God Can Do It - Pastor Tom Loghry
Even when circumstances seem impossible by the world’s measures, God can move and make incredible things happen.
Transcript:
It depends on who you ask. Our study of the natural world deals very much in possibilities and impossibilities. What this or that thing can or cannot do. We learn our limits as human beings and often seek medicines and technologies to exceed those limits. But when we cannot exceed those limits. We say a thing is impossible, is impossible by the laws of nature.
But as Christians, we know that while we do live within the limits of the laws of nature, the author of creation is able to strum those laws to his pleasure and even surpass our natural limitations to accomplish his purpose. George Mueller trusted in God's power. He was confident in God's provision despite all circumstances.
George lived in England during the 1800s doing the work of a pastor, evangelist, and administrating a sprawling orphanage ministry over the course of his life. The thing that was curious about him was that he would not ask for donations to support his work. Instead, he trusted the Lord would provide what was needed.
That trust of his was put to the test on a notable occasion at his orphanage, and the story is told as follows. The children are dressed and ready for school, but there's no food for them to eat, the house mother of the orphanage informed George Mueller. George asked her to take the 300 children into the dining room and have them sit at the tables.
He thanked God for the food and waited. George knew God would provide food for the children as he always did. Within minutes a baker knocked on the door. Mr. Mueller, he said, last night I could not sleep. Somehow I knew that you would need bread this morning. I got up and baked three batches for you. I will bring it in.
Soon there was another knock at the door. It was the milkman. His cart had broken down in front of the orphanage. The milk would spoil by the time the wheel was fixed. He asked George if he could use some free milk. George smiled as the milkman brought in ten large cans of milk. It was just enough for the three hundred thirsty children.
God provides in seemingly impossible circumstances. He makes a way where there seems to be no way forward. And we see this in action in Joseph's life. We have pointed out the paradox of Joseph's life up to this point. He was favored by his father, but betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery. He was favored by his master.
But falsely accused by his master's wife, and so tossed into prison. He seems cursed, and yet he is blessed in the midst of hardship. Behind bars, seemingly as low as one could get, short of death, what hope could he have? What could God possibly do for him beyond being merely a privileged prisoner? We pick up his story in Genesis 40.
Genesis 40 beginning in verse 1. It says, Sometime later, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt offended their master, the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard in the same prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he attended them. After they had been in custody for some time, each of the two men, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison, had a dream the same night. And each dream had a meaning of its own. When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were dejected.
So, we open up this chapter by learning that Joseph's going to get some company. There's a couple of officials of the Pharaoh who have earned his displeasure and so they're being cast into prison. Now what's interesting here is how it says that the captain of the guard assigns these two to Joseph. Now you remember the captain of the guard is Potiphar.
Potiphar, the man who had previously really favored Joseph until Potiphar's wife made false accusations against him. You'd almost imagine that after all that, that Potiphar wouldn't entrust anything to Joseph, but that's not what we see here. In fact, we see that Potiphar still recognizes something in Joseph and is showing him favor by allowing him to oversee these two newcomers.
Now these positions to, you know, us who are living in the 21st century may not seem important on the surface. What does it mean to be a cup bearer? So he's just the guy that carries a cup around or something? Or even a, a baker. You know, I mean, bakers are important. I mean, I enjoy bread. But, they are the chief, he's the chief baker, so it's like, okay, maybe he's in charge of the kitchen.
But why are these positions so vitally important? The reason is simple. If you wanted to poison Pharaoh, you'd have to pass through those guys. So the cup bearer, holding, presenting the cup to Pharaoh, he's the one who would ensure that no poison had entered that cup, to test the cup, even, to make sure. So, if anything goes sideways, he's the first to fall, and Pharaoh knows that, okay, I'm not drinking from that cup.
And the same thing with the baker. So, these are important positions among Pharaoh's officials. What's interesting is that as these men come into prison, they both experience dreams and Joseph noticed that they seem dejected, and so he inquires with them as to why they're looking so low. Picking up in verse seven, it says, so he asked Pharaoh's officials who were in custody with him and his master's house.
Why do you look so sad today? We both had dreams, they answered, but there is no one to interpret them. Then Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams. So the chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said to him, In my dream I saw a vine in front of me, and on the vine were three branches.
As soon as it budded, it blossomed, and its clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and put the cup in his hand. So, the reason why they're so dejected here, we learned, is that there is no one to interpret their dreams. Which is kind of an interesting to think about, thing to think about, because we don't, usually in the West, put so much stock into dreams.
