A Trustworthy and Dependable God

Psalm 105, verse 12. Let's pray and we'll get

Psalms 105:12

started. God, we come to you tonight. We thank

you for your good word. And I pray that your

Holy Spirit would help us to see your faithfulness,

dear Lord. To see time and again how you are

good to your people. In the Old Testament. We

see so many examples, dear Lord, in the New Testament

and our own lives, God. We see time and time

again how good you are to your people. And so,

God, I pray tonight that we would know that you're

a God that will not leave us or forsake us, but

you are a God who desires to take care of us,

to stand with us, to provide for us, dear Lord.

So I pray that we just would feel your strength

and your presence, God, that we would just stand

firm and be encouraged by these words tonight.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, throughout this Psalm 105, we see some examples

of God's faithfulness. And really, we start with

Abraham, and the psalmist kind of makes their

way through some of these early days of Israel.

And it's a call to remembrance. That's really

what we looked at last week in these first...

In a few verses, we see this call to give thanks

to Yahweh, to call on His name. And then in verse

5, to remember the wonderful works He has done.

And of course, the Scripture is full of wonderful

works that God has done. From the beginning of

the Bible to the end of the Bible, we see...

wonderful works that God has done. And last week

we saw that God was faithful to his people, that

he had made a promise to Abraham that all nations

would be blessed through Abraham. And in the

short term, this was going to mean God's people

were going to be established through Abraham

and they were eventually going to get a land

that was going to be their own. And in the long

term, it was pointing to Jesus Christ, that not

just the Jewish people were going to be blessed

by God. Indeed, they were God's people, and they

were chosen to be the means by which the Messiah

would come. And so God established his people

so that he could establish a way to bring about

Jesus Christ, our Savior, and he fulfilled all

of those promises. Now, of course, this psalm

is not... Not looking too far out to Jesus, but

in the short term, it's reminding us that God

did establish his people through Abraham. And

he promised to bring them into the promised land,

and God had done just that. He had brought his

people into the promised land. And that's what

we looked at last week. That's the first reference

we see, a reminder we see of God. fulfilling

his promises, that he was faithful to his people.

And tonight in verse 12, we're going to start

and we're going to look at the next instance,

the next reminder of God's faithfulness. Verse

12, when they were few in number, that is God's

people, when they were few in number, very few

indeed, and temporary residents in Canaan, wandering

from nation to nation and from one kingdom to

another, he allowed no one to oppress them. He

rebuked kings on their behalf. Do not touch my

anointed ones or harm my prophets. Okay, so when

God first began to establish his nation of Israel,

it started with Abraham and it began to grow.

And even though they were God's people in a foreign

land, God continued to protect them. And ultimately

they were going to grow into a big nation. But

in the meantime, God was... faithful to Abraham,

and he was faithful to Abraham's descendants,

and God continued to watch out for them and to

protect them and to take care of them. And then

we move on to a beautiful example of what I think

is one of the greatest stories in all of the

Bible. If you've never read the story of Joseph

before, you can find that in Genesis, starting

in chapter 37, and pretty much from there to

the end of the book of Genesis is the story.

of Joseph, and it's a beautiful story. We spent

several weeks on it a few years ago and went

through that whole few chapters, kind of breaking

it down. You can find that online if you want

to go back and listen to that series on our church

website. But I encourage you to read that story

and read those chapters. It's a great story,

and we're going to talk about it as we go through

these scriptures here. In verse 16. He called

down famine against the land and destroyed the

entire food supply. He had sent a man ahead of

them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt

his feet with shackles. His neck was put in an

iron collar until the time his prediction came

true. The word of the Lord tested him. The king

sent for him and released him. The ruler of peoples

set him free. He made him master of his household,

ruler over all his possessions, binding his officials

at will and instructing the elders. Now, one

reason why I really like this story is I think

it's a good reminder to us that God works in

ways that do not always make sense. In verse

17, it says, he sent a man ahead of them. That

is, there was going to be a famine in the land,

and God sent a man ahead of them. Well, to really

appreciate what exactly took place, what's being

referenced here, we need to refresh ourself with

this story of Joseph. Now, Joseph had some brothers,

and they didn't really like Joseph. Joseph was

the favorite, and Joseph had had some dreams.

