Genesis 50:15-21 “The God Underneath”

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

! Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.

! I'd like to start by talking with the kids up here for just a minute.

Some of them who left are coming back in right now.

Parents, if you're confused, that was my fault.

But we will send them right back where they're going.

Kids, if you want to come sit on these steps,

we're going to talk for just a minute this morning.

And then we will let our kids worship kids.

Go back out that way.

Yeah, just sit right there on the step.

Just wherever you're comfortable.

There you go.

Can everybody see me?

I'm trying something new out here.

Because there's so many of y'all sometimes that I can't see all of you.

You know, a lot of times at church we talk about happy things, don't we?

Like heaven and God's love and forgiveness.

And I do want to remind you kids today that God loves you.

All right?

Can you all see me over here?

All right?

But I want to do it in a little bit different way than we often do.

I want to ask you, can you think of something that sometimes makes you sad or scared?

Can anybody think of something that makes you sad or scared?

Go ahead.

You can just call it out.

When one of your family members gets cancer.

Okay.

So somebody that you love might get really sick.

And that's scary and sad, isn't it?

What else?

The dark.

The dark.

Is anybody else scared of the dark sometimes?

I sometimes get scared in the dark.

That's a lot of us.

Okay.

What else?

That my brother, Caleb, went off to college.

Oh, do some of you have brothers and sisters that have already had to move away from home

and go to college?

That's hard, isn't it?

You miss him?

Yeah.

One more thing.

Anybody else?

Go ahead, Jared.

You got hit on the forehead and it really hurt, didn't it?

For a long time.

Has anybody else ever gotten hurt?

Maybe you get a boo-boo.

Maybe you even fall.

It just makes you sad, doesn't it?

And it's really hard.

All of those things.

There are a lot more things.

I'll let you can all talk about it later, okay?

But we're going to stop with just those examples for this morning.

Those are things that are really hard, aren't they?

You ever been left out before by friends?

It makes you feel sad.

You know the song, Jesus Loves Me?

Do y'all know that song?

How do you know that Jesus loves you in that song?

Jesus loves me, this I know, for?

The Bible tells me so.

You mean it doesn't say that everything in your life is good and easy and that's how you

know Jesus loves you?

No.

No, it says the Bible tells us that no matter what is going on in our lives, whether it's

hard or sad or scary or hurtful, that Jesus still loves us.

Isn't that amazing?

All of the time, the Bible tells us God loves those whose hearts are broken because they're

so sad.

The Bible says God loves those who are poor.

The Bible says God loves those who are scared, who are afraid, and that we can trust Him when

we are.

Isn't that wonderful?

Because sometimes we're sad, aren't we?

Sometimes we're scared.

And God still loves us.

God still loves you.

When?

All the time?

Did we sing that earlier?

All the time, God is good.

Now when you go back to your seats in just a minute, we're going to talk about a story

of someone in the Bible named Joseph.

Does anybody know about Joseph?

Joseph goes through a lot of really hard things and a lot of really sad things.

And even though he might get scared sometimes, he learns that God still loves him.

So when y'all go back to your seats, will you listen carefully about how the Bible teaches

us about that in the story of Joseph?

Can y'all listen with me?

And then those of you who are in kids' worship, y'all are going to learn too, okay?

What's the question?

Which Joseph?

This is the good question.

This is Joseph in the Old Testament, not Joseph who's Mary's husband and the father of Jesus,

okay?

Joseph in the Old Testament who has a special coat and whose brothers are not very nice

unlike yours, all right?

Let's pray and then you can go back.

Jesus, thank you so much that you love us all the time.

I thank you for these kids.

I pray when they are afraid that they will learn they can trust you.

That they will know they can turn to you and that you still love them and that the hard

things in their lives are not evidence that you've quit loving them, but that you keep

being with them.

And I pray that you will teach us that from your word, God, as we open it today.

Would you speak through it to our hearts?

We ask in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you all so much.