But in Eastern cultures, they do tend to put a lot of stock into dreams. And you'll still find that today. Now, at this time, there was actually professionals in the work of interpreting dreams to whom you would go to ask, okay, what does my dream mean? And they even put together books to offer guidance in the interpretation of dreams.
Now, Joseph is not a professionally trained interpreter of dreams, and he has no access to such a book. His source of authority for interpreting the meanings of their dreams is different. His source of authority is God. He says, do not interpretations belong to God. And it's on that basis that he invites them to tell him about their dreams.
So, picking in verse 12, he offers an interpretation. He says, this is what it means. Speaking to the cup bearer. The three branches are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh's cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cup bearer.
But when all goes well with you, remember me, and show me kindness. Mention me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison. I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here, I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon. So the interpretation that Joseph gives him is that, is one of good news.
Promising that the cupbearer is going to be released from prison. That he's going to be restored to his position. That he's not going to be put to death. Now what he asks of this cupbearer in return is that, simply that he would remember him. That he would mention him to Pharaoh because of the situation that he's in.
He's suffered injustice at the hands of his brothers. That's how he ended up in Egypt in the first place. And he suffered injustice by being imprisoned under a false accusation. And so it's here at this point, we haven't really seen too much of this, up to this point. It's at this point that we see Joseph really expressing his frustration with his circumstances.
He suffered a lot. He suffered a lot of injustice in his life, and yet, he's continuing to trust God. So, we know that both things are possible. It's possible to express your frustration and disappointment when you do suffer injustice, even while you're trusting in God. You don't have to be apathetic about the wrongs that you're, you're dealing with.
Continuing on in verse 16, he turns to offer help to the baker. Baker says, hey, I want my dream interpreted as well. Says, when the chief baker saw that Joseph had given a favorable interpretation, he said to Joseph, I too had a dream. On my head were three baskets of bread. In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket in my head.
This is what it means, Joseph said. The three baskets are three days. Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head, and impale your body on a pole, and the birds will eat away your flesh. So, we see in the case of both the cupbearer and the baker, their fate rests upon three days. And just kind of as a side note here, isn't it interesting how you almost hear an echo of Jesus' three days in the grave here?
History is not repeating itself, you know, very different circumstances. But, there's a bit of a rhyme here, it feels like. Thinking about these three days, in which their fate is being determined. In the one case, in the case of the cupbearer, his head is being lifted up. He's being restored. And kind of using a play on words here, Joseph is saying in the case of the baker, your head's gonna be lifted, but it's gonna be lifted all the way off.
You're gonna get beheaded. So he brings him no good news. And besides that, he's gonna experience the indignity of his body being impaled on a pole, and it being eaten by birds. Very brutal. Joseph's not determining his fate, he's just telling him, this is what's gonna happen to you, and society back then could be quite brutal.
So when we go to verse 20, we see that everything comes to pass just as Joseph predicted. It says Now, the third day was Pharaoh's birthday and he gave a feast for all his officials. He lifted up the heads of the chief cup bearer and the chief baker in the presence of his, of his officials. He restored the chief cup bearer to his position so that he once again put the cup into Pharaoh's hand, but he impaled the chief baker, just as Joseph had said to them in his interpretation. The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph. He forgot him. So, once again, Joseph is experiencing some frustration. He's like, I did something good for these, for these guys. Maybe the baker didn't really want to know what was going to happen to him.
But he helped out the cupbearer. And yet again, he experiences this wrong, in that the cupbearer forgets him. He's forgotten by him, but Joseph is not forgotten by God. Desperate circumstances arise, that ultimately bring Joseph back to mind, two years later. So we continue on into chapter 41. It says in verse 1, When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream.
He was standing by the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, ugly and gaunt, came up out of the Nile and stood beside those on the river bank. And the cows that were ugly and gaunt ate up the seven sleek, fat cows.
Then Pharaoh woke up. So, just to kind of take a pause here in the action here, one basic question that may come to your mind as we're, learning about this Pharaoh is, who was he? When was he living? Well, we don't know the identity of this Pharaoh, and it's not unusual at the time of the writing of this text that they wouldn't have specified the personal name of the Pharaoh.
It would have been sufficient to refer to him as Pharaoh. But based on the genealogies we have in the scriptures, we can estimate that this was probably sometime in the Middle Kingdom. And during the 12th dynasty, so you're talking sometime between around like 1963 BC and 1786 BC, likely in that 1800, period.
