THE POWER OF LIFE: GOD'S PRESENCE (Genesis 39:1-6)

#Year_end_sunday

Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

What we must not miss in Joseph's life is the presence of God. We must not overlap our desires with Joseph's success. God's presence is more precious than our dreams.

 

We stand at the point of looking back on the past year. As we reflect on the past year, there will be more curves in life that sway like waves than running on a solid path. Just as Jacob said that his life was not smooth in front of the Pharaoh of Egypt, our year was not entirely peaceful either. Let's discover God's presence in Joseph's story. We often think of Joseph as a model of a successful person who achieved his dreams despite difficulties and crises. We see Joseph as a person who realized his own dreams. How could Joseph endure the hardships that came upon him?

God's Presence Rather Than Joseph's Dreams

Joseph did not know what kind of life he would live. The dreams Joseph had were symbolic. The dreams he had were about bundling sheaves of grain in the field, and Joseph's sheaf rose up and his brothers' sheaves bowed down to his sheaf, and the sun, moon, and stars bowed down to Joseph. It becomes clear later what Joseph's dreams meant. When his brothers came to buy grain and bowed down before him, Joseph remembered the dreams he had (Gn 42:9). Therefore, Joseph could not know what his childhood dreams meant in the tangled course of life. God made Joseph dream, but did not tell him specifically what would happen. Even when Joseph encountered great difficulties, God never appeared to him directly and spoke to him. Of course, Joseph could expect that 'God will use me preciously,' but he could not think beyond that. He could not even imagine that he would become the prime minister of Egypt. What sustained him through his turbulent life was not the dreams he had when he was young. Joseph did not give up on living a life fearing God even in the midst of the storm because God was always with him.

If we only see Joseph as someone who turned his life around by interpreting dreams brilliantly in prison, we cannot see the true nature of his life. What we must not miss in Joseph's story is the fact that God was with Joseph in his daily life. It is not something special, but the natural presence of God by Joseph's side. Genesis 39 contains many expressions that God was with Joseph. It appears in verses 2, 3, 21, and 23. When Joseph was grabbed by his brothers and thrown into the pit, and when he was sold to Ishmaelite merchants and dragged to Egypt on a painful journey, God never left him. God was with him even during the anxious time when he waited for someone to buy him in the slave market. God was with him when he was a hardworking servant in Potipar's house, and when he was in prison under false charges. Even when Joseph's life hit rock bottom, God was with him.

In Joseph's life, we can clearly see God's presence and guidance. Joseph went from being a pampered son to a slave deprived of freedom, and then from a slave to a prisoner with no future, his life shattered. When his brothers changed their minds about killing Joseph and sold him to Ishmaelite merchants, they thought Joseph's life was over. When Potipar's wife falsely accused Joseph and sent him to prison, he fell even deeper. In prison, he interpreted the dreams of a high official and asked him to clear his name, but the official forgot about Joseph even after being reinstated, and two years passed in vain. Joseph's last hope vanished like a bubble. Yet, the Bible says that God was with Joseph in those moments.

What do children of God live by?

Looking at Joseph's life, we ask ourselves, "What do the children of God live by?" Joseph was brutally betrayed by his brothers, separated from his family, became a slave deprived of freedom, and fell to the bottom as a prisoner in jail after being falsely accused. Having lost everything, what power did Joseph live by? This is found in Genesis 39:20-21.

"So Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison."

God showed Joseph mercy. Mercy means kindness, compassion, and consistent love. Although Joseph was in prison, God bestowed kindness and compassion upon him. It means that God loved Joseph consistently.

When life hits rock bottom, what can the children of God live by? The children of God live by something that can never be taken away. Nothing can take away God's consistent love. It is said that not even death can separate us from the mercy of God (Rom 8:38-39). The more Joseph was thrown to the bottom, the closer God was with him. At first, it was said that the Lord was with Joseph, but when he fell into a prison where there was no hope of escape, God not only stayed with him but also bestowed grace upon him (Gn 39:21). The reason Joseph could live even when thrown into the prison where the king's prisoners were confined, a place with no hope of escape, was because God was with him and bestowed mercy upon him. The same goes for us. The children of God endure and overcome all hardships through God's mercy. Through Joseph's life, God tells us that He leads the way for His children even when they walk through the difficult paths of life.

The story of Joseph does not encourage dreaming of desire fulfillment. 

In the story of Joseph, he had good dreams, cherished them well, and achieved them. However, this can lead people to mistake their desires for a vision given by God. The story of Joseph cannot be about a dreamer who never gives up and eventually turns his life around. There are many books in the self-improvement section of bookstores with more touching and impressive stories than Joseph's. God should be visible in Joseph's life to our eyes. Verse 3 says, "His master saw that the Lord was with him." In other words, when Potipar looked at Joseph, he saw that the Lord was with him. Potipar could see God in Joseph, but our eyes may be too dim to see it. Let's not overlap or mix Joseph's dream with our own.

God will never allow his glory to be taken away. God does not allow his glory to be taken away by the image of Joseph, who had a colorful life and achieved human victory. God wants himself to be revealed in Joseph's life. In fact, this is the blessing God has given us. Now, we may rise and fall, be humbled and recover, have nothing to boast about, or be disappointed because our boasts are so insignificant, but God is with us in all of it. God is with us on any path we take, faithfully accompanying us. So, God allows our children to say that it was not our parents' dreams and visions, but God was with them on their humble life journey. This is the blessing given to Joseph, and the blessing God promises to us who read his story.

Tolstoy, in his short essay "What Men Live By," said that people live not by their desires, dreams, visions, or judgments, but by the love God meticulously bestows. It seems that Tolstoy might have been struck by the verse, "The Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy." 

God's presence is more precious than our dreams. To say that God was with us where our desires were realized is to take God lightly. Although we may not know that God's presence, his mercy, is more precious than our dreams, it is even more precious that God is with us and bestows mercy on us. This is the truth.

As we close the year, thinking about God's mercy, his presence, will direct our dreams away from desires and towards the kingdom of God.