Lessons from Joseph
Tom Shrader begins a new series called "Legends" by examining Joseph's life from Genesis 37-50, demonstrating that our hope must be rooted in God's character, promises, sovereignty, and faithfulness rather than in our circumstances. Through Joseph's journey from favored son to slave to prisoner to ruler of Egypt, Shrader shows how God works all things together for good even when life feels out of control. The teaching emphasizes that circumstances don't accurately indicate spiritual condition and calls believers to forgiveness as modeled by Joseph's grace toward his brothers.
“Our hope is rooted in the character of God, the promises of God, the sovereignty of God, and the faithfulness of God.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Lessons from the Legends
Recorded: September 11, 2014
Duration: 37 min
Themes: hope, sovereignty, forgiveness, faithfulness, suffering, trials, providence, trust, facing hardship, feeling betrayed, struggling with circumstances, questioning god's plan, dealing with family conflict, experiencing injustice, feeling abandoned, needing forgiveness
Scripture: Genesis 30-37, Genesis 37:2, Genesis 37:3, Genesis 37:4, Genesis 37:12, Genesis 37:17, Genesis 37:18, Genesis 37:25, Genesis 37:26, Genesis 39, Genesis 39:2, Genesis 39:3-5, Genesis 39:7-9, Genesis 39:9, Genesis 39:10, Genesis 39:11-13, Genesis 39:20, Genesis 39:21, Genesis 40:6, Genesis 40:8, Genesis 40:23, Genesis 41:1, Genesis 50:20, 1 Corinthians 10:6, 1 Corinthians 10:11, Romans 15:4, Romans 12:17-21, Ephesians 4:32, Romans 5, Romans 8:28
Theological Themes: sovereignty of god, divine providence, theodicy, sanctification, biblical narrative, old testament, covenant faithfulness, redemptive history
Full Transcript
We are going to do a study that is new and you have the outline in front of you. This is a tough series to teach mechanically because you're going to need a Bible. So pull it up on your phone, or if you have a copy with you, you can open your Bible to the book of Genesis. We're going to do, especially in the first four—it's a five-week series—in the first four we're going to follow a narrative, a story, and I'm going to give you some of the verses.
Here's the sentence, so I don't say this often to you. I try not to be authoritative in terms of do this, but here's the sentence to write out. This is the theme for the series and frankly becomes, probably should be, a life theme. Here's the sentence: our hope is rooted in the character of God, the promises of God, the sovereignty of God, and the faithfulness of God. Our hope is rooted in the character of God, promises of God, sovereignty of God, and faithfulness of God.
Understanding Biblical Hope
When we talk about hope in the biblical sense, the word is not the way that we might use it in our casual conversation. Got the grandson in the car the other day and we're driving toward home and I said, we're headed home and he said, I was hoping we would stop and get some ice cream, and I said, well, it's not working for you buddy. I don't respond well to that. I respond better when it's my idea than yours.
When he said hope, here's what he meant: maybe we will, maybe we won't, my desire would be to do this. When the Bible uses the word hope, most often it's speaking of a future event or present condition with which we are certain. So our hope is that Jesus will come again—it's not maybe He will, maybe He won't—we're rooted in that certainty.
The Foundation of Our Hope
For us, huge point here, for us, our hope and certainty is in the character of God. God's always going to act consistent with His character. So can God do everything? No, God can't sin—that's not consistent with His character. So our hope is in the character of God, the promises of God—here's what God says He will do—the sovereignty of God, and that means God's the absolute authority and in control.
So God has this plan, these promises. Is there any kind of atom or molecule that's loose in the universe that could usurp His plan? The answer's no. He's sovereign, He's in control. If He says come up, the sun comes up. And then the faithfulness of God, the persistence of God.
In the macro sense, in the big sense, in God's big plan, there's nothing that can usurp that in your individual life. There's nothing that can usurp that even though at times it may feel like it's happening. Huge point: that sentence is one of those, if you tracked with us, that you should write in the front of your Bible, should be on the screensaver, should be something you come back to again and again and again.
God's Unchanging Character
As a side note of that, when we tend to talk about the attributes of God, we talk about the ones we really like. So if I go over to Fashion Square today and stop 10 people—first of all I'd be suspicious I would imagine if I stopped them—but if I said let me tell you about God, describe God. Those 10, even those that might not really believe in a God, if pushed to talk about God, would say well listen, I can describe Him this way, God is what? Love. We talk about the attribute of God, the love of God, that kind of stuff.
