09-28-2025 - PROMISES THAT WILL NEVER DISAPPOINT - Genesis 37 -1 Joseph (Series)

 MESSAGE BY PASTOR  ROB INRIG

FROM BETHANY BAPTIST IN RICHMOND, BC.

I invite you to pray together: O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help in time of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, and relieve thy sick servants for whom our prayers are desired. Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy ( Vicky O, Nancy R, Tere G, Liz N, Stevie A, Socrates D, Sara's mom H, Margarita G,   Rosy Ch, Patricia L. Lina J.  Magda- Laci M.  Gloria F, Alicia G, Miguel A H.)   Comfort them with a sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptations of the enemy; and give them patience under his affliction. In thy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to lead the residue of their life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grant that finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You can add names from family and friends who need prayer

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In coming weeks we are going to spend time in the story of Joseph. It’s a story we often rush through to get to the brother to brothers’ encounter.  But in our rush, we often don’t pause long enough to consider the debilitating impact of events long before we get there - an ‘innocent’ cast into a pit, paraded at a slave auction, forgotten in a cell.  All of these, at the hands of those who hated.  Few, if any of us, coming close to what he experienced.

His valleys are much deeper, voices of hate much louder, hope for a future much bleaker. That said, while the specifics of his story may be different than ours, the questions asked and the answers needed no different, How did I get here?   What have I done to deserve this? God, if You’re so loving, so caring, where are You in what I need?   Tough questions.  Real questions.  Understandable questions.

It’s true, I can’t prove Joseph asked these but it’s impossible that he didn’t. Calamity after another, how could he not ask?  What on earth had he done to deserve such injustice?  One moment, his father’s favourite, the next, not worthy of life. Hatred so raw that threw him into an inescapable death pit, the plan at first to leave them there to die.  In the darkness, seeing little but hearing much. Hatred so raw - the planning of his death spoken freely. And yet in this story there are things we are to learn, Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.    Rom 15:4  ESV.

Joseph’s family background was tumultuous to say the least. Deceit and favouritism coursed through the family. His dad, Jacob was a master at it, his name – the one who supplants, really the one who deceives was rightly given – duping a brother, stealing a birthright, deceiving a dying dad, outmaneuvering a duplicitous uncle.  And in the school of playing favourites - his mother didn’t take a backseat, Uncle Laban not far behind

This was the world he and his brothers grew up in – a world that spawned entitlement, unchecked violence and hate-filled envy while dad passively looked on.  Paralyzed when he should have acted and silent when he should have spoken.  

As to violence when their sister Dinah was raped by Shechem, a prince in a nearby city, two of Jacob’s sons deceived then massacred all the men of Shechem.  Everyone in the city paying for the crime of one.  Done with that, these two sons plundered the city.  Dad’s reaction? - he was more concerned with the damage done to his good name than he was to the violation done to his daughter or to the brutality of his sons’ blood soaked hands.  

As to entitlement, eldest son, ‘see what you like, take what you want’ Reuben, committed incest, and once again, Jacob issuing no reprimand. 

As to hate filled envy, a pit, a bloodied coat and a grief stricken father all because a blind, naive dad sent an innocent into a ‘primed to strike’, viper’s nest. 

A viper’s nest every indicator suggests is because of Jacob’s passivity, refusing to do the tough things a leader MUST do.  He didn’t need to lead in harshness but he did need to lead with strength.  Sometimes this means gentle correcting, sometimes disciplining, but always standing strong. In all cases, leading with an open heart, an open ear, an open mind - but leading with love, sometimes tough love, that’s willing to act.

So as families go, this one was a mess.  Given Jacob sons’ actions, it’s almost impossible to believe these would be the ones that would one day lead to the 12 tribes of Israel, God’s chosen people. For a moment, let’s freeze frame the story here to make some observations.  As we look a Jacob’s tribe, it’s impossible to escape the obvious – most of the things Joseph faced were beyond his control.  He hadn’t chosen his siblings.  He hadn’t sought his father’s foolishness that set him up as the ‘fall guy’. In some ways this is also the case for the brothers. They hadn’t spun the lottery wheel asking for a father who was a specialist in deceit, entitlement and manipulation but that’s what they got.  

