Online Sermons
Lesson #2 - The Lord Was With Joseph
Series: The Life of Joseph - A Tapestry of God's ProvidenceLESSON #2
The Lord Was With Joseph
1. How would you define “the PROVIDENCE OF GOD”?
watch-care / care-giving … sustenance … guidance … etc.
a sometimes-mysterious intervention
2. Make a note of the numerous passages in Genesis that speak of God’s providence.
God’s providence not only applied to Joseph but to His family - - the nation of Israel/Jacob.
Gen.39:2 / the Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man
Gen.39:5 / the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house (Potiphar) on account of Joseph
Gen.39:21 / even though imprisoned - - the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him…
Gen.39:23 / the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord make to prosper
Gen.41:39-40 / Pharaoh said to Joseph - - since God has informed you of all of this,
there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house…
Gen.41:49 / Thus Joseph stored up grain in abundance…for it was beyond measure
Gen.45:5-8 / God sent me before you to preserve life…it was not you who sent me here, but God
Gen.45:9 / God has made me lord of all Egypt
Gen.46:3-4 / God spoke to Jacob saying, I will make you a great nation there…
Gen.47:6 / Pharaoh said to Joseph, the land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father
and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen
Gen.47:27 / Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and the acquired property in it and were fruitful…
Gen.48:19 / Jacob blessed Ephraim saying, the younger brother shall be greater than he…
Gen.50:20 / you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this…preservation
Gen.50:24 / God will surely take care of you
3. In His providence, does God always do things in predictable ways?
Do God’s ways sometimes defy human logic? – Joseph becomes a “savior” via being sold into slavery???
Does God move in mysterious ways? – cf. Rom.11:25 & 16:26; Eph.3:3f; & 6:19 and Col.1:26 & 4:3
Are all of God’s ways beyond finding out? – Job 5:8-9 and Ps.145:3
Rom.11:33 / Oh, the depth and the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways.
Are God’s ways higher than man’s? – Isa.55:9
4. The Sacred Scriptures give an assurance God’s providence (that God will be with us) – Heb.13:5-6
Yet we are not capable of discerning the unfathomable inner-workings of God within our lives.
How then shall we live in light of the difficulties that often come our way?
What does it mean to WALK BY FAITH? – 2Cor.5:7 - - cf. Prov.3:5-6
Our faith becomes mature when we learn to trust God’s explicit word (i.e., to obey His clear precepts),
even in the midst of daily trials, tribulations and turmoils that we may never completely understand.
Next week’s assignment 4 Read Gen.41 regarding Joseph’s appointment to be Pharaoh’s chief governor.