If you were back there with kids' worship, you see Miss Katie waving to you, go right

back where you just were and others of you can go back to your parents if that's where

you were staying for the sermon.

Okay.

Looks like you got them all.

Excellent.

As we've started our journey through these old stories to see the big story that God's telling,

we have heard repeatedly of God's blessing, haven't we?

All the way back from the beginning when He blesses us in the greatest way possible, creating

us in His image for relationship with Him.

And then God repeats that blessing, doesn't He, to Noah after the flood.

Last week, Abraham, whom God blesses and promises to make a blessing to others, in fact, to all

nations, right?

He promises Abraham a special relationship.

He promises Abraham a promised land.

He promises Abraham a seed, a great nation that will come from him, a people through the child

of promise.

Remember?

That child of promise whom Abraham almost had to sacrifice until God sent a substitute?

Pastor Derek so helpfully opened that story up for us last week, Abraham and Isaac.

And he reminded us that God often gives us a compass rather than a GPS, right?

That we might not understand everything God is doing in our story, in our walk with Him.

Well, Isaac is the child of blessing.

His son Jacob hears that same promise, the relationship, the land, the seed.

And when we get to Jacob's family, it's not just that we have only a compass to follow.

Y'all, the compass seems shattered, broken.

What in the world is going on?

This is the family of promise.

This is the blessed family.

And Jacob's name becomes what?

Israel.

His 12 sons will more or less be the 12 tribes of Israel.

So how are things going with the blessed family?

Well, the snapshot we get in Genesis 37 is that Father Jacob Israel himself is playing favorites.

It's only getting a special gift for his one favorite son.

And then that favorite son, who's that?

Joseph.

He decides to rub it in to all his brothers.

He has dreams and he tells them about how he's better than they are.

And so they respond, maybe understandably, by deciding what?

We want nothing to do with this guy.

They plan to kill Joseph.

They throw their brother into a pit.

They sell him away.

They treat him as though he is dead.

They lie to their dad about what happened.

How's that for a blessed family?

Is that the family whose Christmas card you get and you think, man, what a blessed family.

Hashtag blessed.

That's them.

I hope this story will be an encouragement to you this morning.

If your present snapshot of your family feels anywhere distant from your expectations, hopes, dreams,

as theirs would have.

Maybe your life feels that way personally, where you hear about God's love and grace and blessing,

but you just don't see it in your life personally.

If you're honest, this doesn't feel like that at all.

There's a lot of that in this room.

Some of us are parents grieving where your kids are right now.

They're not where you long for them to be.

Others of us feel like almost every day we're at a lunch table by ourselves, so to speak.

We're alone.

Others of us are facing physical pains and struggles that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemies.

You describe them to me, and I can hardly imagine what it must be like to feel the pain you're feeling

and not know if it's going to change.

How will this play out?

Will there be relief coming?

Others of us feel the shame of divorce.

Someone said to me just last week,

Pastor, his marriage was really disintegrating before his eyes.

I guess the way I've handled the blessings that God has given me in my life,

I shouldn't expect God to bless me anymore.

You know that feeling?

For any reason?

This is not what blessed was supposed to look like.

I must have missed a turn somewhere with Jesus.

How did I get off track?

How did my life end up here?

It feels like there is just no way back to the promises of God.

The blessings, right?

Life with God.

If you have been there,

or if you are there today,

I want to tell you two things as we get started.

The first is,

I'm so sorry.

You were made to feel the full face of God

shining on you,

unhindered,

all the time,

every moment being that close to him

and knowing his full delight.

And you're feeling like the clouds are so thick

and so dark

that you can't even see him at all.

It's an awful place to be.

It's not what you were made for.

I'm sorry.

The second is this.

God wants you to know,

in the midst of that,

that he is at work.

He won't fail now.

He hasn't lost control.

He hasn't given up on you.

He is at work to rescue

and to restore

even when we can't see it.

And that is good news

because a lot of times we can't.

