do a good upstanding job to Potiphar (chief of police), Potiphar’s wife frames him. Potiphar should have had him killed, but there is no doubt integrity, honesty, and a reputation about Joseph that lands him in prison instead of receiving the death penalty.

Helps out the chief cup-bearer who is in prison as well… is forgotten about for two years!!

Pharoah has some wicked dreams, the cup-bearer remembers Joseph, calls him out, Joseph helps Pharoah by interpreting his dreams. The dreams speak of a seven year famine. He helps Pharoah and the whole people of Egypt and becomes second in command to all the nation. Joseph, by God’s grace, helps save the word/creation.

Just before we get to chapters 42-44 he has two kids… Manasseh and Ephraim. Things are so good right now (job, wife, life) that he’s been able to forget the hardship, pain, and betrayal of his family so he names his first son (I have forgotten). Not only are things good in the land he was sold into as a slave… but THEY’RE really good, so he names his second son Ephraim (fruitful). 

So it would be as if you went through what Joseph did… betrayed, sold, intimidated, entrapped, punished for your integrity and uprightness, lied about, forgotten about, all the while seeking to make those around you excel and do well… and now, you are on top… you have two kids you name one “Memory-B-Gone” and the next you name “Jackpot”… the next one is going to be “Glow-up”.

But the story is not over…

Chapters 42-44 tell us about the reunion of Jospeh’s brothers and himself.

What have you done when you were wronged, being on the short end of power or authority, when you finally had the power and authority to affect those who wronged you? How do you, how have you used that power? How will you use that power?

Chapter 42 starts with Israel (though the Bible will use the name Jacob and Israel interchangeably) sending all his children, save Benjamin, down to get grain in Egypt.

Symptoms:

Joseph encounters them and remembers them. But they do not recognize him. He speaks harshly to them… he sets off on a series of tests as he interacts with them, never disclosing to them who he is.

He gets out of them that their little brother is still alive, but back with his dad. He holds onto one of the brothers (Simeon) as a test for them to bring back the little brother to show what they say is true. He sends them off with grain and puts their silver (to purchase the grain) back in their bag.

They get back to their dad… he’s upset that it looks like his sons robbed Egypt/Pharoah and he lost another son.

They run out of grain they need to go back but the sons won’t go back unless they have Benjamin. Jacob/Israel is apprehensive but lets him go. They get down there, Joseph sees his little brother and tucks himself away, weeps where they won’t see him, and then tests them again. He sends them off with a cup tucked in one of their bags of grain. He then sends troops after them to discover the stashed/planted cup… and this is where we will join the story in our text.

If you have your Bibles or on your devices, please turn with me to Genesis 44:14-34. If you are willing and able, please stand with me as I read God’s word this morning.


This is the word of the Lord. Pray. Amen. Please be seated.

Diagnosis

So what would you do in Joseph’s position?

You can read about what he did. It takes a bit of intentionality to understand what’s in the Bible and why it’s in there. Just because it’s written in there doesn’t mean we do it… what I mean by that is, “Oh, Jacob took two wives… oh, ok… two wives it is.” Maybe more dramatic, “Cain killed his brother Able… Ok, welp here goes nothing.”

Both Joseph and his brothers are put in a pressure situation:

Joseph is being confronted with his past and those who have severely wronged, abused, and treated him as property. Remember he just had two kids “Memory-B-Gone” and “Jackpot” and is now reliving all of his emotions.

The brothers are being pressured by self-preservation through a harsh malevolent seemingly manipulative dictator either through lying, deception, or honesty.

What would you do, what would I do?

Cultural

How might we respond if we are discipled by the flesh and/or by the world?

If you were in Joseph’s sandals:

Seek revenge: Use your immense power to punish your brothers severely for selling you into slavery. Make them suffer as you did.

Humiliate them publicly: Expose their past crimes before the Egyptian court to destroy their reputation forever.

Manipulate indefinitely: Keep playing psychological games with them, never revealing your identity, and enjoying their confusion and fear.

Withhold grain completely: Let them and their families starve as punishment for their betrayal.

Reject reconciliation: Hold onto bitterness, refuse forgiveness, and cut off your family permanently.

Use your position to extract excessive payment (extort): Demand they serve as your slaves as compensation for their treatment of you.

