SOVEREIGN GRACE CREATES AND CONQUERS DESPAIR
Genesis 42: 29—43:14
INTRODUCTION
I doubt that a week goes by that I do not talk with someone
who is experiencing some level of despair or hopelessness.
The causes of the distress are as varied as the people with
whom I talk. Broken relationships, broken health, fear of
the future, loneliness, monotonous work, no work, habitual
sin, crushed expectations are just some of the causes of the
despair that all of us feel from time to time. For some of
us the sense of despair is not an on again off again experience
but a daily reality. Despair is a part of the human condition.
The Bible is quite aware of the fact of human despair. There
is much written in this book by despairing people, about despairing
people and for despairing people. When you are looking for
sympathy in your desolation I would encourage you to look
to God’s inspired word. Listen to Job express his anguish
at the loss of all his worldly possessions,
his children and his health, “And now my life ebbs away; days
of suffering grip me. Night pierces my bones; my gnawing
pains never rest. In his great power God becomes like clothing
to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment. He throws
me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes… Yet
when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light,
then came darkness. The churning inside me never stops; days
of suffering confront me.” Or consider this from Psalm 88,
“I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like
a man without strength. I am set apart with the dead, like
the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care. You have put me in the lowest
pit, in the darkest depths. Your wrath lies heavily upon
me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves…
you have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend.”
As I hope you heard in these passages, the Bible not only
understands the realities of despair but
it also claims that God is the author of the circumstances
that create our despair. He places us in desperate situations
for good reasons. We will never know, until we are with him
in heaven what all those good reasons are but the Bible does
tell us enough about his purposes so that we can find hope
in our despair. As we continue following the story of Jacob
and his twelve sons in Genesis 37-50 we have come today to
the low point in the life of Jacob and his family. Throughout
the passage that Dave just read for us are expressions of
human despair. Jacob at one point declares, “Everything is
against me.” Those are the words of a despairing man. We
see an entire family placed in the most difficult of situations.
God is the one who has put them in this circumstance. However,
not only are we observing a family in despair but we also
see the way out of despair. This story tells us something
of God’s purposes in putting us in desperate circumstances.
MAIN POINT
God creates temporary despair in order to deliver from eternal
despair because…
I. By nature we love the world (42:29—43:10)
Jacob and his sons are placed in hard circumstances. However,
the cause of despair is different for each and their response
to despair differs. The ten brothers of Joseph do not, during
this part of the story feel the fullness of their hopeless
condition. The full experience comes later. Yet it is worth
noting how God is pursuing them. Twenty-two years ago these
ten brothers, out of their intense hatred and jealousy brutally
attacked and sold into slavery their younger brother Joseph.
They formed a conspiracy and covered up their crime by covering
Joseph’s special robe, which signified his preeminent position
in their family, with the blood of a goat. When they showed
the robe to their father, asking him if it was indeed the
robe of Joseph, their father, as they hoped, drew the conclusion
that Joseph had been killed by a wild beast. So for the past
22 years these men have lived with their father as if they
were innocent. They have experienced no remorse for their
crime. They have enjoyed all the pleasures of life without
the least twinge of conscience. They are able to do this
because they believed it was unjust for their father to prefer
Rachel, the mother of Joseph, above their mothers. They believed
it was unjust for the second to the youngest son to be put
in charge of the family. They believed Joseph deserved what
he got. They viewed the purpose of life as maximizing their
pleasure on planet earth, which is what every human naturally
thinks is the purpose of life. They
lived as if this is all there is and that they would never
have to give an account to anyone for their actions.
However, as we saw last week, God loved them too much to
allow them to live in their illusion. He brought them to
Egypt by the famine
and, unknowingly, into the presence of their despised brother
Joseph who is now the lord of Egypt.
Then, through Joseph, God did to them what they had done to
Joseph. They were thrown into prison, even though they had
not committed the crime of which they were accused. In 42:21-22
they begin the road back to God by admitting their guilt to
one another in selling Joseph into slavery. They recognize
that God is punishing them for their crime. He is calling
them to account for their sin. I want you to see in our passage
today how God continues to press them into a corner. He does
not let up on them.
