Truth For Life

Guest (Male): Ever find yourself comparing your gifts and ministry to other people, maybe wishing you had a more impressive job to do? Today on Truth For Life, we'll learn why there is no ideal place to serve God except right where He has placed you. Alistair Begg is continuing our study in Genesis chapter 41, beginning with verse 41.

Alistair Begg: This Joseph who was in charge was a man who was in touch. He was in touch with the living God, and one of the key evidences in his life was the fact of his wisdom. If a man is going to be marked or a woman by this kind of wisdom, then it is going to be tested significantly in the everyday events of life. And so we would expect that Joseph, in going about the position that he has now been entrusted with, would declare the evidences of a wise and discerning mind.

I want simply to point out to you the way in which his wisdom is revealed in this arena. First of all, his wisdom is displayed in his clarity of purpose. You actually need to backtrack to verse 36, where we noted that his obvious concern in the plan which he had suggested to Pharaoh was, in the final phrase of verse 36, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine. And his wisdom in conceiving the plan is revealed in the fact that his plan was purposeful.

At the same time, his wisdom is declared not only in the clarity of his purpose, but also in the extent of his endeavor, or if you like, his hard work. You get this picture of him saying, "All right, I understand what my job is, and I am clear as to the purpose that has been established. And now in order to give myself wholeheartedly to the task, I must leave the comfort and presence of Pharaoh here and get on and about my business."

Thirdly, his hard work is more than matched by his strategy. If he is going to display his wisdom, then he clearly is going to have to have something to say to the various cities and towns at which he presents himself. He has a strategy, and it is there revealed in verse 48. He collected all the food produced in those seven years of abundance in Egypt and he stored it in the cities.

Indeed, his strategy was that in each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it, so that when the days of famine arrived, the people would be able, without traveling vast distances, to be able to access the food that they would so desperately need. There's wisdom in that. A lesser mortal may have come up with a more elaborate scheme that would have been far less effective.

And indeed, effectiveness in verse 49 is the next indication of his wisdom at work. We're told that Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain, like the sand of the sea. So much so that he actually stopped keeping records because they had gone beyond the ability to adequately summarize what they were taking in.

And as we noted before, not only did this plan provide a hedge against the impoverishment of the nation of Egypt itself, but it really was quite successful insofar as it bolstered up the balance of payments, making it possible for Egypt to engage in an export market, so effective was his strategy.

And then finally, his wisdom is revealed in his ability in leadership. That's why we're told in verse 55 that when the people cried to Pharaoh, Pharaoh told the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. Joseph is the man that I have appointed, and Joseph is the one to whom you should go." And so we're told in verse 56 that when the famine had spread, Joseph opened the storehouses and he sold the grain to the Egyptians. And actually, all the surrounding countries came to buy grain from Joseph, because we're told the famine was severe in all the world.

The point of application as obvious as it is, needs to be helpfully made, namely to acknowledge the fact that each of us has a unique sphere of influence in the marketplace of your life. You have been set in the place of God's appointing, wherever that might be and whatever the task may involve, however elaborate or however apparently inconsequential.

Whether it is at a kitchen sink, as a bank teller, as a teacher, as a student, as someone in the sports industry, in the realm of the media, in medicine, in whatever it might be, God has determined that He would gift you in such a way that you might be the man or the woman of His choosing.

Have you identified that which God has given you to do? And if not, then do so. The hymn writer in the children's hymn of years ago says, "There's a work for Jesus ready at your hand; 'tis a task the Master just for you has planned. Haste to do His bidding, yield Him service true; there's a work for Jesus none but you can do."

Don't be looking around at others. Don't be worrying about this person or that person, or what they're able to do, or why they're accomplishing this, or why they're involved in this or that. Simply look up to the Lord Jesus and say, "Here I am and I'm ready for Your service."

And remind yourself as you do, that as I've said to you so many times, from the authority of God's Word itself, it is the unseen parts of our body which are performing the most vital functions: in the renal function, in the neurological functions, in the double circulatory system of our blood flow. They are not apparent on the surface, but they are vital for staying alive.

And so to some who are here tonight and think that because you do not have a position that is noticeable, remember that every act of service is notable to God who put you in that place of usefulness. And Joseph was about his business, yes, with prominence, but what we know of him is this: that whether he was in obscurity or in the limelight, he understood that being in touch meant being involved, and his involvement declared his wisdom.

Isn't it interesting that there is no record of him spending his days in pleasure? Many of us, I fear, I would have been tempted when I got that new chariot and those clothes and the signet ring and the chance to buzz around. Oh, I can't but think of all the things I would have planned to do. I would have planned immediately for a long spell of travel, perhaps, and roaming here and there and playing with the signet ring. But he doesn't waste his time in pleasure.