If you were in the position of the brothers:

Abandon Benjamin and Simeon to save yourselves: Leave your brothers as a slave in Egypt to protect yourselves, just as you once abandoned Joseph.

Lie to your father again: Create another deception to explain Benjamin’s absence, adding to the web of lies about Joseph.

Conspire against the Egyptian ruler: Go to TikTok square or Facebook public house and begin to spread rumors and half-truths to get people on your side and crush them with social pressure.

Deny all responsibility: Refuse to acknowledge any connection between your current troubles and your past sins.

Bribe officials: Try to corrupt the Egyptian system with whatever wealth you have left.

Flee (run) the country: Attempt to escape back to Canaan without fulfilling your agreements, even if it means permanent exile from Egypt.

Why won’t this work:

Joseph:

God says revenge is His (Deut 32:35)… we can’t carry it. We weren’t made to carry it. God is the avenger, not you and me. We do not have the wisdom of God nor the mind of God to carry it out righteously. It’s something in us that can not be satisfied… that’s the lie, if I get back at these people, I’ll be satisfied.

Bitterness only kills the one who holds it. It’s drinking that bottle of poison with your enemy in front of you and waiting to watch them die.

Doing sinful things in response to sin only creates more sin. Two sins don’t make a right. It may feel good in the moment, in the end… sin leads to death… not only physical death, but more tragically, separation and death in our relationship with God.

Brothers:

Jesus spoke plainly when he said that those who seek to save their lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives for his sake will find them. To put it in a way that Joseph’s brothers and their contemporaries may have understood: When we prioritize our own safety and comfort above all else, we ultimately lose what truly matters. But when we surrender our self-interest and align ourselves with God’s greater purpose, we discover genuine life. Just as a stone must be properly shaped and precisely placed to support a strong structure, our contributions to God’s work must be marked by integrity and righteousness. Only then can we participate in building something that endures beyond ourselves.

When wounded people wound others, they create cycles of harm that destroy community. Responding to personal attacks by gathering allies against your opponent through half-truths isn’t justice—it’s adopting the enemy’s tactics. While manipulation and deception might seem effective for self-protection, they contradict Christ’s way. True integrity means refusing to spread rumors even when wronged, and instead modeling truthfulness that calls everyone to a higher standard.

Illus: I’m reminded of Joshua’s conversation with the Commander of the Lord’s Army in Joshua 5 just before they go and attack Jericho… Joshua sees a man with a sword drawn… he goes up to him and says, “Are you for us, or our enemies?” The commander replies, “Neither, but as commander of the Lord’s army I have come”. Joshua falls facedown to the ground and replies, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” Church we are not to get God on our side, He is not on our side… the call is to get on His side.

Biblical:

Both are tested… Joseph and his brothers. Just like we get tested.

Testing is a form of grace.

In testing there is a pressure that comes. We’ve talked about this before… when a cup gets shook, we get to see what comes out. It can look like all sorts of things… healthy, wealthy, happy, mature, life squared away, we’ve got it all figured out… you know what I’m talking about. Whatever we put on social media, whatever we want people to think about us, that’s what we put out there. When we get shook, what comes out? That’s what’s in there, that’s what’s in our heart.

So what comes out… here’s a little biblical diagnosis:

Galatians 5:22-23… “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”


Galatians 5:19-21… “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

God allows us, leads us, brings us into testing to form us and allows us to see what is inside.

Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure… it’s the Lord that can discern and know the heart. In His grace and kindness, He allows our heart to be exposed in a way that shows us what’s in there.

Jesus was pressured… Jesus was shook. We saw the revelation of Jesus’ heart. Jesus would tell us and those who sought to follow Him, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Luke 6:45

What did Jesus say upon the cross after suffering unjustly, being whipped, scourged, and tortured… “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

Cure:

This is the heart of God for you and for me. In exposing what is in our hearts through circumstances is a grace of God for the formation of our souls to be made more into the image of Jesus.

The reason Jesus compels those who would follow Him to love their enemies is because that is exactly what He does. “ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8…This is what means to follow Jesus… to be like Him, “You be holy (set apart for and to the work of God) for I am holy.” (Lev 19; 1 Peter 1)… I’m getting ahead of myself.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, the pastor of the early church said this.. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

Whether we are Joseph, who is experiencing rest (in comparison to the trials of dungeon, cells, and slavery), good and beneficial work, and fruit of his faithfulness, testing will come. It will and can come in unresolved trauma or issues. It can even come when our comforts and loves are threatened, either perceived or real… what comes out?