Before I show you how God works to increase their despair
I want you to see that I am not just riding some theological
hobby horse when I say that God is doing this to them. Look
back at 42:28. On their trip back from Egypt
to Canaan, one of the brothers discovers his silver in the
mouth of his sack. We know, as the readers, that Joseph is
the one who put the money in the sack. However, they attribute
this event to God. They view all that is happening to them
as God’s making them pay for their sin. What we are seeing
here is the Bible’s normal way of speaking about events involving
human choice. It is not a contradiction to say that Joseph
put the money in the sack and that God put the money in the
sack. God rules over human hearts and wills in such a
way that humans always do what they want to do and so are
accountable to God and humans always do what God wants
them to do.
When they arrive back home to their father Jacob they immediately
tell him what happened to them and why it is that Simeon was
left behind in Egypt.
They tell their father that the “lord of the land” will not
release Simeon unless they bring along their youngest brother
Benjamin to prove that they are honest men. Then they open
their sacks of grain and the other nine brothers discover
that their silver also has been returned in the mouths of
their sacks. This again creates fear in them. They fear
because this is another sign that God is after them. He has
seen their sin, he remembers it, and he is going to make them
pay for it. Then, while they are full of dread their father
Jacob says a most amazing thing. “You have deprived me of
my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and
now you want to take Benjamin.” Jacob accuses the nine sons
of being the agents of the disappearance of both Joseph and
Simeon. Two other times in this passage, Jacob says that
the trouble he is experiencing is due to the actions of these
sons. We know and the brothers know that what Jacob says
is exactly true. Joseph and Simeon are no more because of
the actions of these sons. However, does Jacob know? He
is very suspicious of these sons and he does not trust them.
He remembers their hatred of Joseph and most likely, there
have been whispered rumors in the camp. While Jacob has no
proof, he has his suspicions and he is voicing them for the
first time.
While we are not told explicitly how the brothers felt about
their father’s accusation we can get a hint of it from Reuben’s
response in v. 37. “You may put my sons to death if I do
not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I
will bring him back.” What kind of desperation makes a man
offer his children up to death? He offers up his two sons
in order to prove to their father that he is a trustworthy
son. Reuben and the other brothers know that Simeon is in
jail due to their sin and they know that the only way out
is to prove they are honest men. The sons must prove to both
the “lord of Egypt”
and to their father that they are honest men. In Egypt
they are accused as spies, in their home they are blamed for
the evil that has befallen their two brothers. How can they
prove they are honest? How can they escape their guilt?
God has backed them into a corner. There is only one way
out and that is the way of open and honest confession of their
sin. Yet, they are unwilling to take that avenue. They would
rather sacrifice their own children than openly confess their
crime. They have not yet fully faced their sin. They are
not as passionate about showing God they are honest men as
they are proving to their father and to the prince they are
honest men. They still love the pleasures of this world too
much. They still think that they can figure a way out of
this trap on their own. They are willing to leave Simeon
in prison rather than acknowledge their guilt.
Not only do they hear the accusation of God in the accusation
of their father but then they must come face to face with
the favoritism of their father. Look at what Jacob says in
v. 38. He calls Benjamin “my son”. He says that Benjamin
is the only son he has left. He says that if something were
to happen to Benjamin they would bring his gray head down
to the grave in grief. He isn’t saying that about Simeon.
Jacob would rather leave Simeon in prison in Egypt
forever than risk anything happening to Benjamin. Can you
feel the injustice of Jacob’s preference? These brothers
have always known that Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of his
preferred wife, Rachel, were his favorites but they have never
had Jacob say it to their face with such bluntness. How hopeless
is their situation. God is after them for their crime against
Joseph. He has put them in a corner, yet they still hang
onto some vain hope that they can escape without having to
confess to their crime. Yet, there is no way out without
a full confession, without complete repentance. You will
not go to heaven hiding and holding onto sin. All those who
are going to heaven daily repent of and confess their sins.
Christians know that God sees all and that he is willing
to forgive all and so they confess all. They fear the
displeasure of God and yearn for his love more than they fear
the loss of respect or of some earthly comfort that might
come if their sins are found out. God sends temporary despair
so we will confess our sins, so we can escape eternal despair
in hell.