I don't know about you, but I might have been tempted, since I was now second in command in the whole of Egypt, to go settle some old scores. No. He simply recognized that he'd been placed in a position of usefulness for the good of the people and for the glory of God. And so he gave himself in unwearied activity so that he would not prove unworthy of the trust which the Pharaoh had given him. Joseph, then, is a wonderful example of faith at work at work. If my faith is not at work at work, then my faith is not at work at all.

Now, finally, in chapter 41, if his wisdom was going to be displayed in his workplace, then it was going to have to be displayed in family matters. And one of the most significant things about your family is your name. Your name is very precious and very important. You don't want the name of your family besmirched, nor do I.

And so to be given a new name is a significant thing. It's significant at every point in the Bible. Jacob's name was changed to Israel. Abram had his name changed. Daniel had his name changed. And we're told in verse 45 here that Joseph had his name changed. It was an indication of the high esteem in which Joseph was found by the Pharaoh. And his new name would be declaring that to those who met him from this point on in his life.

Oh, he would always be Joseph, as it were, inside. He was always going to be Joseph to his dad. He would always be Joseph to his brothers when they reappeared. But within the context of the jurisdiction of Egypt, he now bore this new and significant name, which probably described that which he had most recently achieved in the interpreting of the dream. And the name probably means "the revealer of secrets." And so it is most appropriate. And he was certainly deserving of this mark of recognition.

I haven't done a lot of this, but I do hope you will note as we go through here the foreshadowings of Jesus that we find frequently in the story of Joseph. Even in the mention of his name here, it is a reminder to us as it points us forward to the name of the Lord Jesus Himself, the great revealer of the Father's will.

If Joseph was able to reveal the dream of Pharaoh, here was to come one down through the corridors of time who would reveal God's will in all of its fullness, who would provide for us a knowledge of salvation through the redemption of our sins. And His name would be and is the name that is above every name. If Joseph was to be the deliverer from a physical famine, this Jesus who was to come was to deliver from the spiritual famine that ravages our lives.

So he had a new name, and he was also given a wife. Do you notice that in verse 45? He was given the name Zaphenath-Paneah, and he was also given Asenath the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Interestingly, we know nothing further of this particular lady, nor do we know anything other than this about her father.

And it should be understood as well that to be given a wife, to be connected this way further into the Egyptian society and culture, was again an indication of the esteem and affection of Pharaoh for Joseph. And again, Joseph would have understood it as such.

However, the question is this: Should we find fault with Joseph for forming a connection with the family of a priest by marrying his daughter? Did Joseph sin in getting married to this lady? Now, some people would answer and do answer in commentaries with a resounding yes. Absolutely, they say. Joseph made a major error here and he would never be the same again.

It simply shows to us, they say, that the best of men are men at best, and although Joseph was a diligent, God-centered young man, he could succumb to things. Even though we had seen him successful in other areas, and so when the chips were down and he got the car and he got the clothes and he got the clout, he just couldn't resist having to take the wife with the package, and so he went along with it.

Now, of course, it doesn't say that. So when it doesn't say that, nobody can say that with great conviction. No more than I can say what I'm about to say with great conviction, because the fact of the matter is we're not told these things. However, I'm not so quick to draw the conclusion that Joseph was wrong for a number of reasons. For example, Jethro's daughter was not rejected by Moses simply because Jethro was the priest of Midian. So that others within the context of the biblical record had engaged in similar marriages or were to engage in similar marriages.

And as it falls out in the story of Jethro, it would appear that this man seemingly was a fearer of the true God, or at least he was open to the truth when it was presented to him. And so we cannot say categorically just what it was that made this man Potiphera tick. But if Potiphera was a really bad heathen priest, if he was all that we might expect him to be as a pagan, does it inevitably follow that his daughter also was a pagan?

Have not some of us grown up in paganism and been redeemed by an outstretched hand? Do some of us not pray for our parents and for our families because of the way we have been set apart from them? It certainly is possible. It is also possible that she in some special way was prepared to receive the truth from Joseph.

And although she may not have been marked by the truth, I can't but imagine that almost immediately that this relationship would be established and the covenant sealed in marriage, that this young God-centered man did not immediately get about the business of saying to this girl Asenath, "Hey, listen. Let me tell you about what's the most important thing in my life right from the start so that you may understand me and that we may go on together."

I can't but imagine that he was about the business, if you like, of evangelism. We're going to have to wait for heaven to unravel that. But you can make your own conclusion for now. I am tempted to believe that Joseph, a God-centered, disciplined, focused young man, did not neglect to acknowledge God in this vital matter of marriage.

In fact, if he had been forced, as he probably was circumstantially, to marry a woman who'd been brought up in idolatry and in superstition, let none of us assume that he provides an excuse for Christians to choose unbelievers as their marriage partners.

