Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20000430.htm

GENESIS: THE SOURCES OF GOOD AND CALAMITY IN OUR ORIGINS
Part III: God's Ongoing Program Of Countering Man's Apostasy At Babel
FF. Round Thirty-One - Living By Faith When God Exchanges Trials For Blessings
(Genesis 41:39-57)
  1. Introduction
    1. When we believers are exposed to trials, it is easy to call upon the Lord in faith for deliverance.
    2. Yet, once we have been through great trials and begin to see God remove our troubles, we can be tempted to forget God, shifting our dependency upon God to a dependency on His blessings, Deut. 6:10-12.
    3. Joseph exampled for us the key to staying dependent on God when trials are exchanged for His blessings:
  2. Living By Faith When God Exchanges Trials For Blessings, Genesis 41:39-57.
    1. Since Genesis 41:46 notes Joseph was thirty when Pharaoh elevated him and Genesis 37:2 reveals he was seventeen when his brothers sold him into Egypt, we know Joseph suffered in slavery for thirteen years!
    2. During that time, he experienced cruel rejection by his brothers, forced alienation from his beloved father, vicious slander by Potiphar's wife and being forgotten by a prisoner whose dream he had interpreted!
    3. However, after those thirteen hard years, God began to fulfill His promise of exaltation revealed in Joseph's dreams of Genesis 37. That caused him to become honored and respected by all around him:
      1. God began to fulfill Joseph's original dream of exaltation when he interpreted Pharaoh's dream:
        1. Upon interpreting Pharaoh's dream, Joseph was elevated by Pharaoh to head up the grain collection and disbursement program according to the recommendation of Joseph, Genesis 41:33-36, 37-40a.
        2. In fact, Joseph was elevated to be next to Pharaoh in the entire kingdom, Genesis 41:40b-41.
        3. This included the blessings of Joseph's bearing Pharaoh's signet ring to formulate authoritative documents (41:42a), his being dressed in royal clothes (41:42b), wearing a gold chain advertising his office (41:42c), riding in the 2nd loftiest chariot (41:43-44), getting his name changed in honor by Pharaoh (41:45a) and being given a wife of the prestigious Egyptian priestly class, Gen. 41:45b.
      2. That exaltation continued through God's fulfilling Pharaoh's dream in accord with Joseph's interpretation: seven years of bountiful harvests were followed by seven years of famine, 41:47, 53-54.
      3. Joseph also acted wisely in governing Egypt during this time to God's granting him much more honor:
        1. Joseph wisely stored up grain near the fields where they were produced to maximize his oversight efficiency (as opposed to centralizing the storage as in a federal government), Genesis 41:48-49.
        2. When the famine arose and the nation became restless, Pharaoh saw Joseph's dream interpretation and grain collection was his nation's salvation, so he told his people to heed Joseph, Gen. 41:55.
        3. Joseph then opened all the storehouses so people could buy grain throughout the land at the same time, making for an efficient distribution of grain, Genesis 41:56.
        4. In fact, nations outside of Egypt came to buy grain from Joseph, making it possible for Pharaoh to increase his nation's wealth even during this famine (much to Pharaoh's delight), Genesis 41:57.
    4. Yet, in spite of this turnaround, Joseph dutifully honored the Lord, crediting Him for all his blessings:
      1. In interpreting Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph credited God with knowing its interpretation, Gen. 41:16, 39.
      2. When Joseph's sons were born, he named them in honor of the Lord for his life's blessings, 41:51, 52.
    5. Joseph's honor of God for his blessings was right as we can see from evaluating the evidence:
      1. As we saw in the previous lesson, it was God Who had given Joseph insight into his exaltation with the original Genesis 37 dreams, and who also encouraged Joseph's faith in hardship with the insight to interpret the butler and baker's dreams which in turn had equipped him to interpret Pharaoh's dream!
      2. Also, it was God Who had sovereignly arranged for the years of bounty and famine that Joseph had predicted and was able to use for added advancement! God was the Cause for each blessing he had!
Lesson: Joseph noted that the LORD was the SOLE CAUSE of his SUSTAINMENT during his thirteen years of hardship, that He was also the SOLE CAUSE of his RISE to PROMINENCE and BLESSING after the hardship, so he rightly KEPT HONORING the Lord in the time of blessing.

Application: We overcome the temptation to worship God's blessings instead of God when we rightly adopt Joseph's outlook to note that ALL blessings we GAIN and KEEP arise from GOD ALONE!