What about Jacob? He is the recipient of great and wonderful
promises from God. Over the course of his life God has assured
him that his sons will become a great nation. Great kings
will come from his descendants. He is going to be fruitful
in the land of Canaan. However, for the past 22 years he
has lived a despondent life due to the loss of Joseph. He
loved Joseph more than he loved God and his promises. He
has lived as if God’s promises died when Joseph died.
He hangs on to Benjamin as if losing him would mean losing
everything. Jacob’s hope is not in God and his promises but
in the sons of his beloved wife Rachel. As he says, he believes
that “everything is against me.” This is not a statement
of faith but of unbelief and despair. Again, we know, as
the reader, that not everything is against Jacob. In fact,
God is at work to accomplish a great salvation. He is fulfilling
all his promises. Jacob ought to know this as well, but he
does not. Jacob has fixed his affections, his hope; upon
life going the way he wants it to go. He has not been
able to believe the promises and move beyond his despair.
Now God is at work to bring Jacob out of his despair. However,
before he can do that he must increase the hopelessness of
the situation.
When Reuben tells Jacob that he should send Benjamin back
to Egypt with him
in v. 37, he means to go at once. Reuben wants to get Simeon
out of prison as soon as possible. However, Jacob is unwilling
to trust these sons or the prince in Egypt.
He fears the loss of Benjamin and so he leaves Simeon in prison.
He does not know that the famine, which is only in its second
year, has another 5 years to go. However, God has sent this
famine into the world to create misery so that men, and especially
Jacob, will learn to not trust in themselves or in the comforts
of his world, but in God. Therefore, in 43:1 we are told
that the famine continues to grow in its severity. Jacob’s
family runs out of the grain they brought back from Egypt.
Notice how tentative he is towards his sons in v. two. He
doesn’t command his sons as he did in 42:1, rather he suggests
that they go back to Egypt
and get a little more food. He knows the reason they have
not gone is his unwillingness to send Benjamin so he has no
ground to chastise and command. Notice, he does not mention
getting Simeon out of prison, he only mentions getting more
food. He has abandoned Simeon. Then Judah,
speaking for all the brothers, tells Jacob that they cannot
get food from Egypt
unless Benjamin goes with them. Jacob’s back is against the
wall. Verse 6 shows the depth of Jacob’s unbelief
and despair. He blames his sons for bringing this trouble
on him by talking about Benjamin. Verse six is a classic
biblical statement with a double meaning. Jacob is absolutely
right in saying that all this trouble has come to him because
of these sons. However, he is wrong in saying that this trouble
has come to him by their “telling the man” they had another
brother. Verse six condemns the brothers as criminals and
Jacob for not trusting God’s promises, for preferring Benjamin
to Simeon, for loving the comforts of this life more than
God.
The brothers defend their revealing Benjamin’s existence.
They had no choice but to talk about their family under the
inquisition of the prince of Egypt.
Then Judah, showing
another sign of blooming repentance guarantees Benjamin’s
safety by offering himself as the pledge. If anything
happens to Benjamin, then he will pay for it, himself. However,
he insists that they leave immediately so that they, their
father and their little children might live and not die. Compare
v. 8 with 42:18. Judah,
using the same language Joseph used when he let the brothers
out of prison, tells his father what he must do if they are
going to live and not die. God, through Judah,
shows to Jacob what faith will do if he wants to live and
not die. The reason God tells sinners to repent and to trust
in him is so that we will live and not die. He says to Jacob,
“The path you must take if my promises are going to come true
to you, if you want you and your family to live and not die,
is to send Benjamin to the prince of Egypt
with your other sons.” God has sent to Jacob a temporary
despair so that he might escape eternal despair and enjoy
eternal life and joy. God has made it impossible for Jacob
to continue loving the world. He must either perish or trust
God to fulfill his promises.
God creates temporary despair
in order to deliver from eternal despair because…
·
By nature we love the world
·
And because…
II. Faith lives as if God is the
greatest treasure (vv. 11-14)
I want you to notice a clue that Moses has put in his telling
of this story to show us that Jacob is escaping his despair
and trusting God. In verse six Moses begins to use the name
God gave to Jacob when he wrestled with God at the river Jabbok.