Whether we are the brothers who have buried past sins beneath layers of self-justification, our hidden deceptions eventually surface, demanding to be reconciled. Every person faces moments when our true character is revealed through crisis—not in our initial impulse toward self-preservation, but in our ultimate choice between continued deception or humble confession. The path to restoration requires acknowledging our wrongdoing without excuses, accepting consequences with dignity, and placing others’ well-being above our own comfort. Only then can genuine reconciliation replace the shallow peace we maintain through denial.

In these moments of truth, we glimpse the heart of the gospel—that Christ entered our broken stories not to condemn but to transform. Just as Joseph’s suffering became the vehicle for his family’s salvation, our trials become the sacred ground where God’s redemptive work takes root. For in revealing our hearts, God isn’t exposing us to shame us, but inviting us into the same mercy that flowed from Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them.” This is the miracle of grace—that our deepest failures become the very places where God’s healing power proves most profound.

Prescribed Treatment:

The gospel invites us into that healing space, transforms us, and sends us out for others to taste the goodness of God through our lives. When that happens, lives are transformed, families are transformed, communities are transformed, work places are transformed, states are transformed, nations are transformed. But it starts with you. It starts with me.

How will it look now that I’m following Jesus and these past hurts come up? I get to decide what I will do with it. Forgive as Jesus forgave me… or hold onto bitterness and give what’s coming. Will I start a new path of love, forgiveness, truth-telling, grace, and honesty or will continue to look to manipulate others to be on my side.

It seems paradoxical… but we have to fight to love. We have to fight to forgive. We have to be so intentional in the way of Jesus (thank you for that message last week Paul) in todays age. Because it’s so easy to use the world’s way of “winning”. It’s even masked in Christian lingo.

We can’t do it alone… we need prayer.

We need the Word of God.

We need community (the church)

We need to make active steps towards forgiveness and healing

We haven’t read the end of the story yet, we see these brothers in mid-stride of what is taking place. But they have a choice to make, Joseph and his brothers. We see change in Judah. He sacrifices himself for his little brother.

We have choices we make. Will we walk in light of the gospel and what we know to be true about Jesus, what we know to be true about us, and what we know to be true about us in light of who Jesus is?

Jesus has come that in following Him we might have life, and life more abundantly.

John Sailhammer (the late theologian and scholar) observes that:

“Jacob’s first words are a foreshadow of the entire narrative, typical of Biblical narrative” Sailhammer, The Pentateuch as Narrative.

“When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.” (Genesis 42:1-2)

They would need to go down. In going down, they are confronted with sin that they committed earlier. Joseph is confronted with the sin done to him. Both needed healing and forgiveness. God would lead them into this space that there might be life.

This is a pattern for us in dealing with the sin that we have committed, the sin done to us, and the sin done in our presence. We need healing, we need forgiveness, we need restoration in our relationship with Him.

The path to life often requires leaning into these difficult places/spaces where our past actions and wounds resurface. God orchestrates these encounters not to punish us but to heal us. What appears to be merely about survival—grain in a famine—becomes the sacred ground where confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation can finally take root. The church becomes the community where we brave these journeys together, finding in our shared vulnerability the very restoration we’ve been seeking all along.

God is faithful to His promise and His word… He has come to give us life. Will we turn to Him?

That is the call this morning. If you need prayer to that end today, we will offer a time of prayer for anyone who needs it. If you want to give your life to Jesus today because you are tired of reaping the rotten fruit the flesh and the world has to offer (bitterness, envy, jealousy, hatred, etc) then come and be prayed for… today is the day to be saved from that and saved to a new life in Christ where joy, peace, love, kindness, forgiveness is yours to be had in abundance.

If you are a follower of Jesus but realize that you’ve allowed other yourself to be discipled by things other than Jesus and you want to start to see that fruit of the Spirit back in your life, then come and be prayed for too.

If you are carrying the unimaginable, difficult, or hard weight of circumstances and want prayer, that’s open for you as well. Come down as we sing…

Let us look to Jesus for how we will walk through this current trial. Let us learn from the story that we read today, while not completely finished, we have an opportunity to trust Jesus with our story that he will lead us into the way and the path of everlasting life.