Exalting God

Our study of Genesis has taught us many amazing truths about God.  We have been challenged to embrace the God who is, as opposed to the god we think we need.  We have studied creation and witnessed unprecedented faith.  Sadly, we have also witnessed unprecedented sin and utter faithlessness.  Beginning with Adam, we have considered the lives of some truly fascinating men, men such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Through the events of these men’s lives we have watched God work in extraordinary ways.  He called Noah to build an Ark that he would eventually use to preserve his creation while the wicked perished.

Years later God called Abraham out of Ur and led him into Canaan where he established a covenant with him.  In the generations which followed we watched as God faithfully upheld this covenant, even when the recipients of his many blessings failed miserably in their walk with him.  We have witnessed God prove himself to be gracious, yet firm; forgiving, yet faithful to his character and expectations; holy, yet personal.

At the very beginning of this study we made the point to establish why the book of Genesis is so important to the lives of every Christian.  In short, we can summarize our need by saying that we cannot know where we are going unless we know where we came from.  So “Genesis is a book of beginnings,” writes one commentator, “a book that sets the foundation for all that follows in the scriptures.”[1] With Genesis 37, that foundation becomes even broader and most certainly deeper.

Over the course of this study we have often mentioned the faith-building truth of Romans 8:28.  In this one verse, the Apostle Paul firmly establishes the reality of God’s invisible hand, a hand which remains at work moment-by-moment and lovingly, yet sovereignly, guiding creation to its end.  Paul states:

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

This verse can be summarized in one word – providence.  One Baptist statement of faith from the nineteenth century captures well the essence of God’s providence.  It states quite plainly:

God from eternity, decrees or permits all things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, directs and governs all creatures and all events; yet so as not to destroy the free will and responsibility of intelligent creatures.[2]

Admittedly, the doctrine of God’s providence can at times be perplexing.  Questions like “How can God decree or permit all things, yet not destroy my will or be the cause of sin?” are often asked.  However, as we will see in the life of Joseph throughout the remainder of our study in Genesis, the reality of God’s providence is a beautiful and liberating truth for every Christian, and there is perhaps no other narrative in the entire Bible which so brilliantly captures it as the life of Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph.

The biography of Joseph begins in Genesis 37 and continues to the very last verse of the book.  It focuses on the years of his life from age seventeen to his death at the age of 110.  In between these two points we will watch him face great obstacles with a strong faith that is clearly rooted in the trustworthiness of God.  He will be hated and resented, abducted and sold.  He will be falsely accused and thrown into prison.  Yet, by God’s grace he will be delivered from prison and lifted to a position of power in the most unlikely of places.  As many have observed, the Joseph narrative is a masterfully written account of a man’s life that understood God’s providence and embraced it completely.  Joseph himself acknowledges his acceptance of God’s invisible hand at work:

Genesis 45:7-8 – “And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”

These two verses provide us as learners with a great deal of insight into the man Joseph.  Through his words here we can see why he was able to not only endure the trials he experienced, but excel through them and have the ability to praise God on the other side.  He did not waste time blaming his brothers or God for that matter; instead, he settled his mind on the fact that God had a purpose in all of the events of his life.  Joseph understood the truth of Romans 8:28 centuries before Paul was even born.  He understood and accepted the “all things” of God’s providence, even when “all things” meant pain, discomfort, isolation, separation, and even the threat of death.

So who is Joseph?  We know that he is the eleventh son of Jacob, the firstborn son of Rachel, who was the love of Jacob’s life.  We are told that Joseph was Jacob’s favored son (37:3), a fact that most certainly fostered resentment among Jacob’s remaining sons.  He was born to Jacob and Rachel while they were still in Paddan-aram, which means that it was possible for Joseph to have been old enough to remember the pain of leaving his grandfather, Laban, and the fear of facing his uncle, Esau.  Or perhaps he could recall the horror of his sister’s rape and the subsequent genocide that his brothers conducted.  Surely the image of his father destroying his family’s idols had earned a place in his mind.  Our point in these observations is simple, Joseph had an eventful childhood.  He had witnessed first hand the joy of faith and the pain of disobedience.  In other words, Joseph had been prepared for the life-altering events of his seventeenth year.

Full Sermon Manuscript – Genesis 37

[2]The Abstract of Principles. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. 1858. http://www.founders.org/abstract.html