He's in fact weaving this beautiful tapestry,

a wonderful story

that you're a part of,

but you can only see from the backside

the knots,

the frays,

the ugly streaks

that are on the back of that tapestry.

Right now,

it's all you can see.

And God wants us to see this morning

more of who he is.

We may not see the whole picture still

of what's going on in our stories,

but if we're gonna have hope,

we have to see who he is

because he's in your story.

I wanna read to you

what Joseph tells his brothers

at the end of the story.

It's gonna help

frame the story for us.

It's in Genesis chapter 50

Genesis 50 · chapter mention

starting at verse 15.

I'm gonna read

just this section of God's word

even though Joseph's story

is about 14 chapters.

When Joseph's brothers

saw that their father was dead,

they said,

it may be that Joseph

will hate us

and pay us back

for all the evil

that we did to him.

Seems reasonable.

So they sent a message to Joseph.

They made this up.

Saying,

your father gave this command

before he died.

Say to Joseph,

please forgive the transgression

of your brothers

and their sin

because they did evil to you.

And now please forgive

the transgression

of the servants

of the God of your father.

And Joseph wept

when they spoke to him.

His brothers also came

and fell down before him

and said,

behold,

we are your servants.

Echoes of a dream.

But Joseph said to them,

do not fear

for am I in the place of God?

As for you,

you meant evil against me.

But God,

but God

meant it for good

to bring it about

that many people

should be kept alive

as they are today.

So do not fear.

I will provide for you

and your little ones.

Thus he comforted them

and spoke kindly

to them.

I really want us

to see two things

in this story

that I think will help us

in our chapter

of this same story.

The reality of evil

and the goodness

of God.

These verses

point us

to both of them.

First,

evil.

Evil.

Sin.

Evil.

Transgression.

Evil.

Evil.

Consider the evil

done

to Joseph.

And let's call it

what it is.

Right?

I don't want to soft sell it.

We have the tendency

to miss the heart

of this story entirely

for a couple of reasons.

One is we miss

the real pain

because we love comfort,

don't we?

Anybody else

like being comfortable?

And if we're honest,

when we read this story,

sometimes when we tell it

to our kids,

Joseph seems to come out

pretty well.

Right?

Second in command

in the whole country.

All the food he wants,

all the money,

all the power,

wife and kids.

Plus,

we really like

morality tales.

It helps us get

to the point faster.

We can have

a quick takeaway.

So what we conclude

is that Joseph

was faithful,

he trusted God,

and life went great.

Now,

I'm not saying

there aren't some good lessons

to learn from Joseph.

there are,

but let me show you

what this text says

to Hebrew ears,

not American ears.

Okay?

The end of Joseph's story,

the end of the book

of Genesis,

is Joseph

was put

in a coffin

in Egypt.

That's bad.

Okay?

In case you don't

understand that,

when you,

even American ears

get that,

right?

But it's even worse

when they read it.

Joseph and his family

have been promised

the land of Canaan,

not Egypt.

Joseph even calls

Egypt later in his life

after he's risen to power

and he seems to have

everything that you

could possibly imagine

in Egypt.

He says,

Egypt is the land

of my blessing?

No.

The land of my affliction.

You don't have to remind

the original recipients

of the book of Genesis

of that reality,

do you?

What's Egypt been like

for them?

They just made it

out of Egypt

by the skin

of their teeth.

Barely alive.

They have felt

the pain

and they have,

they're the ones

who've carried

Joseph's bones

with them

as he made them

promise to do

because his hope

lay where?

Elsewhere,

not in Egypt.

So please hear me,

especially if you're

hurting right now.

The Bible does not

tell you

to deal with your pain

by saying

the evil

is good.

That's not the message.

We are going to talk

a lot about the good

this morning,

but it's not

in an effort

to say that

the bad thing

is a good thing.

You don't have

to say

to feel like

a good Christian.

It was a blessing

in disguise.

Is that what

blessings do?

Dress up?

No.

God is good.

When?

All the time.

All the time.

God is good.

Not all the time

is good.

Not all the things

are good.

