Steps to the Blessing of God - Pt1
Joseph - God Meant It For Good • Sermon • Submitted
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22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
1. God Remembered Rachel
1. God Remembered Rachel
God cannot forget, so how can He remember?
Heb = to mark so as to be recognised
But not a physical mark - it’s more like marking someone out for particular attention.
Sometimes as a teacher I had to look out for the quiet person in the class who may have been struggling and one way or another try to hone in on them and try to help them get past their difficulty.
That’s this idea of remembering - to turn your attention to an individual for a specific purpose.
God remembered Noah and all on the ark...
1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;
…God’s purpose was to preserve their lives and use them to repopulate the earth.
God remembered Samson...
18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.
God’s purpose with Samson was to use him to deliver Israel from under the hand of the Philistines.
God remembered Hannah...
11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no rasor come upon his head.
God’s purpose with Hannah was to give her a son who would be last in the office of judge and first in the office of prophet.
Solomon called on God to remembers the “mercies of David”...
42 O Lord God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.
God’s purpose was revealed to David, that David’s son, Solomon, would build God a temple to dwell in among His people.
So when we say “God remembered”, it’s shorthand for saying that God turned His attention to a particular individual to work out the purposes He had planned to do, at the time He had planned to do them.
What had God planned for Rachel?
10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. 11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
God spoke to Jacob 3x concerning “thy seed”.
Because God had promised to bless Jacob’s “seed”, Rachel, as Jacob’s wife, could expect to be given a son, even though she had to wait.
Even though Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah had already given children to Jacob, Rachel also came under Jacob’s blessing from God.
Rachel was blessed “in Jacob” because of the relationship she had with Jacob.
Through marriage, Jacob and Rachel became one flesh. I know the whole situation was messed up because of polygamy, but the principle of two becoming one still stands.
Since Jacob and Rachel had become one through marriage, the promise given to Jacob was also fulfilled to Rachel.
That in itself is a picture of how we are blessed by God.
2 Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
“Sanctified in Christ Jesus” - our sanctification, our setting apart unto God, is possible only because we are in Christ Jesus. He is the elect one, the chosen of God, and when we are placed in Christ and made one with Christ, we then come under that same banner and are made elect because of Christ.
Example of this principle working positively and negatively...
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
When we are conceived and born we are in Adam - fleshly human beings and inheritors of Adam’s sin nature. Since we are identified with Adam, our first father, we are also identified with Adam’s sin, and “the wages of sin is death”.
When we are born again, we become spiritually alive with new life and are made inheritors of Christ’s nature - not His deity, but His eternality - we’re given His eternal life, and so our identity in Christ makes us alive.
Let’s quickly look at a couple of other examples...
Our victory in Christ:
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
Our liberty in Christ:
4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
Our unity in Christ:
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Our spiritual blessings in Christ:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Our purpose in Christ, to show forth the wisdom of God:
10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
And so, just as Rachel was remembered by God and blessed through her relationship to Jacob, so we are remembered by God and blessed through our relationship with Christ.
What does God remember concerning us?
14 For he knoweth our frame;
He remembereth that we are dust.
In remembering that we are dust, God considers these truths about our nature:
[a] That we are created by Him
[a] That we are created by Him
For God made Adam out of the dust ofthe ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
And so our created purpose is to bring glory to God.
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
[b] That we are frail flesh
[b] That we are frail flesh
15 All flesh shall perish together,
And man shall turn again unto dust.
Since God remembers that we are dust, that we are hindered by the limitations of our flesh, He has given us the Holy Spirit to work within us, enabling us to live holy lives of service.
[c] That our days are limited
[c] That our days are limited
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
One day, if the Lord tarries and spares, these physical bodies will return to dust.
And so God calls us to “[redeem] the time” - to make best use of the limited time available to us.
And when our time is done, God will raise others to work in our place, so that the work of God through His church continues as He promised.
[d] That we are imperfect and tainted by the fall
[d] That we are imperfect and tainted by the fall
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
And so, God’s mercies are new every morning, because He remembers how weak we are because of our inherent sin nature, and He knows the battle we need fto fight every day to live holy lives.
So when God remembers us:
He glorifies Himself through us
He activates His power in us
He opens up opportunities to us
He bestows His mercy & grace upon us
2. God heard Rachel
2. God heard Rachel
“God hearkened to her”
Rachel was praying for a child. After 11 other children being born, 10 sons and 1 daughter, Rachel’s heart was broken.
