Never Take Your Eyes Off of God

Last Sunday we talked about Moses and that when the Israelites were put into slavery in Egypt. I mentioned that Joseph had been forgotten with his passing and many other Pharaoh’s after him.

Today we are going to go back and talk about Joseph. Joseph was the son of Jacob and Rachel. Rachel his mother died when giving birth to Joseph’s youngest brother Benjamin. I want to spend a little time with Joseph and his life that was dedicated to God. There is a lot we can take away into our own walk with Jesus today.

So, lets open our Bibles and start with the book of Genesis chapter 37 verse 1…Joseph is 17 years old at this time.

[Genesis 37:1-11 NLT] 1 So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner. 2 This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father's flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. 3 Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph--a beautiful robe. 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn't say a kind word to him. 5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 "Listen to this dream," he said. 7 "We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!" 8 His brothers responded, "So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. 9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. "Listen, I have had another dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!" 10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. "What kind of dream is that?" he asked. "Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?" 11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.

Three things

that stand out here in these chapters are that first Jacob loved Joseph more than his brothers. So much more he makes him this special tunic of many colors. This didn’t fit well with the family. Josephs brothers hated him.

Jacob / Israel – Loved Joseph

[Genesis 37:3 NLT] 3 Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph--a beautiful robe.

How did his brother react?

[Genesis 37:4 NLT] 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn't say a kind word to him.

I see Joseph as kind of like a “Hallway Monitor” remember that kid that always followed the rules and if you didn’t you were going to hear about it. Joseph did not fit in with his brothers.

Genesis even tells us that he would tell on his brothers when they were not behaving.

The third thing to notice here is that Joseph is having these vivid dreams that he does not understand.

We know in reading this what happens to Joseph and that God is revealing a prophetic message. In some way I feel that these dreams were so vivid and shoot Joseph to his core. So much so that he recognized that God had a plan for him, and it was vital that he keep his eyes on God.

We are not so much different. In order to fulfill God’s purpose for our lives we must keep our eyes on Jesus. When we sin, we experience a separation from God. purpose, we cannot lose sight of God. Joseph as we will see in the coming weeks never took his eyes off of God.

Joseph – Two Dreams

[Gen 37:7 NLT] 7 "We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!"

[Gen 37:9 NLT] 9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. "Listen, I have had another dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!"

Again, I feel that the impact of these dreams on him was so big that he could do nothing less than to share what he had seen. Now this would start a direction of Joseph that would change history. Let’s continue to read.

KILL Joseph!

[Genesis 37:12-18 NLT] 12 Soon after this, Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father's flocks at Shechem. 13 When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, "Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them." "I'm ready to go," Joseph replied. 14 "Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are getting along," Jacob said. "Then come back and bring me a report." So Jacob sent him on his way, and Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron. 15 When he arrived there, a man from the area noticed him wandering around the countryside. "What are you looking for?" he asked. 16 "I'm looking for my brothers," Joseph replied. "Do you know where they are pasturing their sheep?" 17 "Yes," the man told him. "They have moved on from here, but I heard them say, 'Let's go on to Dothan.'"***(That is about 64 miles to walk)*** So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there. 18 When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. Josephs brothers are so frustrated with him dealing with his favoritism and now these dreams of his family bowing down to him was more than they could take. They want to kill him.

So, his brothers seem him coming and are not excited to see him. Instead of preparing a place for him to eat with them after a long journey; they plot to kill Joseph. But Rueben the oldest of all the brothers stops them from killing Joseph. He convinces them to not kill him but put him in this pit. Then Rueben planned on coming back and taking Joseph back to his father Jacob.

[Gen 37:22-24 NLT] 22 "Why should we shed any blood? Let's just throw him into this empty cistern here in the wilderness. Then he'll die without our laying a hand on him." Reuben was secretly planning to rescue Joseph and return him to his father. 23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24 Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

The brothers were talked out of killing him for a while. As they are eating, we will read they see traders coming. Now they see that they could make some money on him rather than kill him.

Joseph is sold for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites. He is now taken to Egypt where he gets sold again to an Egyptian official of Pharaoh’s court. The Captain of the Guard Potiphar. Let’s read.

[Genesis 39:1 NLT] 1 When Joseph was taken to Egypt by the Ishmaelite traders, he was purchased by Potiphar, an Egyptian officer. Potiphar was captain of the guard for Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

From a Favored son / to a Pit / to a slave

So, now we see the difficulties that Joseph is going through. And even though they are rough he never loses sight of God. He is now sold to an Egyptian official of the Pharaoh’s court and I love this part as we read to see that God blesses him because he honors God. Joseph has this relationship with God because the distractions going on around him did not make his lose sight of God.

[Genesis 39:2-5 NLT] 2 The LORD was with Joseph, so he succeeded in everything he did as he served in the home of his Egyptian master. 3 Potiphar noticed this and realized that the LORD was with Joseph, giving him success in everything he did. 4 This pleased Potiphar, so he soon made Joseph his personal attendant. He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he owned. 5 From the day Joseph was put in charge of his master's household and property, the LORD began to bless Potiphar's household for Joseph's sake. All his household affairs ran smoothly, and his crops and livestock flourished.

This is an important lesson for us to take this week from Joseph. Our enemy Satan will do whatever he can to get us to be distracted. Once we are there and not looking to God, we follow our old selves and the ways of the world:

[Col 3:7-10 NLT] 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. 8 But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 9 Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. 10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

Renewed in this verse means to gain new strength. This week I allowed Satan to distract me. I allowed him to make me feel anger and frustration. See I allowed it. God was with me the whole time. But I chose to let go of His hand. That is the taunting that Satan will do. He wants you to leave the protection of your Father in heaven. When we do this, we lose. Jesus said to see first the Kingdom of God.

[Mat 6:33 NLT] 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Jesus says that if we seek Him… He will give us everything we need. When we let go of His hand is when we try to do things our own way. Jesus paid it all on the cross for each and everyone of us so we can have this personal relationship being filled with the Holy Spirit to overcome everything Satan throws at us. But we have to put Him first. Joseph put God first… He did not know why God revealed these visions to him. He did not know why God would allow his brothers to sell him into slavery. But in spite of this he kept putting God first, and the visions he had we will see are revealed.

We can learn a lot from Joseph. Think about this too. He did not have fellowship with other believers as we do. He did not have a bible as we do. He was only able to trust God from what he had been taught by his father Jacob for his years of learning till he was 17. He is now given authority because of his faithfulness. God honors us when we are faithful to him. How often do we lose sight of God in turmoil? When things are going well is seems easier to hold that smile and be faithful to God. But when things start going bad instead of holding on tighter as Joseph shows us, we let the worries of our circumstances change us. We get hard to be around. Joseph shows us that no matter what God must be first.

I feel that these dreams that Joseph had earlier in his life are what he is holding on to. I feel that he trusts that they were so real that they had to be of some importance of what God was going to do with his life. He never lost sight of this truth.

That is our encouragement. Never lose sight of the truth. God wants us to hold on even tighter when things get rough. That is when he does is best work. Next week we will continue in seeing what obstacles might come Joseph’s way. You know when you are on the right path the devil will do whatever he can to destroy that path.

Let’s pray