Well here's an attribute of God that kind of ranks down there where we don't hardly ever talk about it, but it's really important and that's the immutability of God, meaning He doesn't change. So our hope is anchored in the unchanging character of God, promises of God, sovereignty of God, and faithfulness of God.
The Purpose of Old Testament Stories
What I hope to do in these five weeks is have us look—I've called them legends—but look at five characters from the scripture and to see what we can learn from them. Now let me give you three important passages, I'll read them to you, that kind of set this up. You don't need to look them up, I'm going to read them to you. 1 Corinthians 10:6, 1 Corinthians 10:11, and then Romans 15:4.
Paul's writing in the book of Corinthians and he's writing in 1 Corinthians to the Church of Corinth and he's trying to teach them about their present condition and he begins to talk about the nation of Israel. 1 Corinthians 10:6 he said, "Now these things happen as examples for us." 1 Corinthians 10:11, "Now these things happen to them as examples for us." So essentially the same thing. And then Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instructions, so that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope."
So here's what Paul becomes very important for us. Here's this Old Testament and here is this story after story after story. Sandy's teaching today in BSF, now for the year, she's teaching three-year-olds. So she has our granddaughter Lucy, which will be really interesting because Lucy called last night and she's excited that she'll be teaching Sandy today. So they have two different, very different views of what's going to happen in the room.
But it's amazing to me, so Sandy when we're in Coronado the last three days, she's got a task every day. She teaches a group on Monday of older women—by older I mean old—older women, not, we don't, there's no nice way to say this, they're all old. So she's in that group on Monday. She taught last night at Tempe a group of college and just out of college gals and then she teaches today three-year-olds. That's what I love about her, she's going to go wherever God's going to use her. Well in the study with the older gals, in the study with the three-year-olds today, here's the lesson, the Bible is the
The Bible is the Word of God. That's where we're starting - the infallible and inerrant Word of God. God wrote this. We may misinterpret it, but the Bible cannot err, and it becomes the owner's manual for life. It becomes the way from which we can look at life and make our decisions and arrive at conclusions. We can take this specific word where God says do this or don't do this and apply it. We can look at issues in our life - what we might call social issues or political issues or personal issues - and apply those principles or get principles from which we can arrive at some sort of conclusion.
On my right here is the New Testament; on my left is the Old Testament. In that Old Testament there's kind of a move where we go, "Oh that's the old God, I'm not interested in that God." Well, the God of the Old Testament and God in the New Testament - same God. When we're teaching, in the New Testament as we get the doctrine, we can illustrate it through the Old Testament.
I'm teaching at Gilbert a week from Sunday, and the passage is a tough passage - Romans 12 verses 17 through 21: don't repay evil for evil; if your enemy's hungry, feed him; if thirsty, give him something to drink. How do we apply that? Well, one of the great ways to apply it is what we're going to do today: go to the Old Testament and see how God worked in the midst of that.
Our Study Figure: Joseph
Our study figure for today is Joseph. I'll give you an overview of Joseph's life in a minute. The two things I want to pull out of this are the steadfastness of Joseph and the forgiveness of Joseph. It's a story of betrayal, abduction, abandonment, success, and forgiveness.
As we look in the scripture, Genesis 30 through 37 gives us the transformation of Joseph's family. Where we're going to be - and you can turn your Bibles there to Genesis 37 verse 2 - starts a period of Joseph's life from age 17 to 30. His life becomes a life that's out of control. But in reality, the whole point of the lesson is the opposite: yes, it's out of Joseph's control, but it's not out of God's control.
A Life That Feels Out of Control
To me, the application of this is as fresh as today. It was 13 years ago, right now, that those towers were on fire. It started a chapter; it was like the John Kennedy assassination. When we were in Davenport, I took Sandy by to show her where I was when I found out John Kennedy was shot. She wasn't born yet, so it didn't seem to have much impact on her.
Thirteen years ago today, right now, I can tell you exactly where we were. We were at Appomattox, where Lee surrendered to Grant, waiting to come up on the house where the surrender took place. We kept it for last, walked up to the door where this ranger came up and said, "You'll have to leave right now. The United States is under attack." I said, "Well, wow, it must be a very thorough attack because they're not going to get us here. We're in the middle of nowhere." But that's where we were. It was one of those moments.
