The Story that Shapes Us 6: From the Pit to the Palace

This podcast is brought to you by Walmart Group of Lutheran Church in Langley, DC, in the hope that it will draw you closer to the one who loves you most.

So Susan and I were talking the other day about how things can go along rock solid steadily for an extended period of time, and then a phone call or a text message comes and everything changes.

And we know that to be true because we've experienced that ourselves.

For 14 years ago this summer, we got one of those phone calls.

We had been in Alberta, we were celebrating and visiting with family and friends.

We were on our way back.

We got a phone call during the drive from our son Morgan saying that one of our other sons, Logan, was hurt, and he was hurt really badly.

We had so many questions in our hearts and in our minds in those moments.

And there were no answers.

God seemed to be silent.

And so we drove on through the rest of that day, through the night, and into the next day into an unknown future.

Now I know that many of you have had those same moments in your life where you get a phone call or a text message or some other form of communication.

And through no fault of your own, the ground just seems to drop out beneath you.

Maybe like us, it was a phone call saying that a loved one has been badly hurt.

Perhaps you stood by a hospital bed as someone you love slipped away.

Could be a doctor's diagnosis, an unexpected betrayal, a financial collapse.

Any of these events can turn a future that we thought was secure into sand that slips through our fingers.

And the worst part of it all is when you need him most, sometimes God seems to be silent.

You cry out for a word of comfort, some assurance that everything is going to be okay, and you hear nothing.

So what do we do when our world has been turned upside down and God seems silent?

As we think about this question, we're going to continue the story, digging into the story that shapes us, and open our Bibles to Genesis chapter 37, verses 12 to 28 and following.

Genesis 37:12–28

Now you might remember from last week that God revealed to Jacob that he was providing an Axis munde, an absolute center for this tumultuous world that anchors us in all things.

And later in scripture, it was revealed that that Axis munde is Jesus Christ.

And now this week we see that Jacob has now had twelve sons.

Some years have passed, and one of the youngest sons, Joseph, is his favorite and very precious to him.

Jacob lavaged attention on Joseph and gave him a coat of many colors with ornate decorations.

And Joseph had these vivid dreams, which would imply that all of his brothers would bow down to him.

Joseph's brothers hated Joseph because he was his father's favorite.

And they hated him even more when he shared his dreams with them.

Now, one day, when Joseph was about seventeen years old, his father sent him to check on his brothers who were shepherding their flocks and report back to Jacob.

And so now Joseph was not only his father's favorite, he was his father's spy.

He had already tattled on his brothers once before, and now he was going to do it again.

And when his brother saw Joseph approaching them, wearing his fancy coat, they made plans to kill him.

Here comes that dreamer, they said to each other.

Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say a ferocious animal devoured him.

Then we'll see what comes of his dreams.

The eldest brother, Reuben, perhaps feeling some responsibility for Joseph, convinces the rest of his brothers not to kill him, but to imprison him in a cistern instead.

Reuben's intention was to come back later and pull Joseph out of the pit and rescue him and return him to their father.

But while Reuben was away, at Judah's suggestion, the remaining brothers sold Joseph as a slave for 20 pieces of silver to a band of Ishmaelites that happened to be passing by.

When Reuben returned and found that his brother Joseph was gone, he tore his clothes in a sign of grief.

To cover up what they had done, the brothers took Joseph's beautiful coat, ripped it, and dipped it in goat's blood, then showed it to their father.

Thinking Joseph was dead, Jacob tore his clothes and grieved for him for many days.

Joseph was taken to Egypt and he was sold to Potiphar, the captain of the soldiers who guarded Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

Joseph worked in Potiphar's household and served so faithfully that Potiphar put Joseph in charge of all that he had.

And things were looking good for Joseph, until Potiphar's wife accused him of trying to rape her.

Potiphar had Joseph thrown in the royal prison where he languished, forgotten it seemed, for years.

Again, throughout it all, God was silent.

But even here, Joseph was faithful, and the prison keeper put him in charge of all of the prisoners.

More time passed, and two of Pharaoh's staff were thrown into that prison, the wine steward and the baker.

Both of them had disturbing dreams, and when Joseph saw the troubled look on their faces, he asked them why.

We both had dreams, they answered, but there is no way, no one to interpret them.

Then Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God?

Tell me your dreams.

They did.

And Joseph gave them God's interpretation.

In three days the wine steward would be lifted up to his former position, but the baker would also be lifted up, but to execution and to being hung on a pole.

Joseph asked the wine steward to mention him to Pharaoh when he was restored.

The future unfolded just as Joseph had predicted, but the wine steward quickly forgot about Joseph.

Two years later, Pharaoh had two troubling dreams, and none of his advisors could interpret them for him.

And it was at that moment that the wine steward remembered what Joseph had done and mentioned him to Pharaoh.

Pharaoh ordered that Joseph be brought out of jail, cleaned up, and brought before him.

Pharaoh described his dreams to Joseph, and Joseph gave to Pharaoh God's interpretation.

The dreams meant that there will be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine.

