Psalm 105, verse 12. Let's pray and we'll get
started. God, we come to you tonight. We thank
you for your good word. And I pray that your
Holy Spirit would help us to see your faithfulness,
dear Lord. To see time and again how you are
good to your people. In the Old Testament. We
see so many examples, dear Lord, in the New Testament
and our own lives, God. We see time and time
again how good you are to your people. And so,
God, I pray tonight that we would know that you're
a God that will not leave us or forsake us, but
you are a God who desires to take care of us,
to stand with us, to provide for us, dear Lord.
So I pray that we just would feel your strength
and your presence, God, that we would just stand
firm and be encouraged by these words tonight.
And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Now, throughout this Psalm 105, we see some examples
of God's faithfulness. And really, we start with
Abraham, and the psalmist kind of makes their
way through some of these early days of Israel.
And it's a call to remembrance. That's really
what we looked at last week in these first...
In a few verses, we see this call to give thanks
to Yahweh, to call on His name. And then in verse
5, to remember the wonderful works He has done.
And of course, the Scripture is full of wonderful
works that God has done. From the beginning of
the Bible to the end of the Bible, we see...
wonderful works that God has done. And last week
we saw that God was faithful to his people, that
he had made a promise to Abraham that all nations
would be blessed through Abraham. And in the
short term, this was going to mean God's people
were going to be established through Abraham
and they were eventually going to get a land
that was going to be their own. And in the long
term, it was pointing to Jesus Christ, that not
just the Jewish people were going to be blessed
by God. Indeed, they were God's people, and they
were chosen to be the means by which the Messiah
would come. And so God established his people
so that he could establish a way to bring about
Jesus Christ, our Savior, and he fulfilled all
of those promises. Now, of course, this psalm
is not... Not looking too far out to Jesus, but
in the short term, it's reminding us that God
did establish his people through Abraham. And
he promised to bring them into the promised land,
and God had done just that. He had brought his
people into the promised land. And that's what
we looked at last week. That's the first reference
we see, a reminder we see of God. fulfilling
his promises, that he was faithful to his people.
And tonight in verse 12, we're going to start
and we're going to look at the next instance,
the next reminder of God's faithfulness. Verse
12, when they were few in number, that is God's
people, when they were few in number, very few
indeed, and temporary residents in Canaan, wandering
from nation to nation and from one kingdom to
another, he allowed no one to oppress them. He
rebuked kings on their behalf. Do not touch my
anointed ones or harm my prophets. Okay, so when
God first began to establish his nation of Israel,
it started with Abraham and it began to grow.
And even though they were God's people in a foreign
land, God continued to protect them. And ultimately
they were going to grow into a big nation. But
in the meantime, God was... faithful to Abraham,
and he was faithful to Abraham's descendants,
and God continued to watch out for them and to
protect them and to take care of them. And then
we move on to a beautiful example of what I think
is one of the greatest stories in all of the
Bible. If you've never read the story of Joseph
before, you can find that in Genesis, starting
in chapter 37, and pretty much from there to
the end of the book of Genesis is the story.
of Joseph, and it's a beautiful story. We spent
several weeks on it a few years ago and went
through that whole few chapters, kind of breaking
it down. You can find that online if you want
to go back and listen to that series on our church
website. But I encourage you to read that story
and read those chapters. It's a great story,
and we're going to talk about it as we go through
these scriptures here. In verse 16. He called
down famine against the land and destroyed the
entire food supply. He had sent a man ahead of
them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They hurt
his feet with shackles. His neck was put in an
iron collar until the time his prediction came
true. The word of the Lord tested him. The king
sent for him and released him. The ruler of peoples
set him free. He made him master of his household,
ruler over all his possessions, binding his officials
at will and instructing the elders. Now, one
reason why I really like this story is I think
it's a good reminder to us that God works in
ways that do not always make sense. In verse
17, it says, he sent a man ahead of them. That
is, there was going to be a famine in the land,
and God sent a man ahead of them. Well, to really
appreciate what exactly took place, what's being
referenced here, we need to refresh ourself with
this story of Joseph. Now, Joseph had some brothers,
and they didn't really like Joseph. Joseph was
the favorite, and Joseph had had some dreams.
