Sovereignty and Hope
Notes
Transcript
Comedian Mike Goodwin was doing a show where he said,
“In life you only got two things to worry about: whether you’re healthy, or whether you’re sick. If you’re healthy, you ain’t got nothing to worry about. If you’re sick, you got two things to worry about: whether you’ll get better, or whether you’ll get worse. If you get better, you ain’t got nothing to worry about. If you get worse, you got two things to worry about: whether you’re going to live, or whether you’re going to die. If you’re going to live, you ain’t got nothing to worry about. If you die, you got two things to worry about: whether you’re going to heaven, or you’re going to hell. If you’re going to heaven, you ain’t got nothing to worry about. If you’re going to hell, you only have two things to worry about: original or extra crispy.”
We worry about a lot of things! Sometimes I wonder if we are too fixated on problems that we don’t focus on what Jesus wants us to do about those problems! Do you ever worry something to death? Your fears drive you to decision paralysis, or worse, an acceptance that this is the way it is always going to be and there is nothing you can do about it. Our fears have a way of driving us to desperation. What we will see as we jump back into the story of Joseph is a contrast between two people. What I want us to see is that the sovereignty of God anchors our hope, and that we can turn to a sovereign God amidst the trials in our lives.
Israel had moved into the land of Goshen, a territory within Egypt. But the famine is not over. It worsens. What is in store for God’s people? Let’s take a look.
Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.
Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone.”
Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is gone.”
So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our lands.
“Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”
So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s.
As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other.
Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.
Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land.
“At the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”
So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”
Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.
Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.
Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.
When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt,
but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.”
He said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.
The famine worsens. One group suffers while another thrives. The circumstances are the same. A famine is putting strain on resources.
When we encounter times of scarcity, how do we react? This story offers reminders through an understanding of God’s sovereignty.
God prepared for this.
God prepared for this.
If we go back a couple of chapters and revisit the moment Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers, we see that he understood that everything he endured was a part of God’s plan to move him to Egypt to secure a future for his people. What happened to Joseph was no accident. God planned it.
“Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
“For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
“God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
“Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
“Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.
“You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.
“There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.” ’
The famine was expected by God. He knew it was coming. He was not caught off guard. He never is.
We sit amidst a high degree of economic uncertainty. Will gas prices ever come down? Will groceries ever come down? Why does it cost more money for basic goods than a TV at Wal-Mart? We have people in our church facing health crises. Some of them were unexpected. For others, it was a bit expected, but we didn’t know it would be like this. How long will this continue Lord? That’s the question we are all asking.
But God prepared for this. Everything we are experiencing in the world is something God has planned for, and because we are still here, we have a part to play.
God provides during scarcity.
God provides during scarcity.
In this story, the Egyptians suffer tremendously. They give up all their money, all their livestock, and eventually their land. They were no longer the owners of their lands or themselves. Now, this doesn’t mean that the Egyptians became slaves in their own country like we think of a slave. Scholars say that rather than subjecting themselves to an oppressive slavery like we are familiar with, they became more like tenant farmers, where they no longer owned the land but instead were required to give twenty percent of the crop to the Pharaoh as payment for the use of the land.
Meanwhile, the covenant people of God moved in and thrived. Israel didn’t suffer in the same way the Egyptians did. They were protected. They were provided for. They flourished while the Egyptians didn’t. There is an important lesson here. God takes care of his own.
“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
Fast-forward a few hundred years and the nation of Israel had left Egypt to enter the Promised Land. As they sat near the banks of the Jordan river, Moses reminded them of how God provided for them when food was scarce. They spent 40 years in the desert and God provided for them.
There are times of abundance and there are times of scarcity. God is the God of them all. So remember that when resources are limited, when your dollars don’t go as far as they used to, or when there is less access to resources, God will provide during those time. How do you need to trust in God’s provision today?
God’s Word provides assurance.
God’s Word provides assurance.
We are tempted all the time to believe God won’t show up, that somehow this time he will abandon us. Even though the Egyptians had to give up a significant amount of resources for survival, they survived. Israel grew in resources and number amidst one of the worst famines in Egypt’s history. Notice the contrast and the reason behind it. God promised his people would be saved, and they were. He showed up for them. He continues to show up in Israel’s history. He rescues them numerous times in the book of Judges. He rescues them from the Philistines. He rescues David from Saul. He brings them back from exile. He sends Jesus. The church has endured for 2,000 years. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi thanking them for their support in sending him what he needed. They were great partners in his work. He writes,
You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone;
for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs.
Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account.
But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Verse 19 is not just a promise for the Philippian church. It is a reminder to our church and to you that God will always supply all your needs. But it will be all your needs, not all your desires. The truth is we can get by with a whole lot less. We must be careful not to let our consumerism distort what our needs actually are.
God is faithful. He will not abandon you. In times of hardship and in times of plenty, we must never lose sight of where the gifts come from.
The sovereignty of God means that the righteous are not forsaken.
The sovereignty of God means that the righteous are not forsaken.
This is a tremendous promise. When we suffer, we are tempted to think God has turned his back on us. David was an old man when he wrote this, and he was no stranger to a troubled life. But in Psalm 37, he writes about an incredible promise:
I have been young and now I am old,
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
Or his descendants begging bread.
What are you worried about? Remember that he will be with you. He does not forsake his children. Where do you need to trust God today?
