Genesis 37:1-36

A life centered on serving and following Christ sings of God’s providence.

Attending the SD Symphony and thinking about great music, instrumentation, and vocalization.

Jacob Collier, a talented multi-instrument musician. But at his concerts, the greatest instruments are typically the audience.

Collier frequently incorporates his audience into his live performances by turning them into a choir, a technique he calls the "Audience Choir". He uses his musical direction and improvisational skills to guide the audience's vocalizations, often creating complex harmonies and improvisations. This has become a signature element of his live shows, with audiences participating in real-time to create unique musical moments.

It is, or can be, stunningly beautiful. Watching videos of it, I am often struck by the faces of participants caught up in the moment, emotional.

This is an appropriate image for our series in Genesis, lovingly titled “orchestrated.” We’ve been reflecting on the flow of stories in the narrative and how God has orchestrated all of it to shape his redemptive story, his promise. The serpent-crushing offspring of Eve to come, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.

We reach the final third of Genesis in our text, introducing a character who will conclude the book and clearly emphasize God’s purpose unfolding throughout all of life. Using people, events, places, all of it to accomplish his promise, his plans. What He has decreed would be from eternity.

What we call “providence.” “God’s providence is His completely holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing every creature and every action.” WSC Q11

“Ultimately, and above all, the story of Joseph is about God working his will through the everyday events of life. There are no miracles here. God does not suspend his natural laws to make things happen. The story is about the hidden but sure way of God. God’s hidden hand arranges everything without show or explanation or violating the nature of things. God is involved in all events and directs all things to their appointed end.” Kent Hughes

However, we have been building this case all along; hopefully, you have been picking up on that.

So today, in the early life of Joseph, I want us to think of our role in providence. How we lean into, receive, and go with it.

A life centered on serving and following Christ sings of God’s providence.

Two movements in this symphony! We are all in the choir, and it is His song we sing.

We are all in the choir

(Now, this is clearly a promo for the Reservoir choir, so see Becca if you are interested!)

The concept of tapestry weaving, trusting that God is at work even when we don’t see Him, leads right into this story of Jacob and his family settled in Canaan.

These are the vocalists. Jacob, the father, is the patriarch of the family. Joseph, 17, father’s favorite, a dreamer. And his brothers, brutes, envious, angry all.

All of them are instruments of providence, even if they think they are refusing to be. The key is to recognize that you are, so that you can sing/live in tune with God's will.

We have to believe that they are all aware of God’s promise to Jacob (now Israel). They were with him at Bethel. The significance of this family. You would think there would be some unity of mission around it… But there is not.

The story begins with hatred.

Joseph snitches on his half-brothers’ bad behavior. Then Jacob loved Joseph most and gave him a robe with long sleeves or multiple colors. And for all of this, his brothers hated him. This is not regular sibling conflict.

These are grown men. Joseph is a kid, and they hate him because of his father’s actions.

We could say something about the wisdom, or lack thereof, of choosing a favorite Child - Adia is mine today, because she is the only one on the continent with me!

But when you do so, it creates strife, or at the least opens the door for it.

The choir here is humming in the minor key. And it gets worse.

Joseph has two dreams that place him above his brothers and family.

Now, many people read this as arrogance in Joseph, particularly in his telling of his dreams; I think, at worst, he is young and naive.

Interpersonal communication advice: You don’t have to say everything you are thinking or dreaming. In fact, you probably shouldn’t in many cases.

Like telling someone you’ve just started dating that you had a dream you murdered them. They should run!

Joseph doesn’t know better. Genesis 37:8 “His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.” (ESV)

He is in the choir.

“God sovereignly sealed and insured the rejection of young Joseph. Human sin and divine revelation were made to do his good work. As Walter Brueggemann has said:

The main character in the drama is Yahweh. Though hidden in the form of a dream, silent and not at all visible, the listener will understand that the dream is the unsettling work of Yahweh upon which everything else depends. Without the dream there would be no Joseph and no narrative. From the perspective of the brothers, without the dream there would be no trouble or conflict. For the father, without the dream there would be no grief or loss. The dream sets its own course, the father-brother-dreamer notwithstanding. And in the end, the dream prevails over the tensions of the family.”

While these characters don’t come out and say it, there's a sense in the telling that everything is meaningful.