It feels like ever since, we're kind of a little bit out of control. We had the economic crisis - we're not really certain. I had my 400th conversation with a business guy the other day who said, "Yeah, it's a little bit better, but I'm skeptical because it feels like we're violating some of the principles we did before. I don't really know, and we can't get traction." The president speaks last night, and as he speaks - I don't want to be political in this - but as he speaks, he's really saying, "Listen, we got to go get these guys, though we don't really know where they are. They're in some really scary places, and they could be here too."
Our Hope Is in God's Character
We get this sense that things are out of control, and there might be something good in that - it's to drive us to the fact that God's in control. Our hope is not in a new governor, or a different president, or a new banking system, or going back to the gold standard, or whatever it is. Our hope is in the character of God, and the promises of God, and the sovereignty of God, and the faithfulness of God. Joseph really illustrates that.
So let's do the narrative. I've got four points at the end, but along the way, I want to stop and make key points. Hopefully at the end, you'll walk away and go, "That was helpful."
The Story Begins: Favoritism and Hatred
Genesis 37, verse 2: we're introduced that Jacob has these sons. One of them is Joseph. He's 17. He's pastoring with his brothers. Verse 3: "Now Israel" - that's Jacob - "loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son of his old age." This is the one we didn't expect, but one that came along. Here's what he did: he made Joseph a varied colored tunic, a coat of many colors.
Verse 4: "His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all the brothers, so they hated him. They could not speak to him on friendly terms."
Let me just give you some practical advice. I think it's true - I've talked with people. If you have more than one kid, there's a tendency to like one more than the other. You almost feel guilty saying it, but some kids are just like you. Those are the ones you don't get along with probably. Then there are some that you just - they're easy.
Joseph's brothers were easy to love and hard to love, just like children in any family. I have one grandson who is just so easy to be with. He'll walk in and sit down next to me and snuggle up and say, "I really missed you. You seemed like you were gone a long time. How was your trip? Tell me what you did." The other one will come in and go, "Hey, got any Gatorade? Oh yeah, but you're not going to get any."
One's just so much different than the other. That's not a problem. If you've got three kids or four kids or eight kids and you have a fondness for one toward the other, I think it's natural. Here's the problem: they can't see that. You don't give the one you like a coat of many colors. You don't let all the others drive a fifteen-year-old beater and get the new kid a Corvette, because here's what's going to happen—they're going to hate Him and hate you.
The Brothers' Jealousy Leads to Betrayal
That's the problem in chapter 37. In verse 12, the brothers are out pasturing the flock and Joseph's not working. Jacob said to Him, "Go check up on the brothers and bring back word to me what you find." In verse 17, Joseph runs into a guy because He thinks the boys are in Shechem, but the guy said, "No, they're in Dothan." What happens is Joseph is now miles and miles away from His father's protection.
In chapter 37, verse 18, the boys see Him and they begin to plot against Him. "Here comes the dreamer," they say. They have this dialogue about what to do with Him, and one of the plots is to kill Him. Then one of the boys said, "That's radical. Let's not kill Him. We'll sell Him." So they sell Him into slavery.
In verse 25, they sit down and they're eating a meal. They look up and the Ishmaelites are coming with their camels on this caravan. In verse 26, the boy said, "What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up His blood? Let's sell Him to the Ishmaelites." So they sell Him, and they brought Joseph down into Egypt.
Joseph as a Slave in Egypt
Now jump to chapter 39 and we pick up the meat of the story. Joseph has been taken down to Egypt and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh and captain of the bodyguard, bought Him from the Ishmaelites who had taken Him down there. On an economic basis, it's interesting—there's still a profit left in Joseph. The Ishmaelites buy Him, but apparently at such a price that there's still some profitability or motive to sell Him. They sell Him to Potiphar.
Potiphar is a key person in the nation of Egypt. In terms we might get, He's the head of Pharaoh's secret service. Here's the key thought in chapter 39, verse 2: "The Lord was with Joseph."
Now it might not look like this. Let me remind you where this guy is. He was a favored son, and so I would guess led a pretty easy life. He set out on a mission for His dad to do reconnaissance work, but His brothers take Him and put Him in a pit and then sell Him into slavery. Then He's sold again into Potiphar's household. He's now a slave.