No.

Woe to those

who call evil

good and good

evil,

God says.

The Bible says

there are tears

in this story

that are not just

happy tears

and you don't have

to pretend

that's what it is.

It's really sad.

when a kid says

someone in my family

has cancer.

It's really bad

when somebody

abuses you.

Let me just hit

some of the

darker moments

in this story

with you.

The evil

done to Joseph.

His brothers,

the family

of promise,

the blessed

family,

attack him,

bully him,

throw him

into a pit.

Listen to the

description if it's

not bad enough

already.

When Joseph

came to his

brothers,

they stripped

him of his

robe,

that special

robe,

the robe of

many colors

that he wore,

and they took

him and threw

him into a pit.

The pit was

empty.

There was no

water in it.

This was not

a five-star pit.

They threw him

in the pit

without water.

They weren't

trying to do

him a favor.

They sell

him to

Gentiles

who take

him away

as a slave

far from

the promised

land.

Can you

imagine the

sadness as

he is dragged

away from

his parents

perhaps forever?

In Egypt,

even though

he works

hard and

he lives

faithfully,

he is falsely

accused by

his boss's

wife,

he is thrown

in prison,

and then he's

forgotten about

for multiple

years there in

prison,

even by the

people he

helps out.

When he

finally gets

out and he

comes to

power and

position in

Egypt,

even then,

Joseph has

not arrived,

right?

This is not

where he longs

to be.

He's far

away from

his beloved

father.

He's separated

from all his

family.

He's isolated

from people

who love

Yahweh.

It's the

land of

his affliction.

He longs

for home,

doesn't he?

Can you feel

some of his

pain living

on this side

of heaven?

Do you

long for

home?

This is not

some fairy tale

prince of

Egypt.

Can you

relate to

how Joseph

might have

been tempted

to believe

a lie

about God

when he

was in

that pit

without water?

When he

was in

that prison

without a

friend?

When he

was in

that land

without a

family?

When you're

in a pit,

there are

some lies

that are

easy to

believe,

but really

important to

reject.

The first

is the one

we've already

been discussing.

It's the

lie that

this,

where I

am,

means God

has removed

his blessing

from me.

And that

makes sense

to us

in our

culture

because we've

defined blessing

as comfortable

circumstances

and material

prosperity.

So to us,

the pit by

definition

means I'm

missing out

on the

blessing.

Unless we're

defining blessing

wrong.

So that

second lie

that I

sometimes

believe

is that

God

has abandoned

me.

Certainly

this wouldn't

happen to

someone God

loves,

we might

think.

Maybe God

was with my

grandfather or

my father,

but apparently

I'm on my

own here.

And yet,

the text

points out,

even in being

sold to

Egypt,

God was

with

Joseph.

Joseph.

But he

still got

thrown in

prison unjustly.

But even

in prison,

God was

with

Joseph.

And so it

all got

better.

No,

but he

still got

forgotten.

You see

what's

happening?

God is

with

Joseph and

things are

still going

bad.

God is

with

Joseph and

he's

still in

a pit.

And we've

got to

connect the

dot because

you don't

have to

get out

of the

pit for

God to

be with

you.

Amen?

You don't

have to get

out of the

pit for

God to be

with you.

And this

is the

blessing,

right?

Listen to

me.

Corrie ten

boom learned

this one in

one of the

lowest,

darkest pits,

Ravensbruck

concentration camp

in Germany.

It doesn't get

much lower and

darker than

that,

right?

The rejects,

the abuse,

the fleas,

the death,

and who was

there in the

midst of all

of it?

God.

She said,

God was

there.

There is no

pit so deep

that he is

not deeper

still.

We've got to

realize that in

this story.

No pit so deep

that he is not

deeper still.

That is our

God.

That's what he

wants us to

know about him.

Listen, I don't

know how far

you have fallen.

I don't know

how low you

feel, but you

have not fallen

beyond him.

underneath,

wherever you

are, are the

everlasting arms.