And he told his brothers those dreams. He said,
I had a sheaf of wheat, or I think it was wheat,
and your sheaves were all bound down to my sheaves.
And they said, you think one day we're going
to bow down to you? And then he had another dream,
similarly, about the moon and the stars. And
again, a reference that one day everybody in
Joseph's family would bow down to him. Well,
his brothers didn't care for this dream at all,
and they didn't like him at all. And so, long
story short, they decided to sell him into slavery.
And good riddance, they thought. They sold their
brother Joseph into slavery. They killed an animal.
They put the blood on his cloak, and they took
it to their father. And they said, hey, look
here. Guess something got Joseph. And, of course,
his father was just really upset about what had
taken place. But nevertheless... God was going
to use this horrible situation for his good.
Now, it doesn't seem very good when your own
brothers capture you and set you as a slave off
to a foreign land. But God knew what he was doing.
God was, as the scripture says here, was sending
a man ahead of them. Now, Joseph's story, it
was kind of up and down, but it wasn't good times.
It took years for his story to unfold. Ultimately,
he was sold to somebody in Egypt. And throughout
Joseph's story, we see a theme. And that is that
God was with Joseph. And God blessed everything
Joseph did. God blessed. And so even when he
was sold into slavery, he pretty soon worked
his way up to second in command at Potiphar's
house, the first person he was a slave for. Through
a series of lies that were told on him, he was
imprisoned again. I'm skipping over some of the
best parts of the story. You have to read it
yourself. But he was thrown into prison. And
again, the Lord was with him and the Lord blessed
him. And lo and behold, he became a high up in
the prison under the warden. The warden entrusted
him with certain things and privileges because
he was a man that was blessed by God. But it
just so happened. That the prison that he was
thrown into was the same prison where the enemies
of Pharaoh and the ones that Pharaoh didn't like
were thrown. And it's there that he met a couple
of Pharaoh's servants who Pharaoh had thrown
into prison. And they had some dreams which Joseph
was able to interpret for them. And one of them
got to go back and serve the king, serve Pharaoh.
The other one Pharaoh had killed. But Joseph
told the one that he interpreted the dream for,
he said, hey, look, when you get back to Pharaoh,
put in a good word for me because I ain't done
anything to deserve being here. But a long time
passed. And then eventually that guy remembered
when Pharaoh had a dream, hey, wait a minute,
there was this guy in prison. And again, Joseph's
on the move. And guess what? Again, the Lord
is with Joseph. And Joseph becomes second in
command. and all of Egypt. Now, a lot of time
had passed by. It's a lot that had taken place
that God was going to use Joseph to provide for
his people. About over 20 years had passed from
the time that his brothers had sold him into
slavery from the time that he was going to be
reunited with them. But God sent a famine on
the land. Of course, God had blessed Joseph,
and Joseph knew how to prepare for the famine
and advised Pharaoh how to prepare for the famine.
And lo and behold, when the famine hit the land,
Egypt had an abundance of food, and no one else
did. No one else in the land had food, and times
were getting hard. And guess who showed up in
Egypt and needed food? It was Joseph's own brothers.
Now, this is a good example of a bad situation
that God uses for good. God knew what he needed
to do. He knew that that famine was going to
come. He knew that his people needed to be provided
for. And so to provide for his people, God allowed
Joseph to be sold into slavery, to be put into
prison. To ultimately make his way to a foreign
country and be second in command so that God
could carry out his purpose. And maybe, maybe
God does that in our life sometimes. There may
be things that we go through that are really
hard. I suspect that... what Joseph had to go
through was really hard. It's not easy when your
own family turns on you. It's not easy being
a servant in a foreign land. It's not easy being
in prison. None of those things are easy. Being
separated from your family, but yet God knew
what he was doing. And even there, he allowed
some things that were not easy, that were tough,
so that he could use Joseph for the good of his
people, for the good of his... And maybe God
is doing that in our life. And maybe it's good
for us to look at stories like this and be reminded.