Don't Judge Spiritual Condition by Circumstances
On the surface, you might be like some of Job's friends, sitting around in your quiet time with Joseph going, "Hey, what did you do wrong?" That's our flinch—to judge our spiritual condition by our circumstances.
I don't know anything about Bill Gates. He doesn't return my calls. We don't vacation together. I don't have His email. We don't talk. So I'm not making a point about Him specifically, but a general point. To look at Bill Gates and say, "All right, cash flow's pretty good. Even if it goes south, He's going to be all right. He's got a lot of dough. He's at least as far as I know healthy, got a nice wife, some good kids, making a difference in the world, has a purpose"—it would be wrong to assume because those things are in place, He's also okay spiritually. I don't have a clue where He is spiritually, but I can't just conclude because circumstantially He's doing well, spiritually He's doing well.
Flip side: if I go to Paul and Paul's in a Philippian jail and He's being beaten and accused, it would be wrong for me to assume there was something spiritually wrong in Paul's life just because He was suffering. There may or may not be. Do you get that? Maybe, may not be.
The Lord Is With You
To me, this is amazing. I don't know why you're here today. Some of you got this yellow card and you go, "You know what, I haven't been in that thing in a while. I ought to try it. It was good. I'll give it a shot or two and then we'll get back into the groove and I can sleep." But God may have you here today through that yellow card or through a friend to just hear this: that the Lord is with you. That He hasn't abandoned you, even though it may feel like it.
If there's one thing I know, there's a lot of hurt and pain and anguish in the world—emotional, financial, physical. All of a sudden you can kind of be asking, "Where's God in all this?" Genesis 39:2: "The Lord is with you." If you're a child of His, if you're a Christian, if you're a follower of Christ, He'll never leave you or forsake you. Even when it might look—and I'll add, feel—like He has, He hasn't.
Do Others See the Lord Is With You?
What happens now is an opportunity for Joseph to become a real illustration for us. Verse 3: "His master saw the Lord was with Him." It's another time to pause and ask this question: Do the people in your life see the Lord is with you?
That's what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after He lays out the beatitudes, He says, "Let your light shine in such a way that people see your good work and glorify your Father in heaven." Apparently, I'm supposed to be able to look at you and see that the Lord is with you. What would that look like? What they'd see would be the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness.
and self-control. Do the people at work, do the people at the gym, do the people in the parking lot, do the people in your life at the homeowner's meeting, do they see the Lord's with you? The greatest asset you have in your life, in your business, in your world, is your relationship with Christ.
Because here's what's going to happen. The master, the boss, sees the Lord with Joseph and you know what he says? Joseph, you're the kind of guy I'm looking for. I'm going to put you in charge and you can see it there, verse three through five, in charge of my whole enterprise. You're going to be the COO, CFO of Potiphar Enterprises. You're going to oversee and run this whole thing. Why? Because I can see the Lord's with you. That's what people are looking for in this world. Not me, but you. How do I serve you?
Joseph's Integrity Under Pressure
So what happens to Joseph, he becomes the head of Potiphar Enterprises, essentially, and in chapter 39, verses seven through nine, Potiphar's wife comes to Joseph and says, I want you to sleep with me. And Joseph says, I can't. Look at verse nine of chapter 39. I can't do this great thing. Your husband's entrusted everything to me. How then could I do this evil and sin against God?
There becomes the motive, a motive in our life. When I cheat, when I lie, when I steal, when I do something wrong, my sin is not against the boss or the business or the government. It's against God. Look at what God's blessed us with. How could I sin against Him?
But day after day, verse 10, Potiphar's wife comes to Joseph and says, lie with me. And then one day, the only person in the house is her. Joseph comes in. She says, lie with me. Joseph says, I'm not going to do it. Verses 11 through 13, he runs out. She grabs his tunic and now she's got the evidence.
Falsely Accused but Still Faithful
So here's how the story unfolds. The laborers come back and Potiphar's wife said, look at this, and literally the word is Hebrew slave. There's some prejudice in there, I think, whom you brought to us, came in to make sport of me. Look at this Potiphar. What are you going to do?