If this is the first time you've heard the story, huge spoiler: it's all meaningful! It is leading somewhere. The conspiring to kill, Reuben’s intervention. Judah’s scheme to sell Joseph into slavery. Midianites selling him in Egypt to a man named Potiphar.

From his dreams onward, there is a sense that Joseph lives for a higher purpose than the immediate, one that transcends self-interest.

It is as if he recognizes that he is playing his role in God’s providence.

Taking up his place among God’s people created for his glory.

Isaiah 43:1–7 “But now thus says the LORD,

he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

[2] When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

[3] For I am the LORD your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

I give Egypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

[4] Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life.

[5] Fear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you.

[6] I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the end of the earth,

[7] everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.” (ESV)

Created for his glory. And this applies to all of us.

The brothers attempt to thwart God’s plans, but fail. Genesis 37:20 “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” (ESV)

Human sin and divine revelation combined to produce a hatred and rejection that ultimately created a way of salvation.

“The sons of Jacob conspire to put the very person to death, without whom they cannot be preserved; yea, he who was ordained to be the minister of salvation to them, is thrown into a well, and with difficulty rescued from the jaws of death.” John Calvin

All these players advancing his promise that will be realized in Christ, and now we, in Christ, advancing the offer of forgiveness and new life to all who will believe.

“The goal of God in creating Israel, namely, for his glory, is not a goal that took effect only at that point in history. It is the goal that guided his creation and governance of man from the start. Man was created from the beginning in God’s image that he might image forth God’s glory. He was to multiply and fill the earth so that the knowledge of the glory of God would cover the sea. And ever since the fall of man into sin, people have refused to align themselves with this divine goal. But all God’s acts have been aimed at seeing it through.

So it is not just Israel but we whom God created for his glory! This is why the New Testament again and again calls us to do all to the glory of God.” Piper

Matthew 5:14–16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. [15] Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. [16] In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (ESV)

The world may hate you because they hated our Savior… but he is still working in us for his purpose and his glory.

“We live in a dangerous world. Disease, disaster, and war sweep many people into eternity every day. Evil men oppress and abuse the godly and the innocent. Unseen to our eyes, Satan and his host go about like roaring lions seeking to devour people and drag them to damnation (1 Peter 5:8). The deceptions and passions of sin rage in our hearts, so that we are never safe from ourselves. Realism demands that we live wisely and prudently in such a perilous place.”

“However, Christians need not live fearfully or anxiously but may cling to the promise of Scripture. Thomas Watson wrote: “All the various dealings of God with his children do by a special providence turn to their good. ‘All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant’ (Ps. 25:10).” He concluded, “The grand reason why all things work for good, is the near and dear interest which God has in His people. The Lord has made a covenant with them. ‘They shall be my people, and I will be their God’ (Jer. 32:38).”

Recognize that you are in the choir. All of life, playing his gig. In Christ for your good. For his glory. Lean into that, knowing where you are headed.

Revelation 7:9–12 “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, [10] and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” [11] And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, [12] saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (ESV)

It is His song we sing

If we are in the choir, how then do we live? How do we sing?

“Joseph had ample reason for self-pity, rage, anger with God, and revenge. He had immense reasons to become enslaved to victimhood. He had been relationally crippled by his father’s overweening favoritism. He had suffered from the “yours, mine, ours” relational pathology of polygamy. He had been monstrously abused by his brothers. The scars were there to stay — their homicidal rage, his beating and humiliation, their demeaning piercing epithets, the agonizing trip to Egypt, and his naked humiliation on the slave block in Egypt. What an opportunity for enslavement to victimhood. But there is not a “poor me” hint anywhere in the entire Genesis account of Joseph! And in Egypt his treatment would become even worse. What the writer wants us to see is that though enslaved, Joseph chose to reject the slavery of self-pity and victimhood.” Hughes

Because he believed God's promise and dreams… he had an immense view of God and so reasoned that God was doing his will throughout the mysterious drama and complications of his enslavement in Egypt.

“Little does he know that this is but the first event God will use to implement his plan for Joseph’s life.” Victor P. Hamilton

The conspiracy of the brothers consumes the narrative. We don’t have Joseph’s thoughts or pleas. Here he is silent as he is led away.

He models something for us, in his trust.

Things are not going according to plan; this is nothing like what he had dreamed. Yet he will come to see it as God’s providence, and walk it out with humility.