What's the point of this psalm? It's to remember
what God has done. To remember how gracious God
was to Joseph and to his people. And this is
a beautiful story. It's a beautiful reminder.
And maybe we need to be reminded tonight that
God is good. Because maybe tonight we're in a
bad place, and we don't see how any good can
come from this. Now, I don't know what Joseph
felt. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what
he felt. He probably felt like, well, I'm going
to be in prison the rest of my life. I'm going
to be a servant in Potiphar's house the rest
of my life. His situation was not good, and it
didn't seem good at the time, and he probably
didn't know if he was going to have a future.
But God knew what was taking place. And God had
him just where he wanted him to be. But that
probably is not where Joseph wanted to be. And
I think God still works in our life in the same
way. Sometimes God puts us in places where he
wants us to be. And it's not where we want to
be. And it's hard for us to see how any good
can come from it. But it can. But here's what
we have to remember. We can read this story of
Joseph. You can go back and turn to Genesis 37.
You can read through the whole story. And even
if you're a slow reader, it won't take you an
hour. And you see the beginning. Man, he was
sold into slavery. Man, he's second in command,
provides for his family a happy ending. But that
happy ending took over 20 years. And that's the
part we don't like. Because we'd like to be able...
In some seasons of our life, it just turned the
page real quick, right? But in the case of Joseph,
man, that story had a happy ending, but it didn't
have a quick ending. And so maybe there's a point
in our life that some of us are at now where
it's a really hard season and we don't see the
happy ending, but we need to know that God is
good. If we're trusting God, that God will be
with us. He was with Joseph every step of the
way. He took care of Joseph every step of the
way, albeit not in great situations. He was a
slave for Potiphar and in prison. Not the best
situations in the world, but nevertheless, God
was with him and ultimately God delivered him.
And so maybe find some encouragement in that
tonight. Maybe you're not in a bad place tonight.
Maybe you're in a good place. Praise the Lord.
Maybe you're doing good and you're in a good
season and things aren't hard right now. Maybe
you've been able to see how God's working in
your life and just what He's doing and it all
makes sense and you just praise Him tonight.
But maybe you're scratching your head saying,
man, there's some things in my life and they
don't make sense. I just don't know how God can
use this for good. But God, He works in some
ways that we don't understand. He sees the big
picture. He puts all the pieces into place just
where they need to be. He's put pieces into place
probably in our life years ago. So that they
would fall into place at just the right time.
And that's what he had done in the story of Joseph.
And I think God still does that in our story
today. So let us be reminded and encouraged that
God is good. That he's fulfilled every promise.
He took care of his people. He took care of Abraham.
He took them to the land he told them he was
going to give them. He provided for them once
they got into that land, even in a time of famine.
Everything God has promised, it has come true.
From the very beginning of Abraham all the way
to Jesus Christ, every promise that God has made
has come true. And so he is a trustworthy and
a dependable God. And we need to know that today,
wherever you are. In your life, no matter how
good or how bad it may be, God is trustworthy
and he is good. And just as he was with his people
and delivered them all those years ago, so he'll
deliver us today. Let's pray. God, we thank you
for your good word. I pray that you would help
us to be reminded of your goodness and your faithfulness,
dear Lord. We certainly don't deserve it. You're
not good to us because we are just so awesome.
Dear Lord, that's not the case, but we come to
you. even though we are weak and sinful. And
God, sometimes we just, we get ourselves into
the messes that we are in. And that's not good,
dear Lord. We're not pretending like it is, but
we just need you to help us, God. Even when we've
made a mess of things, I pray that we would repent
and that we would seek you. I pray that we would
be reminded of your goodness and your strength
and your power again and again through the pages
of Scripture. That as we see how you have taken
care of your people, These couple of examples
we've looked at over the last couple of weeks,
that we would be reminded to know that you would
take care of us, dear Lord. We don't know what
the future may hold. And just like with Joseph,
dear Lord, our future may have some really difficult
times. But God, let us not forget you. And we'll
know that you have not forgotten us. And I ask
these things in Jesus' name. Amen.