As we’ve been mentioning, this series is
based on the book of the same name by author and Pastor Max Lucado.
Many of the
insights that PM and I have been sharing with you have come from the pages of
this book.
ILLUSTRATION- Max Lucado has to be one of
my all-time favorite authors.
He has written, and I own and
have read, each of his 30 non-fiction books, and I would have to say that this
book, ranks near the top of my list of the best books that he has written.
That
may have a lot to do with the season of life I’m in, but regardless of that, there
is so much truth found in this book, and it all begins with our key thought,
which reminds us that:
“You’ll get
through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this
mess for good.
In the meantime
don’t be foolish or naïve. But don’t despair either. With God’s help, you will
get through this.” (Lucado, 2013, 4)
No matter what
season of life you find yourself in, you need to cling to the truth that, if
you are a child of God,
·
He will help you get through your divorce;
·
He will help you get through the death of a
loved one;
·
He will help you get through the loss of income;
·
He will help you get through the rebellion of a
child.
With God’s help,
you will get through this.
Our Biblical
inspiration for this series comes to us from the life of Joseph, the dude with
the multicolored coat, the runt of the litter, the one who had said that his
brothers—and even his father—would bow down to him…
Well, his
brothers didn’t like that, so they sold him into slavery and they went about
their business once again.
Joseph was taken
into slavery, but was then sold to Potiphar, and in that season of life, Joseph
proved himself to be faithful; and because of that, Joseph became Potiphar’s personal
assistant and “He put him in charge of his entire household and everything he
owned.” (Gen. 39:4b, NLT2)
From that day
on, Potiphar’s house was blessed, because God was with Joseph, and Potiphar
didn’t have to worry about anything except where his next bacon burger was
going to come from!
As we learnt
last week, Mrs. Potiphar developed a keen eye for Joseph-who was, I might add,
“well-built and
handsome” (Gen.39:6, NIV).
She wanted
Joseph to sleep with her, although I suspect there would be very little sleep
going…
Joseph realized
that stupid
doesn’t fix stupid so he fled
from her presence leaving his cloak behind; which Mrs. Potiphar used to frame
Joseph, which then infuriated Potiphar and Potiphar had Joseph sent to prison,
where he remained for at least 2 years.
Even though Joe
was in prison for doing the right thing, God was with him. Genesis 39:21-23
reads:
“The Lord was with
Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph
a favorite with the prison warden.
22 Before long, the
warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that
happened in the prison.
23 The warden had
no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him
and caused everything he did to succeed.”
(NLT2)
God was at work
using all things in Joseph’s life for His purposes, and God will do the same
for you. He can and will take your mess and one day turn it into something
good.
This is the
promise of Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
(NIV)
God will use all
things—both good and bad—and weave them into something beautiful in the life of
the Christ follower, which leads us into today’s lesson: “Is God good when life isn’t?”
ILLUSTRATION- This is an interesting
question, one that people have been diessecting for centuries, and I’m probably
not going to answer all questions in the next 10 minutes, but it is a question
that I have been wrestling with over the last week and a half, Is God good
when life isn’t?
Perhaps
another way to say the same thing is “Is God good only when the outcome is?” (Lucado, 2013, 80)
Allow
me to give you just a few examples:
ILLUSTRATION- When our baseball team goes
on a tear and wins 9 games in a row, we get super excited and say: thanks God, for being good and helping them not be the
laughing stalk of the baseball world, again.
ILLUSTRATION- Or when we receive word that
the diagnosis we thought was going to be bad, actually turns out to be good, we
say “thank-you God for being so good.”
ILLUSTRATION- Or when first time parents
find a lump behind their daughter’s ear that had all the doctors in New
Brunswick guessing, leaving it up to the wonderful team at the IWK to know
immediately what the growth was, and they were able to remove the cystic
hygroma from behind Emma’s ear, leaving my wife and I breathing a collective
sigh of relief and saying “God, you are good.”
But
what happens when things don’t turn out in a positive way. That is to say, what
happens when things don’t turn out the way we want them to, what are we do
then?
·
When you pray for healing and it dosen't come;
is God still good?
·
When plans fall apart and the wheels fall off
the cart, and your whole world comes crashing down around you, is God still
good then?
Or does God’s
change from good to bad depending on our circumstances?
Once
again the story of Joseph gives us something to sink our teeth into to find an
answer to the “Is
God good when life isn’t” question?
Pharaoh
was unable to sleep at night, because he was having very weird dreams.
In
one dream, he was standing at the bank of the Nile River and he saw 7 fat cows enjoying
life, only to be eaten up by 7 of the scrawniest cows you will ever see in your
life.
This
dream scared him so much, that he woke up, and after checking the score of the
royal ball game, he fell back to sleep again, only to have another strange dream.
In
this dream Pharaoh saw: “seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful,
growing on a single stalk.” (Gen. 41:5b,
NLT2)
Suddenly, 7 more heads of grain show
up and instead of being beautiful, they were “shriveled and withered by the east wind.
7
And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads!” (Gen.41:6-7, NLT2)
The next morning, at his royal
breakfast of bacon and eggs, Pharaoh called for his people and asked them to
interpret the dreams he had, but even his very best men were unable to tell
Pharaoh what the dreams were all about.
Finally, the chief cup-bearer
remembered that Joseph had interpreted one of his dreams, and the cup-bearer
informed Pharaoh that Joseph might be able to explain what the dreams meant.
So Joseph was summoned from the
prison to the palace, and after a shower and a shave, stood before Pharaoh who
asked if he was able to interpret dreams.