And he told his brothers those dreams. He said,

I had a sheaf of wheat, or I think it was wheat,

and your sheaves were all bound down to my sheaves.

And they said, you think one day we're going

to bow down to you? And then he had another dream,

similarly, about the moon and the stars. And

again, a reference that one day everybody in

Joseph's family would bow down to him. Well,

his brothers didn't care for this dream at all,

and they didn't like him at all. And so, long

story short, they decided to sell him into slavery.

And good riddance, they thought. They sold their

brother Joseph into slavery. They killed an animal.

They put the blood on his cloak, and they took

it to their father. And they said, hey, look

here. Guess something got Joseph. And, of course,

his father was just really upset about what had

taken place. But nevertheless... God was going

to use this horrible situation for his good.

Now, it doesn't seem very good when your own

brothers capture you and set you as a slave off

to a foreign land. But God knew what he was doing.

God was, as the scripture says here, was sending

a man ahead of them. Now, Joseph's story, it

was kind of up and down, but it wasn't good times.

It took years for his story to unfold. Ultimately,

he was sold to somebody in Egypt. And throughout

Joseph's story, we see a theme. And that is that

God was with Joseph. And God blessed everything

Joseph did. God blessed. And so even when he

was sold into slavery, he pretty soon worked

his way up to second in command at Potiphar's

house, the first person he was a slave for. Through

a series of lies that were told on him, he was

imprisoned again. I'm skipping over some of the

best parts of the story. You have to read it

yourself. But he was thrown into prison. And

again, the Lord was with him and the Lord blessed

him. And lo and behold, he became a high up in

the prison under the warden. The warden entrusted

him with certain things and privileges because

he was a man that was blessed by God. But it

just so happened. That the prison that he was

thrown into was the same prison where the enemies

of Pharaoh and the ones that Pharaoh didn't like

were thrown. And it's there that he met a couple

of Pharaoh's servants who Pharaoh had thrown

into prison. And they had some dreams which Joseph

was able to interpret for them. And one of them

got to go back and serve the king, serve Pharaoh.

The other one Pharaoh had killed. But Joseph

told the one that he interpreted the dream for,

he said, hey, look, when you get back to Pharaoh,

put in a good word for me because I ain't done

anything to deserve being here. But a long time

passed. And then eventually that guy remembered

when Pharaoh had a dream, hey, wait a minute,

there was this guy in prison. And again, Joseph's

on the move. And guess what? Again, the Lord

is with Joseph. And Joseph becomes second in

command. and all of Egypt. Now, a lot of time

had passed by. It's a lot that had taken place

that God was going to use Joseph to provide for

his people. About over 20 years had passed from

the time that his brothers had sold him into

slavery from the time that he was going to be

reunited with them. But God sent a famine on

the land. Of course, God had blessed Joseph,

and Joseph knew how to prepare for the famine

and advised Pharaoh how to prepare for the famine.

And lo and behold, when the famine hit the land,

Egypt had an abundance of food, and no one else

did. No one else in the land had food, and times

were getting hard. And guess who showed up in

Egypt and needed food? It was Joseph's own brothers.

Now, this is a good example of a bad situation

that God uses for good. God knew what he needed

to do. He knew that that famine was going to

come. He knew that his people needed to be provided

for. And so to provide for his people, God allowed

Joseph to be sold into slavery, to be put into

prison. To ultimately make his way to a foreign

country and be second in command so that God

could carry out his purpose. And maybe, maybe

God does that in our life sometimes. There may

be things that we go through that are really

hard. I suspect that... what Joseph had to go

through was really hard. It's not easy when your

own family turns on you. It's not easy being

a servant in a foreign land. It's not easy being

in prison. None of those things are easy. Being

separated from your family, but yet God knew

what he was doing. And even there, he allowed

some things that were not easy, that were tough,

so that he could use Joseph for the good of his

people, for the good of his... And maybe God

is doing that in our life. And maybe it's good

for us to look at stories like this and be reminded.