Joseph went further and suggested that Pharaoh appoint someone to oversee the gathering and storing of food during the good years to create a reserve that would be used to keep people alive during the famine that would follow.

The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials.

So Pharaoh asked them, Can we find anyone like this man?

One in whom is the Spirit of God?

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.

You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders.

Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.

So Joseph became the second most powerful person in all of Egypt, completing an incredible rise from the pit to the palace.

But the incredible trajectory of Joseph's life was not the result of chance.

It was all part of God's plan to redeem and restore all things.

God lifted Joseph from the pit to the palace so that Joseph could serve in a role that would not only save the land of Egypt, it would also save God's people and God's promise of a Messiah.

So, what does this mean for us?

Well, one way to look at the book of Genesis is to see it as a series of stories about key people and successive generations.

It starts off with the story of Adam, and then the story of Noah, and then the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And now we're digging into the story of Joseph.

And in each of these stories, each of these narratives, God works in incredible ways to preserve and protect his people and advance his promise that he would send a Messiah who would undo all of the damage done by sin and restore and renew all things.

But here, in the story of Joseph, God reveals something new and powerful about the way he works in human lives.

Joseph goes from beloved son to betrayal, to pit, to slavery, and then to prison.

And through it all, God seems silent.

The Bible does not tell us of any communication from God to Joseph.

No words describing God's plan, no indication of his purpose, no revelation of promise, only silence.

And yet, if you look closely, you can see God's fingerprints of grace throughout the entire story.

Reuben's intervention keeps Joseph alive.

Judah's proposal to sell Joseph into slavery, though it's flawed, prevents murder.

A caravan just happens to be passing by at exactly the right time.

And Joseph is taken to Egypt, the one place where a devastating famine would later be survivable.

You see, God is not absent in the silence.

Even though we cannot see him, he's there.

And the powerful new element that God introduces to us through the life of Joseph is this: God is at work even when he seems silent.

And this truth became infinitely more powerful centuries later, when God the Son became fully human and entered this world in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus also experienced a horrific descent.

He went from beloved son to betrayal, to condemnation, to crucifixion, to death, and burial in a tomb.

And through it all, God seemed silent.

No words of comfort, promise, or explanation.

The only one who's speaking is Jesus.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

I tell you the truth.

Today you will be with me in paradise.

Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.

And then throughout the day after Jesus' death, what we now call Holy Saturday, God was still silent.

God had already revealed that he was at work even when he seemed silent by raising Joseph out of prison at just the right time and in just the right way, so that he could be perfectly placed to interpret Pharaoh's dreams and perfectly prepared to step into a divine opportunity to oversee a food program that would save countless lives, including those of Joseph's own family, the family who carried the promise of the Messiah.

And then on that first Easter morning, God revealed that he was at work in a much greater way through the silence of Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

For during those days, God was preparing to reveal the greatest work of salvation in all of human history, which he revealed on Easter Sunday by raising his son Jesus from the dead.

And that's when the full significance of what Jesus did on the cross was revealed.

He paid the full cost for all humans, in fact, all creation to be forgiven, restored, and renewed through him.

Now going back to our trip those many years ago, as we continued traveling toward BC, I'd said that God was silent.

But he wasn't silent for long.

As we drove uh west that evening, I saw a large cloud that was brightly illuminated in a way I'd never seen a cloud illuminated before because the sun was shining right behind it.

And as I gazed at that cloud, it seemed to me that God was saying, I'm here.

And everything is going to be okay.

When we stopped briefly for during the night for a rest, my mind was swirling with unanswered questions.

But God helped me to remember the things I did know.

Jesus has defeated death.

Jesus is with Logan.

Jesus is with us.

That was all I knew.

And then I realized that was all that I needed to know.

That first night in Klowna, as Susan and I grieved the potential loss of our son, we realized that we both needed to support the other person as they grieved, even though they were grieving in a different way than we were, because otherwise the grief was going to tear us apart.

Through that whole experience, God was teaching us things that we could not have learned otherwise.

But he saved his best lesson for the last when he raised Logan to a complete recovery.

Because then God taught us and all the other people who were praying for Logan that he's still in the business of doing miracles.

You see, dear friends, God does some of his best work in the pit.

Jesus' resurrection proves that.

So the challenge that I'm setting before you this week is to live as people with resurrection-shaped hope.

Trust that God is faithfully at work in your life even through the silence.

Watch for the signs of his presence that he gives to you.

Refuse to give despair any foothold in your heart.

For the God who raised Jesus from the dead was with Joseph in his pit and he will be with you in yours.

And as David so beautifully put in Psalm 23, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Thank you, Jesus, for going to the cross, dying there, and rising again.

So that in you we would have that sure and certain hope and promise of life and forgiveness and salvation.

And we pray that by your spirit you would encourage and strengthen us and help us to continue to trust throughout all those times when we like Joseph, like you, are in a pit of darkness.

You are the light that the darkness can never overcome.

Thank you, Lord, for your love.

We love you too.

We pray all these things in your precious name, and all God's people said, Amen.

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Thank you, thank God.