CrossTrainers

Date: April 7th 2010

Speaker: Jerry Foster

Title: God Built – Chapter 2: When Your Dreams Die

Introduction:

We are talking about the life of Joseph.  The trials, the hardship, the forgiveness that Joseph experienced.

I didn’t hear Mike’s message last week but I’m assuming he told you about the overview of the book.  About the sovereignty of God.  About how sometimes it seems that God works slowly.

The one thing we do know is that God IS at work.  However, often times God is at work in the midst of our hardship and trials.

Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers, how could God allow that to happen?

The thing that Joseph didn’t know at the time was that this chapter of his life would last for 13 years.  If Joseph would have known this it would have made it even more difficult.

Our own storms batter us.  We deal with them day to day.

For Joseph, the storm didn’t make since until he got through it.

“In these bewildering chapters of life you will have to give 5,10,15 years before anything makes since.” – Steve Farrar

After college I went off to Chicago, had a great ministry but ended up coming home.  I spent the next 10 years in a storm of doubt, marriage struggles, money struggles, spiritual dryness.  At the time I didn’t understand.  Now I understand.

This couple I met in Brussels, from Assyria, left everything to go to a place where they could have religious freedom and right now things are really difficult.  They are broken.  I know that down the road they will look back with a story to tell.  They will see that God’s timing was perfect.

Joseph was able to look back on his life and see God’s timing was perfect.

Think about it, Joseph’s brothers were trying to kill him.  But at just the right moment this slave caravan comes by and his brothers were able to sell him instead of killing him.

I imagine from Joseph’s standpoint being sold as a slave was the worst thing that could happen, he probably wasn’t down there jumping for joy that he was saved from death.  Joseph didn’t know what God was doing.

It had to have been difficult for him to see that God had saved him from death.  He was dealing with a devastating loss.  The loss of freedom.

Here is the big question: Could God be behind devastating losses in our life?

We can go to the book of Job.  I don’t like this book.  When I read the book of Job I come to a troubling conclusion about life in this world.

While God gives satan permission to test Job, God remains in control.  Satan didn’t realize that God would use Job’s story for thousands of years to teach His people.

Job 1:13-19  In a matter of just a few minutes, Job’s life was ruined beyond repair.  But what we know is that Job never wavered in his commitment.

Job 2:9-10 Here is where we go wrong.  We think that anything good that happens comes from God and anything bad that happens comes from satan.

Ecclesiastes 7:14 If God can control everything why does He allow bad stuff?

Cross Providences:

You know you’ve hit a Cross Providence in your life when you question the goodness of God.

Then we need to step back and ask if God is doing something different.

When I step back and look at what God is doing and I try to understand what he is doing, I am often looking through the situation through my flesh.  In my flesh I don’t have the capacity to understand God’s providence.

Psalms says that the Lord is good and the Lord does good, but in the midst of pain it can be tough to see that.

Consider this, we may never see the good on this earth.  All the pain I see around me, much of it I will never see the point of until heaven.

CS Lewis said that it very well could be that the first words out of our mouth in heaven will be, “of course.”

Once we have the whole picture things will make sense.

We have to come to the place where we know what we believe about God’s providence.

When we ask our questions, we find God working in our hearts to say you won’t understand this right now.

Take a few minutes to look through these questions from Steve’s book.

Discussion Questions:

For Joseph, in the midst of his life’s worst storms, it seemed like life had spun completely out of control.  When you have been in the midst of your own storms, what did you think about God and His plan for your life?

Being betrayed by His own brothers had to have hurt Joseph.  How can we keep from being overwhelmed by negative emotions in such moments?

If the providence of God hadn’t shown up at the exact right moment, Joseph would have died.  In His providence, has He shown up and altered your course even if it hurt?

Is it possible that you in your own life, God has shown up and spared you from an outcome that you aren’t even aware of?

Conclusion

God cannot lie

God cannot sin

God cannot do evil

If that is the case then the cross providences of our life have to be for our good.

God’s plan for Joseph’s life, for Job’s life, it was intentional, it was purposeful.

God didn’t leave them in their suffering.  He used it to refine them and test them.

When we look at our lives we need to see that God is purposeful and He won’t leave us in our suffering.

Click HERE for the Full Audio for this message.

(notes typed by PJ)