What's the point of this psalm? It's to remember

what God has done. To remember how gracious God

was to Joseph and to his people. And this is

a beautiful story. It's a beautiful reminder.

And maybe we need to be reminded tonight that

God is good. Because maybe tonight we're in a

bad place, and we don't see how any good can

come from this. Now, I don't know what Joseph

felt. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what

he felt. He probably felt like, well, I'm going

to be in prison the rest of my life. I'm going

to be a servant in Potiphar's house the rest

of my life. His situation was not good, and it

didn't seem good at the time, and he probably

didn't know if he was going to have a future.

But God knew what was taking place. And God had

him just where he wanted him to be. But that

probably is not where Joseph wanted to be. And

I think God still works in our life in the same

way. Sometimes God puts us in places where he

wants us to be. And it's not where we want to

be. And it's hard for us to see how any good

can come from it. But it can. But here's what

we have to remember. We can read this story of

Joseph. You can go back and turn to Genesis 37.

You can read through the whole story. And even

if you're a slow reader, it won't take you an

hour. And you see the beginning. Man, he was

sold into slavery. Man, he's second in command,

provides for his family a happy ending. But that

happy ending took over 20 years. And that's the

part we don't like. Because we'd like to be able...

In some seasons of our life, it just turned the

page real quick, right? But in the case of Joseph,

man, that story had a happy ending, but it didn't

have a quick ending. And so maybe there's a point

in our life that some of us are at now where

it's a really hard season and we don't see the

happy ending, but we need to know that God is

good. If we're trusting God, that God will be

with us. He was with Joseph every step of the

way. He took care of Joseph every step of the

way, albeit not in great situations. He was a

slave for Potiphar and in prison. Not the best

situations in the world, but nevertheless, God

was with him and ultimately God delivered him.

And so maybe find some encouragement in that

tonight. Maybe you're not in a bad place tonight.

Maybe you're in a good place. Praise the Lord.

Maybe you're doing good and you're in a good

season and things aren't hard right now. Maybe

you've been able to see how God's working in

your life and just what He's doing and it all

makes sense and you just praise Him tonight.

But maybe you're scratching your head saying,

man, there's some things in my life and they

don't make sense. I just don't know how God can

use this for good. But God, He works in some

ways that we don't understand. He sees the big

picture. He puts all the pieces into place just

where they need to be. He's put pieces into place

probably in our life years ago. So that they

would fall into place at just the right time.

And that's what he had done in the story of Joseph.

And I think God still does that in our story

today. So let us be reminded and encouraged that

God is good. That he's fulfilled every promise.

He took care of his people. He took care of Abraham.

He took them to the land he told them he was

going to give them. He provided for them once

they got into that land, even in a time of famine.

Everything God has promised, it has come true.

From the very beginning of Abraham all the way

to Jesus Christ, every promise that God has made

has come true. And so he is a trustworthy and

a dependable God. And we need to know that today,

wherever you are. In your life, no matter how

good or how bad it may be, God is trustworthy

and he is good. And just as he was with his people

and delivered them all those years ago, so he'll

deliver us today. Let's pray. God, we thank you

for your good word. I pray that you would help

us to be reminded of your goodness and your faithfulness,

dear Lord. We certainly don't deserve it. You're

not good to us because we are just so awesome.

Dear Lord, that's not the case, but we come to

you. even though we are weak and sinful. And

God, sometimes we just, we get ourselves into

the messes that we are in. And that's not good,

dear Lord. We're not pretending like it is, but

we just need you to help us, God. Even when we've

made a mess of things, I pray that we would repent

and that we would seek you. I pray that we would

be reminded of your goodness and your strength

and your power again and again through the pages

of Scripture. That as we see how you have taken

care of your people, These couple of examples

we've looked at over the last couple of weeks,

that we would be reminded to know that you would

take care of us, dear Lord. We don't know what

the future may hold. And just like with Joseph,

dear Lord, our future may have some really difficult

times. But God, let us not forget you. And we'll

know that you have not forgotten us. And I ask

these things in Jesus' name. Amen.