But here’s the point, as we look at Joseph’s life, let’s be certain that we don’t put him in some category far removed from where we live.  Each one of us have situations that will come into our lives that have the power to shape for good and bad. For some that shaping is from families who inflicted pain.  For others the pressure has come at a workplace where the culture has been life-robbing and toxic.  For still others, they’ve come from the expected – the relationship  that betrayed, the rejection never imagined, the death of the one you thought 'would always be there".

Inescapable events.  What isn’t inescapable is the power we allow these events to have. The power we give them to shape our lives.  Do they take up residence within or do we lock them outside?

These brothers were absorbers – event shaped rather than God shaped.  They took in the poison given them and became ‘carriers’ of those toxins. Their message - live life with anger, deceit and revenge. 

If life had done them wrong, they would become skilled messengers of doing life wrong. Bent and twisted, they allowed their lives to be shaped by the values they absorbed. They were people who allowed circumstances to shape them from the outside in.  By appearance, God is an ‘add on’ to their lives but in no way, is He seen to be central to their lives.  In contrast we see Joseph, a much different person even as his life difficulties unfold.  

Choosing integrity when temptation flaunted itself.  In light of what his brothers were doing, no big  deal, yet faithfulness when there was little reason to be faithful. What difference does being faithful mean inside the walls of a prison when no one would see?  What difference does faithfulness mean when everyone else is living by different norms, different values - when no one would care?  

But instead of absorbing the poison that surrounded, Joseph allowed God to shape him from the inside out, knowing that even in the unseen, he  lived to please God  The strength chosen and lived for within was far greater than any strength that could attack from without.    

There is an important principle here, life’s harmful events will happen. They come at us, bending and twisting and if possible, controlling such that we allow the hard things of life to change us into reflections of those events – the bitterness that takes hold, the injustices that establish roots, the disappointments that steal joy. The result we becoming event hurt, event shaped, event ruled people.

It doesn’t mean that we gloss over these events, or deny these events but that we allow God to accomplish His purpose in our lives, calling us to do even in these, what the Psalmist reminds, Put your hope in God Ps 42:5.  Taking the things that understandably bring pain and understandably bring hurt and confusion and submit ourselves to God to do what we can’t.  Not always easy.  More than just parroting a verse.  But holding onto God’s truth, allowing the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts so our first inclination is to turn to Him rather to be shaped by the things that come at us.  Jesus shaped rather than event shaped people.

That is the backdrop as we enter our story and are given some quick insights into both the climate that had been and the hurricane that is beginning to build.  

Right from the beginning we are introduced to what, at first glance, seems to be throwaway information but it actually speaks to dynamics that were ever present in this family.  They are alliance, them versus us people: Leah’s offspring, Zilpah – Leah’s handmaiden’s children and Bilhah - Rachel’s handmaiden’ children.  And on the outside? – Rachel’s child.  Tension personified.  Long before a ‘coloured’ coat arrived things were bad but add a multi-coloured robe to the mix and everything would soon be ablaze.  Jacob’s favor shown to one would ignite the hatred of those who had been passed over.   

In some ways we can understand Jacob’s misjudgments.  Joseph, was the son of the wife he truly loved.  He had pursued Rachel with single minded purpose and won her at great cost and then death claimed her at the birth of her youngest son. Leah may have carried his name, but Rachel carried his heart.

And Joseph was her son – her first son – given her at a time when she and Jacob had given up hope.  With Joseph came new hope and new purpose.  Despite his years, Jacob felt young again.  He had purpose again.  No doubt when he looked at Joseph, he couldn’t help but see Rachel – the same smile, the same walk, the same good looks that captured his heart when he first set eyes on his mother.  Life was new. 

And so in his eyes, the gift of a father’s robe likely made sense.  Joseph carried the DNA of the one he loved. But this coat also designated the rightful heir in the family. Jewish literature states that if the eldest son lost the birthright then it went to the oldest son of the second wife. When Reuben had a sexual affair with his father’s concubine Gen 49:3-4, the birthright fell to Joseph as the second wife’s oldest son.

