God Sent And Made Me

Introduction

Authority

“I am Joseph-your brother.”

Joseph had great authority

He was second only to Pharaoh.

He could do anything he wanted.

He exceeded the house of Potiphar.

Almost none of us will ever have this kind of power.

Almost none of us will get this kind of authority.

This means that we won’t ever get the temptation that comes along with this authority.

Power comes with great temptation. It corrupts.

How Joseph used that authority

He identifies himself as their brother.

Not “I am Joseph - Father to Pharaoh,” “I am Joseph - Lord of Pharaoh’s house,” or “I am Joseph - Ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

If you were the vice president, would you not put that on everything? Business cards, Holiday cards, License plate.

Certainly you’d get excited when people addressed you as “Mr. or Mrs. Vice President.”

You’ve earned that title. How much hard work, how much suffering did you go through to get there?

You would certainly do it to the naysayers; you would certainly do it to those who sold you to the Egyptians.

There’s almost nothing more satisfying than looking at your enemies when you’re on top of the world.

Joseph only used his authority when he had to.

Certainly, he used his authority.

He used it to serve Pharaoh.

The argument could be made that he “misused his authority,” when he made his ploy to entrap them.

But if it was really about using his authority, surely he would have used it when speaking to his brothers.

His authority never went to his head.

This is because he views his authority from God.

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And he always views himself in subjection to God.

We see this even before he’s second to Pharaoh.

Although he could have laid with Potiphar’s wife, he said that she was his Master’s wife; and how could he do this great wickedness and sin against God?

But this most definitely means that he didn’t get this idea while in command of Pharaoh’s kingdom. And he certainly had it even before Potiphar.

We don’t get this humility or meekness while in authority. We must have this qualifying factor beforehand.

We must realize, as Joseph did, we are only put into our positions because of God. It is only by His grace and work that we are in whatever state we are in.

Affliction

“For God did send me before you to preserve life.”

Joseph acknowledges his brothers wrongdoing.

“Whom ye sold into Egypt.”

He knows it was by their hand, that he got into all this mess.

This shows that he doesn’t just ignore what his brothers have done.

Forgiveness is not pretending nothing is wrong.

In fact, one must truly come to grips of the wrong doing before forgiveness can take place.

But he’s truly forgiven them.

“Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither.”

“Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither.”

He doesn’t use it against them, in fact, he goes further and is quick to reaffirm his love.

He does not wait. He doesn’t let it “sink in.”

He acknowledges their fault and quickly says “Don’t be grieved or angry with yourselves.”

He does not think they should pay for the crimes they have done against him.

In a way, he may already know that they have.

But consider what he could have done.

When his brothers saw him, they looked at the situation as an opportunity had fallen in their lap.

They could harm him and get away with it, too.

When Joseph saw his brothers now, is it not a divine opportunity?

But not to get vengeance. But to show grace and forgiveness.

Because he considers others.

He considers God.

Although he knows it was his brothers sold him into bondage, he also considers it necessary of God, that it was done.

He views his suffering beyond the hands of sinners, and by the hand of God.

He sees the greater purpose.

But think not that it didn’t come through a lot of “Why God?” “Why did you allow this?”

If Jesus had a few of these moments, Joseph certainly did.

To preserve life.

It was a process he came to.

To preserve life.

He knows God’s greater plan beyond his suffering.

But how?

How is it so natural for us to throw ourselves

He considers the people outside himself.

To preserve life.

He knows God’s greater plan beyond his suffering.

But how?

How is it so natural for us to throw ourselves a pity party and yet it appears Joseph did not?

This can only come from his personal experience with forgiveness.

No one on this earth had a position to forgive Joseph, he never gave them a reason to forgive.

But it is by his experience with the forgiveness of God.

This is the only way Joseph could have been given the life of suffering he was given, and yet desiring to preserve other people’s life by his suffering.

Although Christ had not yet come, he looked forward to him to know and understand forgiveness. Even in his suffering.

Accomplishments

- Joseph, in this moment, was living this verse.

But to believe this verse, you have to accept that you’re accomplishments are not really your own.

As hard as it might have been for Joseph to accept that God allowed him to suffer, and it was in fact the active hand of God that brought him through suffering, that alone is not enough.

Then, you have to accept that if you suffer according to God’s plan, your accomplishments cannot be your own.

He knows that his authority was given to him by God, but he goes another step to say that even what he did with that authority is not by his own hands, but the same hands that brought him suffering.

What a wonderful relationship Joseph had with God and his Savior.

It’s not just by chance that Joseph is a prophetical picture of Christ, there’s something that causes him to be so much like Christ. And it is from his relationship to a not-yet-arrived Savior.

Egypt and by association other lands were prospering during this famine.

But Joseph views it by the hand of God, not his own.

Everything good in our life, our great accomplishments, are not by our own hands, it is by the hand of God.

Even as I say this, it’s hard for me to accept.

There’s room for doubt in my mind, because it is true that God gives us free will.

But we also see the evidence of what happens when people genuinely believe it. Great things were accomplished. Joseph, Gideon, Jesus.

Truly, it has to be the case. Truly, we have to believe it.

He knows that his authority was given to him by God, but he goes another step to say that even what he did with that authority is not by his own hands, but the same hands that brought him suffering.

What a wonderful relationship Joseph had with God and his Savior.

What a wonderful relationship Joseph had with God and his Savior.

It’s not just by chance that Joseph is a prophetical picture of Christ, there’s something that causes him to be so much like Christ. And it is from his relationship to a not-yet-arrived Savior.

It’s not just by chance that Joseph is a prophetical picture of Christ, there’s something that causes him to be so much like Christ. And it is from his relationship to a not-yet-arrived Savior.

Conclusion