CONFIDENCE by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: When our kids were young, they loved watching Winnie the Pooh. Their favorite characters were Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, and Tigger. My favorite was Eeyore—always pessimistic and down on life. I’ve met a lot of people who may not sound like Eeyore but they definitely have an Eeyore view of life. They have a victim mindset. They feel that life is just a series of unfortunate events. They often compare themselves to others and wish that fate had dealt them a better hand. They often moan, “all these things are against me.” As we stand at the starting line of a new year and a new decade, does that describe you? How confident are you about your future? Here’s the gist of the message: How you see your life—past and future—is a direct result of what you believe about the sovereignty of God. The right view of the sovereignty of God will give you the right perspective on your past and give you the confidence to face whatever lies ahead and win. That’s the title of our message today—CONFIDENCE.
Genesis 42:36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.”
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Question: Which one are you? Are you like Jacob who moaned “All these things are against me” or are you like Paul who proclaimed “All things work together for good to those who love God?” Do you love God? Are you saved?
Context: The first passage we just read from Genesis 42 is one of the most depressing statements in the Bible. Listen to it again—36 “And Jacob their father said to them, ‘You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin…’” The Hebrew word for “bereave” is “shekel,” which translates as “childless.” Why did Jacob make such a drastic claim? Like always, we need to look at the context in which Jacob said those words. The beginning of Genesis 42 tells us that there was a famine in the land and Jacob had sent his sons to Egypt to get some grain. His sons had just returned home, but, unfortunately, one of their brothers Simeon was not with them. He had been held hostage by the ruler of Egypt, who they didn’t know at the time was Joseph, their younger brother. He had told them that he was going to keep Simeon there until they returned with their younger brother Benjamin. Keep in mind, Joseph and Benjamin were the only sons from Rachel, the wife he really wanted to marry. Joseph had mysteriously died (or so Jacob thought) and now they had to take Benjamin back with them to Egypt. To make matters worse, when they opened their sacks of grain, their money pouches were still there! Now, they were probably deemed thieves in Egypt for stealing grain or so they thought. When Jacob heard all this, he cried out “You have made me childless!” Keep in mind that 10 of his sons were standing before him! In other words, in his anguish, he was exaggerating the situation.
Application: Do you exaggerate your situation? You may not say “You’ve bereaved me,” but how about, “You’ve ruined my life” or “he/she has ruined my life?” Don’t misunderstand. It is bad what’s happened to you and people may have to be held accountable for what they did to you. But, do you exaggerate what’s happened to you?
Nonetheless, all this was still understandable until Jacob said something that went beyond the immediate context. He cried out “All these things are against me.” What was Jacob talking about? This was the magma, volcanic ash, and gases that were churning below the surface in Jacob’s heart that finally burst through into a devastating volcano. This is how he had been feeling for quite some time and he finally just let it out. In some ways, Jacob had every reason to say what he did. Yes, things had been rough for him. At a young age, he had to leave his home and run for his life. All this because his brother Esau had tried to steal the birthright that rightfully belonged to him and his father Isaac was more concerned about his taste buds than the plan of God. Then, his uncle Laban had tricked him into working for 7 years and gave him the wrong daughter for a wife. That’s enough to ruin your day! After working for 7 more years, he finally got the right one. But now, he had 2 wives plus 2 concubines! If that wasn’t enough, Uncle and now Father-in-law Laban even tried to take advantage of Jacob by giving him the defective livestock. Fast forward a few years, Jacob’s sons killed all the men of Shechem out of revenge over their sister Dinah. If you remember Jacob’s words in Genesis 34:30 “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land…” In other words, he couldn’t control his sons any longer. Then, Rachel, Jacob’s love of his life, died in childbirth. Finally, the worst happened when Jacob sent Joseph to take some food to his brothers and a few days later, his sons returned with Joseph’s tunic of many colors covered in blood and asked him, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?” Deep down, Jacob knew that his sons had something to do with Joseph’s death. Now Simeon was held hostage in Egypt and Benjamin had to be taken to meet this Egyptian ruler. Any wonder that Jacob exploded like he did!
Application: Have you ever exploded like Jacob—“All these things are against me?” Have you ever felt like he did?
Yes, Jacob had every reason to say what he said but he knew better than to say what he said. God had given him plenty of assurance that he was with him, guiding and protecting him.
- When Jacob was fleeing from his brother, he had a special vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending. It was a reminder that God was with him.
- When Laban was cheating Jacob, he had a special visit from God warning him and calling him to head back to the land of his family.
- When Jacob was afraid to face his brother Esau, he had a personal visit from the pre-incarnate Christ. In fact, he wrestled with God and prevailed. He received a new name.
- When Jacob was afraid of the repercussion of his sons killing the people of Shechem, “the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue them.” God appeared to him again in Bethel and assured him in Genesis 3510 “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name…” 11 “…I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”
Even after all this, he still said, “All things are against me.” What a poor testimony before his children!
Application: Have you done that? You need to repent.
But, thank God that for every negative example, he has given us a positive one to follow. Just a few chapters later, in Genesis 50:20, we find a different declaration—“But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” Who said this? Jacob’s son Joseph. Yes, Jacob had a rough life no doubt, but Joseph’s was no less. For starters, his mother Rachel died giving birth to his brother Benjamin. That’s rough on any child. Next, his brothers envied him and could not speak peaceably to him. As we’ve already discussed, they did the ultimate—sold him into slavery. Imagine that! In Egypt, he was bought by an influential man named Potiphar who was super impressed with his work ethic and integrity and made him the head of his household. Just when things began to look up for Joseph, Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of trying to rape her and had him thrown into prison. In prison, he interpreted the dream of the chief baker and the chief butler. The chief butler’s dream restored him to his previous position. As he was leaving, Joseph begged him “remember me when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house.”Unfortunately, the chief butler did not remember him for some time. Joseph could’ve had a horrible attitude towards life. When his brothers came before him, he could have taken his revenge. Instead, he did what he did to bring them to a point of repentance (I don’t have time to get into that right now) and reconciled with them. But, after their father Jacob died, the brothers were afraid that Joseph would try to take his revenge now. Instead, he said to them, “You meant evil against me but God meant it for good.” Don’t miss this: He didn’t excuse their behavior. Neither did he blame them for everything. By the way, blame is a tell-tale sign that you are still not over your past and you’re not ready to move forward. Instead, he simply chose to affirm the sovereignty of God in his life. To say it another way—the son succeeded where the father failed!
Listen carefully: For every negative experience in your life, God has given you a positive one. You have to choose to see it:
- You have to choose to see the sovereign hand of God guiding you and protecting you as you walked through the valley of the shadow of death.
- You have to choose to praise God than to curse those who have caused you pain.
- You have to choose to proclaim “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose” rather than to moan “All these things are against me.”
Unless you have the proper view of the sovereignty of God in your life and in this world, you will not have the confidence to face whatever lies ahead and win. Are you a Jacob or a Joseph? Are you saved?
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