And I think it's circumstantial. Genesis 39:20, Joseph's master, Potiphar, took him and put him into jail, the place where the king's prisoners are confined, and he's there in jail. It doesn't say it in the story, but the integrity of Joseph comes through because I'm pretty sure Potiphar didn't believe his wife, but believed Joseph. And we know this, how? If Potiphar would have believed his wife, what would Potiphar have done? And he goes, I know the old gal. Into the bunch, seen this before. So into the prison he goes.
The Lord's Continued Presence
Let's make the point again, then the conclusion. Chapter 39, verse 21. Joseph has been sold into slavery, abandoned, sold from the Ishmaelites to Potiphar. Now Potiphar has acknowledged, I think essentially, that Joseph has been falsely accused. Joseph is now in the king's prisoners jail. So he's in the dungeon of the prison, the bowels of the prison, high security, isolation. This is where Joseph is.
Chapter 39, verse 21. Here you go. Lest you think it's otherwise, the Lord is with Joseph. So you're there, whatever the equivalent is, don't for a second think God's abandoned you. The Lord's with him and extends kindness to him and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer. And the chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners in the jail. So whatever was done there, Joseph's responsible for it.
It's the same movie. The jailer is saying, I've got a highly charged political job and the best guy I got for it is the Hebrew slave. He saw something. Same thing that Potiphar did.
Joseph Serves the Cupbearer and Baker
Well, here's the circumstances and I'm going to let you work your way through it. I'll give you a thumbnail. The cupbearer and the baker, there are two key guys in the King of Egypt Pharaoh's administration. So let's get it in our vernacular. The secretary of state, secretary of defense, they got a problem and the president throws them into prison. And so they come to the chief jailer and the chief jailer is saying, okay, I got a problem. I can't screw this up. Who do I have I can trust? Oh yeah, one of the other prisoners, Joseph, you're in charge of these guys.
And Joseph comes in one day and he sees something. We're told in the text that the cupbearer and the baker have had a dream. Chapter 40 verse six. Joseph comes in in the morning and observes them and that they were dejected. Hang with me now. Ask Pharaoh's officers who were with them in confinement in the master's house, why are your faces so sad today?
Joseph's Heart for Others
We can skip by it easy, but I want to do that. I want you to see something in Joseph here that has a human touch to it. He was looking around for how he could help. This is not his job. His job is not to unpack the problem of the cupbearer and the baker.
How many times have you been in a situation where either your management has said to you or you have management have said, listen, whatever you do in your personal life, whatever your problems are, keep them out here, don't bring them in here. I don't want to be involved. Whatever you do out there is out there, just don't let it come in here. And Joseph is saying the opposite. Joseph is saying it's not a matter of bringing it in here. I can look at you and see the problem.
Sandy and I this summer were in, I don't know, I'll say a half a dozen different churches. Forget doctrine, we didn't even get to that part. We could not get somebody to say hello to us. We're there 15 minutes early. That alone makes us unique. We're sitting up front, nobody else is going to sit up there. We're asking of each other, what do you think of that? And nobody would say hi.
Forget involvement, the opportunity is all around you. If you're somebody walking around saying, I'd really like to be involved and really like to be in the game and really like to be used from God, okay, but I don't have a chance, then you got your head in the clouds because there's people all around you. All you got to do is show up here at 6:40 and
Look around the room. Walk into church Sunday, go 15 minutes early, look around the room, look at the person who's sitting by themselves reading the bulletin. You know nobody reads these things, right? Reading the bulletin, studying like there's a test. These are people with nothing to do. This is a cry for help with you going, "How are you doing?" Look at it, you don't have the luxury of not being involved, and Joseph's involved.
The Forgotten Helper
The story is this: they have a dream and Joseph says, "Here's humility," verse 8, "Don't interpretations belong to God?" He interprets the dream for them and what happens is the one is restored, the cupbearer. The baker, as Joseph interpreted the dream, was killed. Chapter 40 verse 23, here's a sad verse: the cupbearer did not remember Joseph but forgot him. What Joseph said is, "You're going to get back in there and see Pharaoh, will you remember me in this process?" And you can imagine his anticipation: hey, I'm going home, leaving on a jet plane, bags are packed, ready to go, I'm going to get out of here. The cupbearer's going to mention me. He doesn't.