There's a whole lot of debate, and it's really interesting if you look online about just looking about the historicity behind that. Behind all this different theories, but there seems like there's pretty solid agreement that it's during this period that this is taking place. Now, the nature of Pharaoh's dream is employing everyday imagery.
Cows. Cows aren't unusual. Cows going into the water to cool off is not unusual. What's unusual is having some fat cows coming out of the water and some thin scraggly cows coming out of the water and the thin cows eating the cows. You don't see cows eating cows every day. so it's a pretty disturbing dream.
I'd probably wake up from a dream like that. Pharaoh woke up and it says that he ends up falling asleep again and having another dream. This, this guy's having a very restless night. So continuing on in verse five, it says he fell asleep again and had a second dream. Seven heads of grain, healthy and good, were growing on a single stalk.
After them, seven other heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the east wind. The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Then Pharaoh woke up. It had been a dream. In the morning his mind was troubled, so he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.
So just looking at some of the imagery here in this second dream that he experienced. You have the east wind, which is a desert wind coming along, and that's why those stalks of wheat aren't doing so great, they're really beaten up. And once again, you have this weird situation, this weird imagery of stalks of wheat consuming other stalks of wheat.
Obviously, you know, some of us, again, as Americans, some of us, if we had a dream like that, we'd be like, I'm not eating burritos again. You'd think maybe I just ate something last night and it just messed, messed me up. But, Pharaoh, especially given his position, and because there's almost like this, the Pharaohs at that time had this self understanding that they had close proximity to the gods.
And they had statues made of themselves. So if Pharaoh has a dream, he thinks it's important. And, in theory, he should be able to interpret it himself. But he himself is unable to understand what this dream is about. And he calls upon all the pros, the magicians, the wise men. No one is able to interpret this dream for him. And so he's sincerely troubled. He's not just merely curious about, you know, what does this dream mean? He's sincerely concerned about what it might hold for him and for his kingdom, and so it's at this point of desperation that his chief cupbearer comes to the rescue. Continuing on in verse nine, it says, then the chief cup bearer said to Pharaoh.
Today, I am reminded of my shortcomings. Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned me and the chief baker in the house of the captain of the guard. Each of us had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. Now a young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard.
We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, giving each man the interpretation of his dream. And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us. I was restored to my position and the other man was impaled. So Joseph is remembered after all this time. And he's sent for, so it says in verse 14.
Pharaoh sent for Joseph. And he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it. I cannot do it, Joseph replied to Pharaoh, but God will give Pharaoh the answer that he desires. So they drag Joseph out of the dungeon and here we have a little bit of imagery of something of Joseph's physical appearance. We can imagine that his clothes probably were a bit shabby or not, at least up to court standards.
We also can know that he had a beard, because he had to shave. And it was typical for Semitic peoples to have beards. But it was not typical in the court of Pharaoh for people to have beards. So, I have this picture here that kind of depicts maybe what it looked like. And everyone is very, very clean shaven.
So this is the manner in which Joseph would have come before Pharaoh. And, what's interesting here Is that, as Joseph is sitting before Pharaoh, he has this prime opportunity to set himself up, to get himself out of prison, by really puffing up his image. Pharaoh says, I've heard that you can interpret dreams.
Joseph could have responded by saying, oh yeah, I'm the best interpreter of dreams. Here's my resume, I interpreted those two guys dreams, I got it right, I got you, Pharaoh. It's so interesting, he doesn't reply like that. He says, I cannot do it. And there's like a dramatic pause. He says, I cannot do it. But God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.
So even when Joseph has this opportunity to make much of himself, seemingly to his own benefit, he's continuing to trust God, by giving the glory to God, rather than pointing to himself. Once again, we just see the depth of Joseph's faith and his integrity. So, going on in verses 17 through 21. I'm not going to read this because it's basically just a reiteration of dreams that have already been described, except it's emphasized that the cows were lean and ugly.
And then in verses 22 through 24, the grain dream is also told to Joseph. And, once again, Pharaoh just emphasizes, I haven't been able to get any answers from my magicians. No one can explain these dreams. So, picking up in verse 25, Joseph says to Pharaoh, The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he's about to do.
The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. It is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind. They are seven years of famine. So once again we see Joseph giving credit to God.
It is God who has chosen the to give you this insight, Pharaoh, by giving you this dream. He's going to show you what he's about to do. It's not that God is punishing Pharaoh, it's that God is giving Pharaoh a warning about what is going to come to pass. He's giving him a heads up. And so, Joseph has explained to Pharaoh, those Seven ugly cows that you saw, those lean ugly cows that you saw, and the seven worthless heads of grain.