“Most of us feel like we know better than God how our life oughta go. And if it’s not going right, we get anxious, we get filled with self-pity, we get scornful, we get skeptical, we just get hard and cynical… Patience and the ability to not worry and not be really upset when things are going wrong in your life is essentially a kind of humility. It takes humility to say I thought this is the way life should have gone, but I guess not. How do I know? How do I know what God can see? I can’t see the end from the beginning.

It takes pride to be worried. It takes a lot of pride to say I know how it oughta go and I am afraid God’s not going to get it right. Humility says “I don’t know.” And you have enough joyful hope, enough belief in the fact that weeping my tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning. That for a Christian joy is always on the way because the One in charge of us, of the whole universe, is our Father.” Tim Keller

I want to approach life in this way.

I am not saying that we don’t remain active and avoid being killed and sold off. But we live holding things loosely enough that when life unfolds unexpectedly, I follow the choir director’s lead, not my own.

“God isn’t asking to be your number one priority. He’s asking to be the paper that every priority is written on.” Matt Chandler

1 Corinthians 3:23 “and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” (ESV)

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, [20] for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (ESV)

Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (ESV)

Benefits of knowing God’s providence: “That we may be patient in adversity; thankful in prosperity; and that in all things, which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing shall separate us from His love; since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move. (Q&A 28)” Heidelberg Catechism

Joseph has a quietness here that points somewhere else…

“Though he could not know it, Joseph was going through an experience which was to become a major theme of the Bible. The godly Servant was despised and rejected, only to become the rescuer of those who abused him (Is. 53:3–6); the Lord’s shepherd was underrated (Zc. 11:12–13), was struck down and his sheep scattered, but the ‘sheep’ found they were the Lord’s people (Zc. 13:7–9); the way of the cross involved for Jesus betrayal by a friend, as well as agony and death, but it was the way to life for all believers.” Joyce G. Baldwin, The Bible Speaks Today

Joseph's story foreshadows Christ, as both were beloved sons who faced rejection and hardship, ultimately leading to greater purposes in God's redemptive plan for humanity.

Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth. (ESV)

1 Peter 2:23 “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (ESV)

And because Joseph lived singing in the choir as an instrument of providence, the offspring that blessed all the families of the earth has come and grants us life and liberty by the finished work of his cross and resurrection.

Now we have steady hearts in him. Even when our circumstances are turbulent or painful, we too can cultivate inner quietness by exercising faith in God’s providence. David said, “I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.” (Ps. 39:9). Godly quietness under sorrow comes not from hardening our hearts and shutting down our emotions but from clinging to God in the midst of the storm.

“Joseph’s life teaches us that life is full of inequities and unfairness and tragedies. But it also teaches us that we have a great God who works amidst the rich compost of human life to do his will. We must understand that as God’s children, we are called to give everything to him, even the bitter things of the past. As believers, we have been set free from the bondage of sin and death (Romans 8:2). We must rest everything on the awesome God of the Bible. We must believe that the awesome God of Genesis is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him — that he is good and equitable to all his children (cf. Hebrews 11:6). We must appropriate the freedom of Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).” Hughes

"He works out all things, not just some things, according to the counsel of His will".

We sing along until everyone hears.

A life centered on serving and following Christ sings of God’s providence.

Moravian missionaries: Their all-consuming purpose was to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. Passion took a pair to St. Thomas, eager to preach and willing to give themselves away in the process.

“The Moravians had learned that the secret of loving the souls of men was found in loving the Savior of men. On October 8, 1732, a Dutch ship left the Copenhagen harbor bound for the Danish West Indies. On board were the two first Moravian missionaries; John Leonard Dober, a potter, and David Nitschman, a carpenter. Both were skilled speakers and ready to sell themselves into slavery to reach the slaves of the West Indies. As the ship slipped away, they lifted up a cry that would one day become the rallying call for all Moravian missionaries, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.” The Moravians’ passion for souls was surpassed only by their passion for the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.”

Take up your robe: Believe in Jesus. Recognize the role you play in the providence of God. Trust that Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were for you, to cover your sin and give you the life you were meant for.

Sing Along: Tell others of the grace of Christ, the gift of life, in every corner of our lives. So the Lamb that was slain may receive the reward of His suffering.

Each of us has a part to sing, raising a glorious harmony to heaven for the glory of our God. May it be so in us.