Joseph responded by saying: “It is beyond my
power to do this…But God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.” (Gen. 41:16, NLT2)
So Pharaoh began to describe his
dreams to Joseph; how 7 of the most sick-looking cows, scrawny and thin ate the
7 fat cows; and how the 7 shriveled heads of grain ate the 7 beautiful, healthy
heads of grain.
Joseph gave Pharaoh this answer,
beginning in Genesis 41:25: “Both of Pharaoh’s dreams mean the same thing. God is telling
Pharaoh in advance what he is about to do.
26
The seven healthy cows and the seven healthy heads of grain both represent
seven years of prosperity.
27
The seven thin, scrawny cows that came up later and the seven thin heads of
grain, withered by the east wind, represent seven years of famine.
28
“This will happen just as I have described it, for God has revealed to Pharaoh
in advance what he is about to do.
29
The next seven years will be a period of great prosperity throughout the land
of Egypt.
30
But afterward there will be seven years of famine so great that all the
prosperity will be forgotten in Egypt. Famine will destroy the land.
31
This famine will be so severe that even the memory of the good years will be
erased.
32 As
for having two similar dreams, it means that these events have been decreed by
God, and he will soon make them happen.” (41:25-32, NLT2)
Joseph informed Pharaoh that Egypt would enjoy 7 good years that
would be followed by 7 years of extreme famine.
Famine that was so bad, no one would even remember the 7 good years.
As you read on in the story, Pharaoh was to appoint a CFO- Chief Food
overseer to collect food during the seven good years, and to distribute the
food during the seven bad years.
The part that I find interesting was the meaning of Pharaoh’s
dreams.
God said that 7
good years would come; but God also said that 7 bad years would come.
Both good and bad would take place: God would oversee the good years
and God would oversee the bad years.
And a famine in an agricultural town is an extremely bad thing.
God would be
God during the good times, and God would still be God during the bad times.
What we need to understand today is that God is good at all times; not just when things go
our way.
He is good when things are good, and He is good when things aren’t
so good. God is always good; it’s impossible for Him to do bad.
The psalmist wrote that: “You (God) are good and what you do is good…” (Psalm 119:62, NIV)
We read in Job 34:10 that: “The Almighty can do no wrong.” (NLT2)
God, at His core, is good. While He doesn’t cause bad things to
happen, He does permit bad things to happen.
Remember God permitted the 7 good years as well as permitting the 7
bad years of famine. God can use both good and bad in our lives for His good.
The OT equivalent to romans 8:28 (and we know in all things…”) is
Genesis 50:20: “You
intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this
position so I could save the lives of many people.” (NLT2)
Joseph told his brothers that all the bad they did to him; God was
able to weave it into something beautiful to help save the lives of many
people; Joseph
helped Egypt
navigate through the 7 bad years of famine.
God permitted the bad to happen, and He used it for something good.
So the question
is not will I face tough times- for everyone faces tough times—but the question is how will I
face God in tough times?
Will I turn to God when bad happens, or will I turn away from God
when bad happens?
ILLUTRATION- I
really have no idea why I am going through this season of life.
I have no idea why my liver isn’t liver-ing
correctly; why some days I feel 85% fine, and other days I feel 15% fine.
I really have no idea why that I,
barring an all-out God-miracle- will need, at some point in time, a liver
transplant, but I have to believe that if one person comes to faith in Jesus
Christ because of this storm in my life, then it will be worth it all.
I have decided to follow Jesus—in
good years, as well as in the lean years, because God is good when life isn’t.
So how about you? Thinking about
your current situation right now, if it is less than terrific, will you trust God in the 7 years—or however long the
famine may be—just as you would trust in God in the good years?
Paul reminded us that “Though our bodies
are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
17
For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce
for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!
18 So
we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things
that cannot be seen.
For
the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last
forever.” (2 Cor. 4:16-18, NLT2)
Everyone in the world goes through tough times—even Jesus Christ;
and He prayed for God’s will to be done in His darkest hour; may we do the
same…
Beth is going to come and play a song for us; as she sings, I pray
that you would focus on the words and may God remind you that He is God in the
bad times, just as He is God in the good times…
BETH TO SING
BLESSINGS-
The Psalmist asked a question in
Psalm 11:3: “When
all that is good falls apart, what can good people do?” (NCV)
Without giving us an answer to that
question, David goes on to say: “The LORD is in his holy
temple; the LORD sits on his throne in heaven.” (Psalm 11:4, NCV)
God has not abdicated the throne; He is
still very much in charge, and He wants us to trust in Him.
Is God good when
life isn’t? Yes,
because God is always good.
Here is what you can do with what
you’ve just heard:
Winston Churchill once said: “If you’re
going through hell, keep going.”
If you find yourself in the 7 years of famine, in a bad situation;
you need to know that God hasn’t left you; He is standing beside you, ready to
help you every step of the way.
We are reminded in Isaiah 43 that: “When you pass through the waters, I will be
with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When
you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you
ablaze.
3 For
I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” (Is. 43:2-3a,
NIV)
Cry out to Jesus during your lean years, and He will help you get
through this.
If you are in the 7 good years; begin preparing for the bad years,
because they will come—they always come.
Spend some extra time in prayer. Spend extra time memorizing the
Word of God; find a trusted friend who can help you endure the lean years.
No matter where you are—in the 7 good years, or in the 7 bad
years—remember: “You’ll get through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t
be quick. But God will use this mess for good.
In the meantime
don’t be foolish or naïve. But don’t despair either. With God’s help, you will
get through this.”