She had even resorted to superstition.
14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.
The mandrakes is an aromatic plant and it was thought to be a powerful aphrodisiac. The roots are narcotic. In small doses they could have been used to help relieve rheumatic pain, but in larger doses they acted like an hallucinogen.
People also used to place mandrake root into some form of jewellry as a cure for sterility. Whether she viewed it as a medicinal remedy, a charm, or a narcotic drug, it’s clear that Rachel was desperate for a child.
Now, after such a long time, God heard Rachel’s cry.
But notice the order of words - God remembered, then God hearkened. God’s hearkening was in response to His remembering more than it was to her crying.
In remembering Rachel, He was beginning to activate His plan. What He heard from Rachel was a plea that was in harmony with His own purposes.
God wanted to bless Rachel with a family, even as Rachel herself was asking God for a family.
God’s will and a woman’s heart were in sync, and as a result, not only was Joseph born, but the source of two tribes of Israel was born in one person. From Joseph would come the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, and in fact, Ephraim would become so great that the name Ephraim would often be used by the prophets to represent the 10 northern tribes of Israel.
17 The Lord shall bring upon thee,
And upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house,
Days that have not come,
From the day that Ephraim departed from Judah;
Even the king of Assyria.
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah saw his wound,
Then went Ephraim to the Assyrian,
And sent to king Jareb:
Yet could he not heal you,
Nor cure you of your wound.
14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion,
And as a young lion to the house of Judah:
I, even I, will tear and go away;
I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
So we can see God’s purposes being fulfilled as Rachel cried out to God and God hearkened.
That’s also essentially how prayer works.
We are to pray according to the will of God.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
But sometimes we can’t easily discern what the Lord’s will is and therefore we don’t always know exactly what to pray for.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
When we don’t know exactly what to pray for, we can respond in one of two ways:
We can pray so generally that we’re not really asking God to do anything specific at all. Really we’re just praying that God will do what He does and we’re just going to sit back and let Him do it.
That’s not really praying. That’s just abdicating and hoping God works it out in the end.
The other response is to pray specifically, but leaving the answer open to the Lord’s will.
You might say, “what’s the difference?”
In the first case, we’re not praying by faith. We’re just takling our hands off completely and hoping for the best.
In the second case, we’re praying by faith, acknowledging the wisdom and goodness and might of God to answer prayer as He sees best.
The first doesn’t expect an answer, the second does.
The first isn’t praying in the Spirit, but the second is
The first can’t edify because there’s no way to identify God’s answer. The second can edify because an answer is expected one way or the other.
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
It’s so important when we pray that we pray specifically, surrendered to the will of God and guided by the Spirit of God.
But we also need to make sure that we are asking with the right spirit in us - our spirit needs to be right as we come in prayer.
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Sometimes we expect God just to do what we expect Him to do without us ever asking.
Can God work independently of our prayers? Of course He can - He’s God - He can work how and when He chooses. But He chooses to act in response to our prayers.
James said, “…ye have not, because ye ask not.”
That’s so simple, isn’t it. Sometimes, maybe even oftentimes, we don’t get because we don’t ask.
Salvation of the lost / Godly men and women in government / Changes to immoral laws / Revival in the hearts of God’s people / Fruit from our service for the Lord - we need to ask.
But we need to ask right.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Asking with selfish motivations. Asking for our glory, not God’s. Asking to make us feel better. Asking with unconfessed sin.
So many ways we can nullify our prayers just because we’re praying carelessly.
James again said:
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
God remembered Rachel
God heard Rachel
She conceived - she acted in faith
She conceived - she acted in faith
After crying out to God, Rachel went in unto Jacob.
And God answered her cry by allowing her to conceive.
The removal of the obstacle had to be followed by an act of faith.
When we pray for God to move, we also need to move by faith.
So often God’s people pray for revival, and then those same people just keep living their own lives the way they always have. Yet revival starts in the hearts of God’s people. We have some mystical notion of revival. There is no guarantee that a revival will be accompanied by droves of people getting saved. Revival is when God’s people start acting like God’s people, living the way God intends His people to live
She bore a son - God gave fruit
She bore a son - God gave fruit
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
You see the steps to blessing?
God remembers
God hears
God removes the obstacles
God’s people move by faith
God brings forth the fruit