But while a loss of the firstborn rights might have fueled Reuben’s hatred of Joseph, it certainly wasn’t enough to push the other brothers over the edge.  They gained nothing from Joseph’s change of status.  But what they couldn’t ignore was another thing the robe signified.  Its length - sleeves extending to the wrists and its body to the feet - spoke volumes.  Regardless of the colours that were woven through it, this wasn’t a robe designed for work or a common purpose.  This was a robe denoting favour, a robe usually reserved for celebration.

The robes his brothers would’ve worn for tending sheep and gathering wheat would be utilitarianly short.  There was no color that would fade in the desert sun, no embroidery that would get spoiled in the fields, no signs of wealth that would attract thieves.  

Verse 4 strikes the match onto a situation already primed to burn, The brothers saw that their father loved him more.  For years it had been bad enough to suspect that favoritism was being played; it’s quite another to have undeniable evidence – evidence thrust in their face day after day.

And then Joseph did what to them was the unthinkable, confirming what their eyes had seen and their hearts hated, he spoke saying, Please listen to this dream :6  We aren’t told whether they are on their way to the fields as they drove their sheep or whether it was later in the night as they reflected on their day.  What is clear, is that Joseph had waited until his brothers had gathered. I’m not certain how Joseph expected his brothers to react?  Perhaps he no longer cared after being ‘kicked around’ for so long.  What they thought or did was unimportant to him but what we do know, is that he was 17 not some young kid who didn’t know better. 

Did he give no thought to how they might react?  They were always reacting to something he did, so why should this be any different?  So while we can’t be certain what Joseph expected, we can be certain that his brothers weren’t slow to interpret.  We were binding sheaves, then my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it  Gen 37:7.

There would have been several reasons why this would have been hard to take – not the least of it coming from a younger brother who walked around in a coat that already signaled he was different from them – more privileged than them.  What these dreams pictured had familiarity.

Binding sheaves is what they did.  This was their domain – had been for years – long before Joseph arrived on the scene.  Like a wood whittler telling a carpenter how to build and they didn’t miss the symbolism.  And they didn’t like what they heard.  

Had Joseph stopped with this dream, perhaps they could have left things – the fanciful hopes of a kid, determined to rise up from under the weight of their feet.   But he hadn’t stopped there.  The next night he came back to them again.  And the response of the brothers was quick.  The meaning of what Joseph had shared was inescapable – Are YOU going to reign over US?  Are YOU going to rule over US?  

Don’t miss that, despite any speculations we can make about Joseph’s wisdom to share the dream, it was God who repeated the dream – a format slightly different, but the cast of characters the same only this time, with the addition of mom and dad. And this reference to stars was particularly galling.   

Who do you think you are – the center of some universe where life revolves around you?   As the youngest in our family, you earn your place and you’ve earned nothing – so be quiet and stay in your lane. 

Underlying these two dreams was an unmistakable theme – was he, who already had a place of great influence, now officially going to be awarded a place of power and authority by a dad who had already proven his favouritism?  That was a huge, Goliath-sized THREAT.

In truth, they were jealous of him because he had what they would never have.  And with that, the jealousy already coursing through their veins became a flood.  Interestingly, on this one occasion when Jacob mildly rebukes his son, he also wonders if God could be in what he heard? :11  After all Jacob knew about dreams - he, the rebellious one, the schemer, the one who tried to run his own life, had a profound life-changing encounter with God in a dream.  

It's easy to assail Joseph for his arrogance or lack of wisdom in sharing his dreams as acts of spite. Say what you want, but I’m wearing designer while you’re in denim:5. All possible, but let’s consider

1st Joseph’s daily life was as tough as it could get  Verse 4 tells us, His brothers, could not speak a kind word to him.  I think more accurately, they would not speak a kind word to him.  They chose to live with resentment; chose to live with anger; chose to live with an ever-present cloud that kept reminding – what’s happening isn’t fair.  Day after day that cloud got darker and darker – where we are told repeatedly, they hated him :4,5,8 and in :11 are jealous of him.