He calls him Israel,
which means “the prince of God” rather than Jacob, which means
“deceiver”. Verses 11-14 record for us the reawakening of
faith in the breast of Israel,
the father of God’s people. In a moment he goes from despairing
because he has lost his beloved son Joseph and fears the loss
of his other beloved son, Benjamin, to trusting God and acting
in faith. He shows how it is that people of faith live when
faced with impossible situations. He does all he can to prepare
his sons for their meeting with the fierce “lord of Egypt.”
He gives his most prized and loved possession into the hands
of his sons. He risks everything that he loves. Nothing
has changed since the end of chapter 42 when he says that
there is no way that Benjamin will accompany his brothers
to Egypt. He does
not decide to send Benjamin because he now trusts his sons
and the prince of Egypt.
He sends Benjamin because he now trusts God. He denies himself
and takes up his cross because he believes that to lose his
life in this world means that he will gain the life of God,
eternal life.
Look at verse 14 and consider the miracle that God has wrought
in this man through the desperate conditions in which he has
placed him. He views the journey of his sons to Egypt
as if they are on a mission for God. They are going to obtain
the release of captive Simeon and prevent harm to Benjamin.
He knows that God is able to change the heart of the fierce
prince and bring about the deliverance. His hope is in God,
not in his sons or in the goodwill of the prince. Let me
just put a parenthesis in here. It is so easy to ignore these
little statements that pepper the Bible because they don’t
fit with our human ideas of what it means to have a free will.
Israel
sees the decision that the prince will make concerning his
two sons as not being in the prince’s power. Rather,
if God wants the prince to release Simeon and Benjamin then
God will cause him to have mercy upon them. However, if it
is God’s will not to release Simeon and Benjamin, then God
will not interfere with what the prince wants to do. God
rules over human affections and human hearts. When humans
do evil, it is because they want to do it and God permits
them to do it for his good, but secret reasons. However,
whenever God wants a human to do a good thing he puts a new
desire in their heart and they gladly, willingly do the good
thing. This is what Jacob means by his prayer. The Almighty
God, if he wants, is able to make this cruel prince willingly
compassionate.
The last thing that Israel
says, “If I am bereaved, I am bereaved” ought to have a familiar
ring to those of you who are familiar with the Biblical record.
We ought to think of Queen Esther when she is told
of Haman’s plot to kill all the Jews in Persia.
Her uncle Mordecai tells her that she must go to King Artexerxes
and get him to stop this evil plot. Esther tells Mordecai
that to enter the king’s presence without being invited will
result in death unless he makes a special concession. She
then tells him that she will do it and ends her promise to
go by saying, “If I perish, I perish.” We ought to think
of Daniel’s three friends, Shadrag, Meshach, and Abed-nego
when they are faced with the choice of either bowing down
to worship the statue of the king or being thrown into the
fiery furnace. They say that whether or not God saves them
from death they will not bow down. We ought to think of Peter
and John in front of the Sanhedrin, being told that if
they continue preaching the gospel they will be punished.
They reply that it doesn’t matter what is done to them, they
cannot stop talking about what they have seen and heard.
We ought to think of Paul, in prison in Rome, saying
to his dear friends at Philippi, “For to me, to live is
Christ and to die is gain.” We ought to think of our Lord
Jesus on the night of his betrayal and arrest, praying in
the garden, asking his Father to take away the cross but concluding,
“Not my will, but yours be done.”
Israel has determined
that he wants what God wants and that what God wants is what
is best, even if what he wants is to take all 12 of his sons
away. Here is Israel
sending all of his sons into Egypt
where it is quite possible that none of them will ever return.
He will not know for at least two months what has happened
to these sons. Please note, his concern now is not just with
Benjamin, but he sees himself as placing all of his sons at
risk. He is putting all of his earthly treasures into the
hands of the Sovereign, wise, powerful
and loving “Almighty God.” He is completely confident that
God will be his refuge and strength. He asks God for mercy,
for the deliverance of his sons from this dangerous tyrant,
but “his soul finds rest in God alone.” There is no way to
live by faith in the promises of God without taking risks.