God is lower

than wherever you

have gone.

He has not

abandoned you.

His goodness is

running after,

running after,

running after you,

and he will

reach you.

He's there with

you.

Finally, you

might wrongly

conclude in your

pit that God

has failed to

keep his

promises.

promises.

It may be you've

misunderstood his

promises.

Happens to us a

lot.

It also may be

that you are

trusting his

promises, but you

can only see the

back of the

tapestry right

now.

So you can call

where you are

evil and still

trust him to be

good and faithful

and at work.

Let's see this

part of Joseph's

story.

What's so amazing

in this story is

how much good

God does here

in the face of

so much evil.

This story is a

case study in

what we refer to

as God's

providence.

It's his

sovereign work

to do good

no matter how

much bad

there is.

That he's in

control.

There's no

maverick molecule

in the universe.

He didn't just

create the world.

But he upholds

it and sustains

it by the word

of his power

in every moment.

God is always

working to

rescue and

restore because

he is committed

to blessing,

isn't he?

Have we learned

that about him

here?

You remember

what was going

to happen when

God blessed

Adam and Eve?

His blessing

was going to

flow through

them to all

of his good

creation, right?

And then we

came to Abraham

and he said

I'm going

to bless

you Abraham.

He promises

that all

nations will

be blessed

through Abraham.

Sometimes I

get so focused

on my own

circumstances

that I forget

God's blessing

has a bigger

scope

than I see.

So far from

removing God's

blessing from

Joseph in the

pit,

what's happening?

God's blessing

is overflowing

from Joseph.

How does he say

it to his

brothers?

To save

many lives.

It's happening

all through this

story.

See not only

is Potiphar's

house blessed

when Joseph,

the man of

God,

shows up,

not only is

the prisoners

that Joseph

interprets their

dreams,

they're blessed

when the man of

God shows up

in prison,

but also through

the wisdom of

God.

Joseph's

interpretation of

dreams,

Joseph's plans

to store grain

during the good

years.

Egypt

prospers,

the whole

nation,

and many,

many nations

are blessed,

fed,

spared,

because Joseph

is in Egypt.

When we're in

the pit,

may we have

the eyes of

faith to see

God is up to

something much

bigger than

our circumstances

so we can

actually rejoice

in blessing

overflowing to

others.

God's

But there's

more here

because if

that's all

that's going

on,

then we might

rightly be

afraid that

God might

trample on

me and

his promises

to me so

that he can

bless others

more because

he's really

like that.

He likes to

bless.

Maybe he's

going to leave

me in the

pit and others

will be

blessed.

What about

when my life

keeps being

hard?

When from

all I can

tell my

prayers aren't

being answered?

When my

life is

ending and

there's still

so much to

grieve?

That as we've

seen is

Joseph's story

isn't it?

In a coffin

in Egypt.

The promised

land is as

far away as

ever.

The promised

seed, the

great nation,

they're spared,

they're alive but

not looking so

great.

right?

Maybe

brother Judah

being less

selfish and

more sacrificial

is foreshadowing

hope.

It is.

But it's

generations away.

Those promises

that are repeated

in blessing of

the next generation

are a long

time to develop.

Regardless of

how far away

all of that

seems, God's

blessing has a

longer view

than I grasp.

grasp.

Listen to

Joseph on

his deathbed

to his

brothers who

are fearful

that their

sinfulness,

their selfishness

has messed up

this whole promise

and blessing

thing.

What does

Joseph say?

I am about

to die

but,

that's not

the end,

but God

will visit

you and

bring you up

out of this

land to the

land that he

swore to

Abraham,

to Isaac,

and to

Jacob.

He's promised.

Joseph made

the sons of

Israel swear

saying,

God will

surely visit

you and

you shall

carry up

my bones

from here.

This is

going to

happen.

I don't

know when

it is but

you're going

to carry

my bones

with you.

Someone here

I believe

needs to

hear this

today.

God's

sovereign

providence

is such

that even

after you

have died,

God will

still faithfully

work to

bring you

where he's

promised.