For if he was forced to that from which he could not disengage himself, he clearly does not establish a model for those of us who are free to choose and to make wise decisions concerning the family of faith. But it is at least possible that the position into which Asenath was thrust in an arranged marriage was to become the very gateway of heaven for her.

Every person who finds themselves as an unbeliever joined in marriage to a godly believer should thank God, ask many questions, be very honest, and listen carefully. Everything does not fit our compelling desire for total definition and clarity in these areas.

Now, let me just acknowledge with you in verses 50 to 52 that he not only had a new name and a new wife, but he was given two sons. And in the naming of his sons, he declared his wisdom. The first one he calls Manasseh, acknowledging God's hand in all of his adversity and all of his prosperity. He says, "I gave him the name Manasseh, it's because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household."

Well, it clearly doesn't mean that all remembrance of his father's household had been removed, because the very fact that he mentions it makes it clear that he hadn't forgotten about it. So what does it mean? Well, I think what it means is this. Not that the memory of his father had been obliterated, but I think it means simply this: that the awareness of God's blessing and benefits towards him had been such in the intervening years that some of the sadness and the pain and the badness and the blackness of those events had been eradicated from his mind. God, my loved ones, is able to do that for you.

He wasn't limping through his days as a recovering pit dweller, you know. "Hello, my name is Joseph and if you want to know about me, I've been in a pit. Hello, my name is Joseph and my father doted on me and that's why I'm kind of warped. Hello, my name is Joseph and I lived with the abuse of my brothers and that explains who I am." No, he says, "Hello, I am Joseph and God is a great God. He is able to give me all of His blessings and benefits and it's enabled me to forget the bad and to recall the good."

Learning how to forget is a grace of God as well. And I thank God for the memory He's given me, and I thank God for the ability He has given me to forget. If I should have kept a record of all the offenses that I had caused to others and those done against me, I would never have been able to hold up my head in public company. But God has given the ability to forget, and Manasseh marks that for him.

Ephraim does likewise. Ephraim is a reminder to me, he says, of God granting fruitfulness to me. He has made me fruitful, not in the land of my birth, but in the land of my affliction. It is a reminder to us, loved ones, in conclusion, that we should leave God to choose for us the place of our lives and the place of our service.

We've noted before that there is no ideal place to serve God. And indeed, if we find ourselves in places that we never wished, then simply submit to the will of the Father and serve Him there. For surely that is not only the example of Joseph, but it is the example of Jesus, who in the darkness of the garden of Gethsemane, in a place that He would never have wished to be, facing a death that was going to be agony in all of its fullness, He wrestled in His own heart and mind, not in a spirit of disobedience or defiance, but in His humanity, shrinking from all that awaited Him and then finally to say, "Nevertheless, not My will but Yours be done."

And out of that came redemption and forgiveness of sins and life and hope and heaven and joy. Let me quote a hymn to you as a conclusion, thinking of the submission of Joseph to the will of God, whether in the pit or the pinnacle, the chains or the chariot, in success and in failure.

The hymn writer says, "Thy way, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be; lead me by Thine own hand, choose Thou the path for me. Smooth let it be or rough, it will be still the best; winding or straight, it leads right onward to Thy rest.

I dare not choose my lot; I would not if I might. Choose Thou for me, my God, so shall I walk aright. Take Thou my cup and it with joy or sorrow fill, as best to Thee may seem; choose Thou my good or ill. Choose Thou for me my friends, my sickness or my health; choose Thou my cares for me, my poverty or wealth. Not mine, not mine the choice, in things or great or small; be Thou my guide, my strength, my wisdom and my all."

And those great words of Horatius Bonar from the nineteenth century would have been gladly sung by the lips of Joseph.

Bob Lepine: You're listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. Be Thou my guide, my strength, my wisdom and my all. You know, those are words we all long for our children to one day express and to live by. And as parents and grandparents, we want to nurture our children's faith from the earliest age possible.

So let me recommend to you Alistair's new children's book. It's titled "J is for Jesus." It is a colorful A to Z book that looks at who Jesus is. Each page explores a word that begins with a letter of the alphabet and connects it to a clear, memorable truth from scripture about Jesus' nature and His character. The book is yours for a donation to Truth For Life. Go to truthforlife.org/donate or you can call us at 888-588-7884.

And by the way, if you missed last year's Deeper Faith cruise with Alistair, you have another opportunity to join him on this year's voyage. Enjoy a week of worship and Bible teaching, Christian fellowship as you explore the breathtaking landscape and the fjords of Norway. The cruise departs from Amsterdam on September 5th. You can find out more, go to deeperfaithcruise.com.

I'm Bob Lepine, thanks for listening this week. Hope you have a great weekend and are able to worship with your local church. Monday we'll learn how God often uses trials to draw us closer to Himself. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.