Although we don’t like to believe it, none of us are far from places like this.  All we need to do is do what they did - day after day allow their sense of offense to grow. Fixated on the things we deserve; dwelling on wrongs done or perseverating on things denied. Stay there long enough and anger grows.  Nourish and keep these offenses close and toxic growth is inevitable.

Resentment soon becoming an ever-present companion dictating what we see and believe. Solomon writes: A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot  Prov 14:30.  And these brothers had bones that have been rotting for some time. That is why God tells us, Don’t let the sun go down on our anger Eph 4:26 and Forgive one another just as Christ has forgiven us. Eph 4:32.

But ‘they’ are SO undeserving of that forgiveness.  What he/she did was so wrong.  And so we hold on like some road rage driver who miles after some offence, our offender driving along – unconcerned and sometimes unaware of his wrong.  But we continue to fume – the anger within, eating away.   

Joseph certainly would have been justified by responding in a similar fashion – giving as good as he got.  He might go down under the weight of his attackers but at least he could go down swinging.

It’s one thing to occasionally go into places where you are unwelcome and more than that, unwanted.  But we rarely return to places where we are hated.  The stakes are too high, the harm too likely.  But Joseph lived in this place.  This was his day-by-day existence.  Home was not a place of refuge or escape.  You can bet that this hatred did not stay silent.

So before we are too quick to rush to judgment about Joseph’s wisdom in sharing his dreams, remember his life had all the markings of a living ‘hell’.  

The second thing we dare not miss is God is the One who scripted the dream.   God brought this at a time when the hatred of Joseph had escalated to an almost unbearable level.  Hatred surrounded every moment of his every day.  Other than his parents, Joseph had no one to take up his cause.  Into that place, God stepped in – quietly, imperceptibly.  There was no booming voice.  No airtight assurance all would be well.  Just a dream that there could be more happening than eye could see or mind could understand.  Just a dream to ponder and a dream to hold to.   Joseph’s dream was not only a prophetic promise, it was also a gift of God’s re-assuring, ‘eyes wide open’ presence.  God saw.  God knew.  Perhaps this is what you need to hear this morning in the pit you are in.  That God knows, God sees and God is doing what you can’t possibly understand but you are not forgotten or abandoned. So put your hope in Him because He is truly IS our only hope. 

For reasons I can’t explain and I so often don’t understand, God didn’t change how the events of Joseph’s life would unfold, in the same way He often doesn’t change those things we are called to face.  He didn’t remove the valleys and didn’t give a smooth path.  He just gave him a dream he could return to when life closed in - just a promise, its meaning still unclear.  There were no assurances that soon all would be well.  Just a dream – some time.  Some place.

It's not the first time God used a dream to whisper hope.  

When Abraham & Sarah had no son to fulfill God’s promise (through you the nations of the world will be blessed), God brought - a dream of PROMISE FILLED HOPE.

When Samuel’s mother gave up her child for God’s purposes -  a dream that brought reassurance of God’s PRESENCE and PROTECTION

When Gideon faced an overwhelming, determined to destroy enemy - a dream that confirmed what he couldn’t possibly see - GOD given VICTORY 

When Herod’s sword shed the blood of innocents  - a dream reassuring - GOD working HIS FUTURE in the middle of our mess

I think that as Joseph sat tethered on a ride to Egypt or languished in a prison cell, he revisited his dreams – wondering, asking, clinging to what these dreams meant.  I haven’t forgotten.  Those who have treated you with contempt will one day bow.  Those wanting your name crossed from the family tree will not be victorious. None of what the dreams promised will fail in coming true.  None of My purposes will go unfulfilled.  None of My plans will be thwarted.

You and I don’t have the ambiguity of a dream.  We have the flesh and blood promise spoken at the Cross.  We have the flesh and blood promise shouted outside a tomb. And we have the cloud-shrouded guarantee to followers who watched Him disappear before their eyes, This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come in the same way as you have seen Him go into Heaven Acts 1:11.  I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also  Jn 14:3.

Joseph’s takeaway is to be our takeaway:

God is always faithful to His promises.

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