Even if you

don't get to

see it here,

even if his

faithfulness to

his promises

to your family

is not

something you

get to

witness or

experience,

he's faithful.

His story,

your story,

your family's

story does

not end

with what we

experience or

see in this

life.

He's just

bigger than

that.

That is how

good he is.

That's how

much you

can trust

and cling

to his

promises.

May we

have such

an eternal

perspective

of his

greatness

and his

grace to

us.

I don't

know about

you but

when I'm

really hurting

those two

truths that

we've just

talked about

can be

tough to

embrace.

what I

mean is

it can

seem a

little pie

in the

sky to

tell me

when I've

been cheated

on and

left alone

again that

it'll be

better in

the next

life.

It can

seem a

little callous

when I've

been left

out again

humiliated

publicly

constantly

battling

depression

to tell

me

someone else

is getting

blessed

through all

this.

Cheer up.

Both

true

but often

hard to

process.

In other

words I

don't want

you to

think less

than that

but I

also want

you to

hear this

third reality

that's for

all of us

even if

those two

can't come

home to

your heart

today.

I

intentionally

wrote the

third promise

differently.

God is

with you.

God is

with you

full stop.

Simple

perhaps

but this

is the

heart of

being blessed.

The Bible

tells us

this.

Remember

the blessing

promised from

the beginning

was relationship

with God.

It's what

we broke.

It's what

God is

restoring to

us.

So let me

show you

again here.

I already

showed you

this God's

presence was

what anchored

Joseph in

Egypt in

Potiphar's

house in

prison.

It's also

the only thing

that gets his

father Jacob

even to come

to Egypt.

Leaving the

promised land

was so

counterintuitive

to Jacob

that even

though it was

the only place

he could find

food in a

famine even

though his

beloved son

was there

he stopped

at the

boundary of

the promised

land and

wouldn't

leave until

God himself

showed up

personally to

tell him to

keep going.

Chapter 46

God said

I am God

the God of

your father

do not be

afraid to

go down to

Egypt for

there I will

make you into

a great nation.

I myself

will go

down with

you.

I am coming

with you

God says

to Egypt

and I will

also bring

you up again

the land

promise is

secure

because God

is going

with you

and Joseph's

hand shall

close your

eyes

the seed

promise is

secure

because God

is with

you and

so Jacob

goes

even when it

takes generations

for those

things to

happen.

So that's

the way God's

presence in

the pit works

is that you

find that you

cannot fall

so low

that he's

not there.

Remember that?

God was with

Joseph.

God was with

Joseph.

God was with

Joseph.

Psalm 139

if I lie in

the pit of

hell you are

there.

If I say

surely the

darkness will

cover me.

Well the

darkness is

light to you

God.

It can't

keep you

from me.

You see

me.

You're with

me no matter

where I go

or what I

do.

My life is

like the

famous runaway

bunny.

Many of you

know.

I can go on

a trout stream.

I can climb

up in a

mountain.

I can hide

in a garden

and mother

bunny says

I will come

to you.

I will

find you.

I will

hold you.

See it

might just

as well

stay here

and be

mine.

you start

to experience

that even

though you're

in the pit

what you

need even

more than

getting out

is him.

You need

God

with you.

If the

one who is

goodness

himself

is there

then you

have goodness

even in

your badness.

Right?

The relationship

that you were

made for

the comfort

of his love

the delight

of never

being abandoned

because you

found a

friend who

will keep

chasing

keep pursuing

and never

let you

go.

And if

that friend

is with

you

then whatever

your bad

situation

is

it can't

stay bad

forever.

If his

promise to

be with

you in

the deepest

pit

is true

then you

can count

on all of

his other

promises

too.

Then it

really is

true that

the nations

are being

blessed

through this

then it

really is

true that

eternity

will be

glorious

and we

need those

promises

and we

know they're

true because

he's with

us now.

Joseph

learns this.

Paul

experiences

this in

prison.