Those represent the fact that you're going to have seven years of famine. Now the other seven, the other seven good cows, bring promise of something good. Continuing on in verse 28. So it says, Just as I said to Pharaoh, God has shown Pharaoh what he's about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them.
Then all the abundance of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravish the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. The reason the dream was given to Pharaoh in two forms is that the matter has been firmly decided by God, and God will do it soon.
So first, Egypt is going to experience seven years of abundance. Things are going to be great. And then they're going to have seven years of famine. Now we can see how this would be a useful warning. It would be a useful warning under any circumstances. But, if you're going to experience a set of really good years, you might become a little bit careless and think like, the good times are just going to keep on rolling.
And Pharaoh and Egypt, they could have been blindsided by this. And the fact that the dream is presented in two forms, Joseph says, indicates that God's serious. This is going to happen. It's going to happen soon. And so, All this information is given to Pharaoh in order that he might adequately prepare in anticipation of those seven good years and these seven bad years.
And Joseph steps to the front in order to offer some counsel to Pharaoh on how he might prepare. Continuing on verse 33. It says, And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.
They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held and reserved for the country to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt. So that the country may not be ruined by the famine.
So what Joseph's prescribing here is basically storing up reserves, putting essentially a 20 percent tax on the people so they can store up enough of this food. So they're taxing food, not, not money, but you could get money if you sold the food. So he's taking the food that the farmers are producing in order that they would be ready for this famine that's going to come so that they can avoid ruin.
And Pharaoh likes the idea. Picking up in verse 37 it says, The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. So Pharaoh asked them, Can we find anyone like this man, one in whom is the Spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you.
You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you. So Joseph has come, he's interpreted these dreams, and he's offered this counsel. And Pharaoh's, like, you've said that I should appoint someone to do these things, but you seem pretty, a pretty good fit for the job, since you just kind of laid out everything that I should do here.
But what's more is that Pharaoh is acknowledging the reality that Joseph testified to. He doesn't just give the credit to Joseph. He doesn't just say, well, you're just this perfectly wise man who has these amazing powers. He says, no. This is, he recognizes that Joseph is one in whom the Spirit of God is present.
The Spirit of God is making all this known to him and giving him this wisdom in order to direct Pharaoh. And so in a way, now we're not suggesting that Pharaoh became devoted to the one true God, but in a way, Pharaoh's recognizing that he needs what God has to offer him through Joseph. And so he puts him in charge of his palace.
He puts him in second command. So it's a huge reversal of of circumstances for Joseph. I think it could be said that testimony characterizes much of Scripture, testifying to what God has done. But I think it especially characterizes this passage. By Joseph's story, we learn of God's power. How he can bring deliverance in impossible circumstances.
Joseph cannot completely comprehend God's purposes at this point. But he has trusted in him all along. And now God has shown that he's not going to disappoint Joseph's trust. It's a wonderful testimony because it has both universal and personal application. Universally, we can appreciate how God is working out all things to redeem a people for himself. He is not letting the world go to hell in a hand basket. Joseph is a piece of the puzzle that leads to Jesus Christ. And when things seem their darkest, when Christ is hanging dead on the cross, God remains present. His hand of salvation is revealed three days later. When Christ's head is lifted, and he is raised from the dead.
And now, the salvation available in Christ is being brought to the ends of the earth. You and I, we, are part of that story. We are not on the sidelines. In your personal circumstances, perhaps you feel you have hit a wall. You feel like you've met the impossible, and there is no moving forward.
All I can urge you is, do not only trust in what your eyes can see. You might not understand what God is doing, but He does. You are part of His plan. You may feel overwhelmed. But he is not overwhelmed. His power remains. Call on his power. Point to him, not yourself. Trust in him to supply what you cannot do on your own.
He will provide. That's what we see in the story of Joseph. Let's pray.
Father,
we are filled with awe at the way in which you work.
We stand in awe, Father, at your power. That you could take Joseph through such this winding path of betrayal and disappointment. To raise him up, Father, to be second in command of Egypt. Father, we pray that you would help us to have the same sort of faith that Joseph had. That rather than relying on our own strengths and pointing to ourselves and making much of ourselves, rather than just believing in ourselves, Father, to try to get ahead in life, that we would trust in you.
That we would trust in your power and provision. And that we would give all glory to you. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we continue our series entitled Israel Arises. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)