Facing Our Troubles

Acts 7.8-15

I love the story of Joseph! He is one of my favorite characters in the Old Testamant, Daniel  and David being the others. Nothing bad is said about Joseph or Daniel.

Joseph is an example of faithfulness in suffering. As a teenager of 17 he was taken away, actually sold into slavery by his brothers! For 13 years his father, who was lied to by his sons, thought Joseph was dead! Brothers sell him. Father thinking he is dead. A slave, then a prisoner for a crime he did not do, it is simply amazing that Joseph did not become bitter.

He submitted to the circumstances. 

Genesis 39.2 The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, 4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. 5 From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. 6 So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concer

We are told that even in prison, God blessed him.

Genesis 39.20b But while Joseph was there in the prison, 21 the Lord was with him; He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22 So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. 23 The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

So you know the story... 

After Joseph was released from prison and promoted to second in command of all of Egypt...

Genesis 41.41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

50 Before the years of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. 51 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, “It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” 52 The second son he named Ephraim and said, “It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

There is no record of Joseph ever trying escape. He simply submitted to the circumstances and stayed true to God. Sometimes that is all we can do. It was God’s will. He testified about that at the end of Genesis. But for the moment, for the time being, he thought he would never see his family again.

Can a person really forget their family, their father? What if they were abusive like his brothers were? Different kinds of abuse... sexual abuse, forgiveness can be found and cleansing... don’t have to be ruined for life as we used to say.

Joseph was horribly mistreated. His brother’s actions stole his late teen years and the entire decade of his 20’s. Yet they were not wasted. God was teaching him to be a good manager because soon it was not going to be over the flocks of sheep, or his master Potiphar’s house or even the prison. It was going be all of Egypt and then when the famine came, the world... to the saving of many souls.

The trials and the difficulties that we go through are never wasted if we are walking in step with the Spirit. God has a way of working all things together for good for those who love Him and are the called according to His purposes.

One way of handling our troubles is to deny them, refusing to admit they existed or that they cease to exist...

1. Denying Our Troubles

*Denying Reality

Positive Thinking. Remember you need a negative ground to produce power. If we are just positive there is no power. Take the ground wire off your car battery and you will have no power!  If we never face the darkness in our lives then we wll miss vauable lessons. It is often in the darkness we see Jesus. It is in the Valley of The Shadow of Death He walks with us and comforts us. I told a group the other day, “There is something about God that you will not know until death comes.” I never understood those words of Paul Martin until death came to our family. We grow closer to the LORD in the things we do not understand. Our faith grows and is refined. We see a side of God in our darkness we do experience in the sunshine. Truly He does give songs in the night.

*Everything is great. “I am telling grief to get away from me,” is not realistic.

*Embrace your pain. Live in the reality of it.

*Enabling others is often trying to get them to not face the consequences of their actions and is playing God, at least interfering with what God wants to do.

My friend, Dr. Steve Hurkens, pastor of East Rockaway Nazarene, lost his brother this past week, suddenly, without any warning he dropped dead on a golf course. We faced this together in prayer. We talked about grief and pain and sorrow.

*Embrace the cross in your life.

If you were completely dead to your old nature you would no longer feel many of the pains that now bother you. Endure the aches and pains of your body with patience. Do the same thing with your spiritual afflictions (that is, trouble sent to you that you cannot control). Do not add to the cross in your life by becoming so busy that you have no time to sit quietly before God. 

Do not reject the full work that the power of the cross could accomplish in you. Unfortunately, you will be forced to go over the same ground again and again. Worse yet, you will suffer much, but your suffering will be for no purpose. May the Lord deliver you from falling into an inner state in which the cross is not at work in you! God loves a cheerful giver. (II Corinthians 9:7) Imagine how much He must love those who abandon themselves to His will cheerfully and completely—even if it results in their crucifixion! -Fenelon

Don’t deny your troubles. Embrace them by self abandonment. Embrace them by surrendering to the LORD.

Joseph’ brothers were living in a denial of their troubles. Jacob did favor Joseph... bad move! He learned it from his parents. The seed was with Abraham and Ishmael. Instead of talking with their father they allowed jealousy to burn and thought they got rid of Joseph and lied to their father. Lying and denying go hand and hand. They are cousins. Denying is lying to yourself. This leads to lying to others.

2. Forgetting Our Troubles

Particularly in a family

Forget= to forget, deprive

We cannot truly abandon the family we were born into.

Adopted children often want to meet their birth parents.

The Mancinis in Italy. Not the Macminara’s in Ireland.

Joseph figured that he would never see his brothers or his father again.

He thought this is my life now. But the mere fact he was talking about them showed them he did not forget.

This was brought to bear when he met them! He wept loudly.

He believed that God had extracted or removed the memory of them.

Steve Hurkens’ brother Hans... my message to him.

3. Being Rescued From Our Troubles. Genesis 41.51

Rescued= a pressing, pressing together, pressure, metaph. oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits

Trouble= mischief

Face them head on

Do deny them or try to forget them. In the end the most valuable resources God has in your life is the pain He has allowed to come into it. You can take that pain and allow God to use it to understand what others are going through. Joseph came out of all these experiences with a tender heart. What better person to bring relief in the time of trouble?! Jesus went through our experiences of temptation so He is able to help us! God uses broken hearts. He usually crushes someone before He uses him.

It is God Who rescues us! 

Note Joseph just served faithfully in the position God has allowed him to be placed in. As we mentioned before he did not try to escape. He did not complain... he did not complain! If he did he would have been complaining against the LORD! God help us.

He found out and he tells of this in Genesis 50.19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

God can take the evil done to us, if we submit to Him, and intend it for good! 

The LORD God knew what was coming as far as the famine. He was getting Joseph ready to be the savior, the one who would oversee the saving of many souls, in that terrible time. He did this by allowing Joseph to suffer and also learn management skills in Potiphar’s house and in the prison. What valuable experience! The things which you cannot control can be schools of great learning that you could never get in a university. Times of scarcity teach us to be frugile. Times of suffering give us a heart for those who are suffering. Times of pain teach us the valuable lessons of hard work. I am so thankful the LORD has not made life easy for me, that He allowed me to go through pain. Now as I look back I see His Hand in it all!

How do we face our troubles.

Don’t deny them or forget them.

Embrace them.

Walk with God in them.

Learn the lessons He is teaching you.

Submit to Him.

He will rescue you.

He will make you a blessing. 

He will use you in ways that if He had told you about you wouldn’t believe it.

He will welcome you into His eternal Kingdom.

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