Ask Job

or Ruth

or Jonah

or Hannah

what it's

like to

go so

low that

you think

God will

never hear

you and

all of a

sudden you

run into

him.

He's

there.

His

goodness

running

after

me.

God

is at

work

rescuing

and

restoring

even

when we

can't

see it.

Will you

believe that

today not

just for

Joseph's

story it's

a nice

one.

Not just

in general

but in

your pit.

Will you

believe it

there?

Maybe you

say I

don't know

about all

that.

I certainly

don't feel

God is

with me.

Maybe you're

here this

morning and

you say I

don't believe

in God

at all.

So why

would I

believe that

he's with

me when

all the

evidence I

see is

to the

contrary?

Or maybe

you say

somewhere in

between I'm

just not

sure about

God but

I can tell

you this

pastor I'm

sure if

God is

there he's

not blessing

me.

No way.

This is

perhaps a

hard request

if you're

hurting this

morning but

I'm asking

you to stick

with me for

one more

step.

There's just

one more

thing to

connect the

dots if

you're

struggling

like that.

See you

can trust

that God

has not

removed his

blessing from

you.

Not against

all evidence

but because

he enters

with you

into the

pit.

to keep

his promise

to be a

God who

rescues and

restores you

to relationship

with him.

He does

that to

restore you

even when

you broke

it.

Even when

you threw

yourself into

the pit.

See Jesus

came as a

man who was

rejected by

family.

Who was

falsely

accused.

Who was

unjustly

imprisoned.

Who was

actually

killed.

He said

that he

was sent

away by

his father

by God

himself

to preserve

like Joseph

a remnant

on earth.

Many

survivors.

A great

people.

God's not

asking you

to believe

against all

evidence that

he stands

high up in

heaven somewhere

with a magic

wand to make

the evil in

your life go

away.

It's not

what he

says.

No he

has stooped.

He's shown

himself to be

with you.

He's entered

in to endure

the ultimate

evil.

The physical

emotional

social

spiritual

agony

of the

cross

even when

it wasn't

deserved

in order to

accomplish the

ultimate good

the blessing

of so many

people including

you.

Jesus

endured

evil

to end

it for

you one

day.

Won't you

trust him?

Why stay

alone in

your fear

and despair?

There is

someone whose

pit is

deeper than

yours who

stoops to

rescue you

to restore

you to

catch you.

His arms are

underneath so

you don't have

to ascend to

him.

He's come

down and his

arms are there

so you can

just fall into

them right now.

You don't have

to do anything

else.

Call evil

evil.

Tell God

it doesn't

feel like

you expected

or like

he would

have designed

in his

perfect world.

Declare as

loudly as you

want that

there is no

hope unless

he's doing

something that

you can't

see or

understand.

And then

when you do

that I want

you to hear

the drum

beat.

The drum

beat in the

background of

God's goodness.

Running

after Joseph.

Running

after Jesus.

Running

after you.

Tell him

if he's

gone to

the cross

and risen

from the

grave for

you then

all of his

promises

must be

true.

There's no

other hope.

Declare that

the eternal

God is your

refuge and

underneath no

matter how

low you go

are the

everlasting

arms.

Let's pray.

Father would

you catch

us and

hold us

and comfort

us this

morning.

There are

hard things

in this

world.

We grieve

for ourselves

for our

children

for our

city for

our country

for this

world because

it's not the

way we long

for it to be.

We read your

word and we

realize it's

not the way

you long

for it to

be and we

need hope.

We need

your help.

We need

you.

Thank you for

entering in.

Thank you for

not leaving us

alone.

Thank you for

the hope of

your presence

with us in the

pit.

Would we know

the everlasting

arms in a

fresh way this

morning and

and know

that you're

holding us

just as you've

been holding

this story

together for

generation after

generation and

century after

century and

you're taking

us home.

Give us rest

and joy in your

goodness we ask

in Jesus name.

Amen.

For more

information visit

us online at

southwood.org.

Nacho