We're told in verse 1 of chapter 41 that it was two years later when Pharaoh has a dream. Pharaoh has a dream and the dream is interpreted by Joseph. Joseph said, "Here's the deal, you're going to have seven years of prosperity and you're going to have seven years of famine." Joseph said, "If you're really smart, here's what you're going to do. In those years of prosperity, rather than get all the house you can, all the car you can, all the stuff you can, rather than get all that, if you met your needs and saved the rest, when the crash came you could still go to the club for happy hour and be okay because everything would be fine."
From Prisoner to Prime Minister
Pharaoh said, "Wow, if that's the dream we better figure this out." Literally in the story what Pharaoh says is, "We need to find a grain czar. We need to find a guy who will come along and essentially tax everybody, collect the grain and now when the famine comes we're going to have grain for the people."
The story is that here's Jacob and there's no grain anywhere. He hears it's in Egypt, so he sends the very boys that sold Joseph into slavery. He sends them down to beg for grain. They come into Joseph's presence, he recognizes them, they don't recognize him. He begins to weep, you know the story. Then after a period of time Joseph reveals himself to the boys. He can't control himself anymore. These guys are petrified because they know what they would do if they were Joseph.
God's Sovereign Purpose
Chapter 50 verse 20, one of the classics, one of those go-to's, Joseph said, "You meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good. Why? In order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive." Let me conclude where we started. Our hope, like Joseph, is not in our circumstances. Our hope is rooted in the character of God and the promises of God, and the sovereignty of God, and the faithfulness of God.
I don't know if I could forgive like this. In a week I'll be talking about forgiveness. Here you go, Ephesians 4:32, it's the key to forgiveness: "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has forgiven you." Doesn't necessarily mean forgiven, forget. You hear that all the time. If somebody's really done you dirty, I think you're always going to have that twitch. Doesn't mean that you're going to be all of a sudden vacationing with this guy, and hanging out with this gal, and be best friends, but it means you aren't going to be walking around with this bitterness, angry at that person.
Why? Because they deserve it? No. Here's the time of reflection, Ephesians 4:32, no more than you deserved it when God forgave you. While we were yet sinners, while we were still helpless, while we were enemies of God, He sent Christ who died on the cross, asking the Father to forgive the very people, you and me and us, who put Him there.
Four Takeaways
So four quick takeaways. Number one, circumstances don't always accurately indicate your spiritual condition. Good circumstances don't mean good spiritual life.
Number two, God's timing is perfect. We pray this all the time in the meetings we're in. "God, we don't want to be a step ahead of you or a step behind you." Romans chapter 5, Paul says, "While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for us." God's timing is perfect. It's His timing.
Number three, resist the temptation to get even. We know it, right? It seems to me to be inherently human. "I don't get mad, I get even." You've done me dirty, I'll do you dirty. You take advantage of me, I'll still smile when I see you. I'll still toast you at dinner, but when I get a chance, I'm going to even the score.
Here's the last thing, big thing: God works all things together for good. It's Romans chapter 8, verse 28, "And we know God causes all things to work together for good." It doesn't mean that everything that happens in our life is going to be what we would want, or that God causes all the things in our life, but God, because of His character and His promises and sovereignty and faithfulness, God takes all those things in our life and works them together for good. Even the cancer, even the financial problems, even the kid that walks away, even the spouse that says "I don't love you anymore," even your stupid decisions, God works them together for good. Why? Because He loves you.
A Picture of Supernatural Living
So here's Joseph. It's a picture, next week by the way is Daniel, and pretty similar really. It's a picture of steadfastness and forgiveness. It's one that when you really think about it should cause you to go, "I don't know if I could do that." Well, I don't know if you could do it on your own, but you have the Spirit of God in you that provides you the power to live a life that's supernatural.
We'll pick up right there next week with the study of Daniel. If you want to prep for that, read those first six chapters of the book of Daniel. Father, thank you for this awesome truth. God, we rest our hope...
our certainty in Your character, Your promises, Your sovereignty, and Your faithfulness. God, to those that today are hurting and going, "You know, that sounds good, but I don't think I can do it," let them feel the power of Your Spirit. It's the power of freedom and forgiveness. Let our hearts together, Father. We love You, and even then for one reason, because You first loved us.
Thank You that while we were helpless sinners and enemies of Yours, that You sent Christ to die so that we could have eternal life. Thank You for Joseph and the examples we see in the Old Testament that remind us of who You are. And God, we rest in that. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.