There is no way to live by faith in God alone without being
submissive to the will of God. Faith is
not believing that whatever I want God to do is going
to happen. Faith is believing that to be loved by God, to belong to him is better
than the world. If you will permit me to quote John Piper,
“Faith is not only believing that Jesus will do what he has
promised but that what Jesus promises is better than the whole
world.” Then it is making choices and living in the world
in a manner that shows we believe that to be true. It is
to live depending upon him to be all that we need so that
if we lose everything we love on planet earth, which is going
to happen to all of us one day, we can still be infinitely
happy. God and his promises are better than 12 healthy sons
and their families living next door in prosperity.
When you decide to continue loving someone who has hurt you,
you don’t do it trusting that they will change and love you
back. When you decide to risk sharing the gospel with a coworker,
you don’t do it trusting that they will love the gospel and
you for sharing it. When you decide to do what your parents
ask even though you don’t want to, you don’t do it trusting
that your obedience will get you some other permission. We
take risks of love and obedience because we know that even
if nothing good comes out of the act here, God is better than
a positive result. We trust that God is our treasure, not
things turning out well.
God creates temporary despair
in order to deliver from eternal despair because…
·
By nature we love the world
·
Faith lives as if God is the greatest treasure
·
And because…
III. God is working for your eternal
joy right now (42:18 & 43:8)
I want us to step back from the details of the story for
a moment and consider the pink elephant that stands in the
middle of the story. We, as the readers of the story, know
something that Israel
and his sons do not know. In fact, we know things that not
even Joseph knows. We, as the reader of the story share in
God’s point of view. If we want we can even read to the end
of the story and find out what happens. However, that is
not the case with the people in the story. They have to live
through the details, through the events in order to find out
what happens. They are living ignorant of the ways in
which all the details are fitting together. They have
no control over the famine, over the prince of Egypt,
over the actions and reactions of one another.
What we know is that they have nothing to fear. Jacob has
had not reason to be in despair for the past 22 years. They
talk about “the man” in Egypt
who is full of threats and appears dangerous and yet we know
they are talking about Joseph. Joseph is alive and the most
powerful man in the world. Benjamin is in no danger and neither
is Simeon. We have seen the compassion of Joseph already
and know that he is working with God in order to bring life
and not death to his family, including his brothers. We know
that there are enormous resources available for them to escape
the devastation of the famine. We know there is nothing to
fear. Do you ever talk to the TV or the movie when watching
a dramatic presentation? Do you ever find yourself
talking to the characters and telling them to chill out or
don’t be so stupid or what’s your problem, kiss and make up?
Isn’t that what you want to do with Jacob and his sons? Come
on guys, there is joy and happiness which you cannot fathom
waiting for you in Egypt.
There is nothing to fear. Repent of your sins, believe the
promises, go to Egypt,
to this prince who you betrayed and consigned to death and
he will receive you.
One of the main things we are to see in this story is that
just as they are ignorant of and impotent against the events
that have come upon them, so are we. However, just as God
was working out a plan for their eternal and infinite joy
so is he working out a plan for our eternal and infinite joy.
It may require 22 years of living with some great loss but
it is going to end. There is forgiveness and joy awaiting
you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t live in despair. God has a
great and glorious future planned when everything sad will
become untrue for those who will turn from their sins and
go to the crucified Savior who is now exalted as lord of the
earth. He is patiently waiting. You can give up your life
on planet earth. You can entrust your life to his care.
He has a plan that he is working out for your eternal good,
if you will love him and trust him. Trust God and live a
life that risks the comforts and pleasures of this life because
you know that you have better and more lasting pleasures in
heaven. Submit to the will of your loving father because
you know that he has a glorious future that he is preparing
and all the details of your life are part of his giving you
that future. Israel
and his sons cannot have the future, eternal joy without going
through the present, temporary distress. God knows what he
is doing. Grieve your losses here but do not give in to despair
as if it will never end. Resurrection, salvation is coming
at the advent of our betrayed, crucified, resurrected and
exalted Savior, the lord of the earth, Jesus Christ.
God creates temporary despair
in order to deliver from eternal despair because…
·
By nature we love the world
·
Faith lives as if God is the greatest treasure
·
God is working for your eternal joy right now