TNT - People Just Like Us
Joseph - Faithful, Despite Pain
Dale Satrum
October 12, 2021

1. Joseph never

for his pain

There is no phrase or verse that says Joseph never blamed God, but there is a verse that is repeated over and over again about Joseph’s life

Gen. 39:21 But the Lord was with Joseph there, too, and was kind to him by granting him favor with the chief jailer.” (NLT)

• How would this verse be the constant theme of Joseph’s life if he was blaming God for all his pain and suffering?

A. Blaming God will hinder you from experiencing the

• Why? You don’t spend time with people you’re mad at

• We have wrong expectations of

. We need to remember Jesus promised the opposite.

John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (NLT)

• When we hold God

for the pain we have endured, it will destroy our desire for God’s presence.

• This makes us avoid church / prayer / serving / giving / worship / reading His word.

B. Blaming God will hinder you from experiencing the

• God will show us His favor even in the midst of the

• For example: God’s favor was seen with Potiphar / the jailer / with the prisoners / with Pharaoh.

• Blaming God

from seeing the evidence He has not abandoned us.

• Scriptures to remember in hard times

Heb. 13:5 …“I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (NLT)

II Cor. 4:8 “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed…” (NLT)
Rom. 8:31 “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (NLT)

C. Blaming God can happen to

when you’re in pain

Jer. 15:18-19 “Why then does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook, like a spring that has gone dry.” This is how the LORD responds: If you return to me, I will restore you…” (NLT)


2. Joseph remained

to God despite the pain

• Joseph’s response to Potiphar’s wife: Gen. 39:9 “How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” (NLT)

A. Pain can cause us to question our

• It’s easy to demonstrate loyalty to Jesus when everything is going well. What happens when life gets confusing and painful?

• Satan loves to take advantage of life pain to get us to question our

_

• Often, the lies from the enemy

in pain.

o If God loves you so much why is this happening?
o Look where trusting God has gotten you?
o Obedience is not worth it; the cost is too high.
o God has abandoned you.
o Time to take care of yourself.

• In times of pain we need to pledge our allegiance to Jesus or we will pledge our allegiance to our pain.

II Cor. 4:8-9 “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.” (NLT)

B. Pain can cause our allegiances to be

Rom. 5:3-4 “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.” (NLT)

This is what it did for Joseph. This is what it can do for us.

o God uses pain as a tempering process. Example: To make steel stronger, it is heated to approximately 1000 degrees. The heat doesn’t destroy the steel. It makes it stronger.

o Every time we pledge our allegiance to Jesus in the fires of life we get stronger. Every time we do not quit, listen to the lies and stay the course, we grow stronger. We are being spiritually tempered.

o God cannot use someone in a great way who is not tempered. They will not be strong enough to be and do what God is calling them to. Joseph’s life is a prime example of this.


3. Joseph never took

on His brothers for causing the pain

Just imagine the temptation of being separated from your family for 22 years and now seeing your brothers with the power of Egypt at your command?

Rom. 12:19 “Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the LORD.” (NLT)

A. Taking your own revenge will only create more

• Revenge can take many forms. Avoidance / gossip / slander / bring up past offenses / uncooperative

• Rom. 6:16 “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? If you obey revenge, you will be a slave to revenge.

B. Taking your own revenge means you get to

II Cor. 5:10 “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.” (NLT)
James 4:12 “God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?” (NLT)

*• Our job is to forgive and leave the

up to God


4. Joseph saw God’s sovereign plan over his life

Gen. 45:5-8 “But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. 6 This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors.[a] 8 So it was God who sent me here, not you! And he is the one who made me an adviser[b] to Pharaoh—the manager of his entire palace and the governor of all Egypt.” (NLT)

A. God’s sovereign purposes are

than your pain

• The pain of this life cannot rob you of

for your future

• God is always

with our pain when we trust Him with it

Rom. 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (NLT)

• Just because you cannot see the reason, purpose or plan does not mean God is not orchestrating a much bigger

.

B. God’s sovereign purposes are bigger than people’s

• People cannot rob you of what God has planned for you

• Embracing a

will cause us to forfeit God’s future. WHY? A victim mentality is a faithless perspective on life. It is void of faith in God’s sovereignty.

• Another individual cannot destroy your life and future. Our response to this pain though can destroy both.

Joseph is a great example of someone who trusted God when life was painful and didn’t make sense. It is also a beautiful example of God’s greater narrative in the midst of life’s injustice.