Turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 41. As I said last week, as I said many times, the Word of God is given to us not to amuse us or to satisfy our curiosity, to do any of those things, to equip us, to teach us, to guide us in truth. People don't change. We don't change just because we are told what to do. In many ways, we already know that what we do is wrong and we ought to do differently, although we are very good at suppressing that truth. We ought also not simply to seek comfort in the promises of God simply so that we can be complacent, so that we can be reassured that everything is fine. God uses His promises, God teaches us His goodness in order to motivate that change that we need. To work that change in us. Because in one Very, very important way, the fundamental failure of our thinking, the fundamental failure of our thinking that goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden is a failure to truly apprehend the goodness of God. That if we really believed in the goodness of God, we really believe that God is good to us in all that he does, we would live our lives differently than we do. We would rest in him to grant us every good thing instead of trying to seize it for ourselves That's why we emphasize as we go through these stories over and over again, we see God's providence, we see his sovereignty, we see his control of all things. And in that providential sovereignty, over and over again, we see his goodness and grace. And the deeper that truth is driven into our hearts and minds, the more we will learn to trust him and to obey his word. So let's read Genesis chapter 41. Then it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he stood by the river. Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat, and they fed in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt. and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river, and the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine-looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. He slept and dreamed a second time, and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them, and the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke. and indeed it was a dream. Now it came to pass in the morning that a spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh. Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying, I remember my faults this day. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him and he interpreted our dreams for us, to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office and he hanged him. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon. And he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream to interpret it. So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat, and they fed in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly at the beginning. So I awoke. Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. Then behold, seven heads, withered thin and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them, and the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me. Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, the dreams of Pharaoh are one. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years. The dreams are one. And the seven thin and ugly cows which have came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Indeed, seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt. But after them, seven years of famine will arise and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt and the famine will deplete the land. So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt. in the seven plentiful years and let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh and let them keep food in the cities. Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt that the land may not perish during the famine. So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. And Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God? Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word. Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph's hand. And he clothed him in a garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had. And he cried out before him, bow the knee. So he set him over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh also said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without your consent, no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphna-Panaea, and he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Potipharah, the priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt. Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and laid up the food in the cities. He laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. Joseph gathered very much grain as the sand of the sea until he stopped counting for it was immeasurable. And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphar, a priest of Ann, bore to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, for God has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house, and the name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph, whatever he says to you, do. The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain because the famine was severe in all lands. Amen. The last part of this, Joseph's naming of his sons, we're going to take up next week. So I won't be talking about that this week. That is, though, what you might call foreshadowing. He says he forgot his father's house, and God is saying, well, not quite yet. We'll talk about that next week. But as we said last time, and as our passage here today emphasizes, two full years, 13 years altogether, Joseph had to wait for deliverance. Joseph had to wait to be rescued from his unjust state after we don't know exactly how long he was a slave as opposed to how long he was a prisoner in the dungeon. But we know the combination of those two states was 11 years. 11 years seems long, I think, to us at any age. Imagine how long it would, remember how long it would have seemed to you when you were 17. 11 years. Two more years then, even after hope seems to come, deliverance seems to finally come in the form of the butler who's being restored to the house of Pharaoh. And yet the butler forgets him and another two years go by. Do you know Jesus said, blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are they who mourn. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Faith is all about deferred gratification. Faith is all about waiting on the Lord. Vital to the Christian life. It's one of the benefits the Christian church has always recognized to the practice of fasting. Whatever fasting might look like in your particular case is in many ways that fasting can be done. But one of the great benefits of the practice of fasting is that one learns that it's okay to be hungry. But being hungry is not the worst thing in the world. The Christian life absolutely requires, requires learning that it's okay to suffer. There's always been substitutes and distractions and ways that the world has learned and understood to distract ourselves from the pain and suffering of life. Because there's always pain and suffering in life and there are always distractions. Nobody's life is perfect, not by a long shot. All of us have suffering, have longings, have difficulties, pain and hurt and regret and fear and longings. And there's always ways of distracting ourselves from those longings or substitute other more temporary things for what it is that we really desire, what it is that we really need. And so to be okay with suffering, hurt, hunger, thirst, poverty, mockery, shame, disapproval, all of those kinds of things. Not that we will all suffer all of those things all of the time, or maybe there are some of those things that we will never suffer in any meaningful degree in our whole lives. An awful lot of people who live in America have never really experienced hunger, or thirst, unless they choose to do so. But everybody suffers. And if you can't accept that, if you can't accept that there's going to be suffering, then you're going to look for those distractions. You're going to look for those ways of substituting. You're gonna look for food, you're gonna look for pleasure, entertainment, wealth, those things that will distract you from what it is that you need, what it is that you truly desire. If your focus is constantly on what you don't have, how if only we could change this or that, if only you had something different than what you have, then things could be different. Then you would have the life that you want. If only this thing, if only you had a bigger house, a nicer wife, better behaved children, better job, more money, more health, whatever it is. You'll always look at those things. Joseph could have done that. You know, the really obvious example we have given to us in the text is Potiphar's wife. Joseph suffering from the hardships and the shame and the resentment of being a slave. Again, unjustly, Potiphar's wife presents herself to him. Here's a great opportunity he's got to distract himself, even to get some revenge on the one who was enslaving him. And no doubt, as he was ascending in power, both in Potiphar's house and in the dungeon, he would have had plenty of opportunities to temptation, to not trust God, not to wait, to find outlets or distractions. And we know Joseph was not free of sin. I'm sure he had his failures. He could have abused the power that he had in various ways, or he could have just checked out in despair and just given up and said, you know, what's the point in even trying? Everything's unjust. Everything's unfair. Why even bother? But he didn't. The trajectory of his life was one of trust in God. And that meant waiting on God, waiting on God's deliverance and doing what God had given him to do day by day. Waiting on the Lord is such a common exhortation in the scripture. To be willing to wait. Again, it's practically a synonym for faith. To wait on the Lord. And it's a very, very needed exhortation. You know, one of the most common problems you see, if you look through church history, and in people's individual lives is the problem of over-realized eschatology. Now that's a big term. What does that mean? Over-realized eschatology? Eschatology refers to the end times, right? The promises of God in eternity. And the great temptation for us as Christians is to not be patient, to not wait, and to try and make those promises or to expect those promises to be real now. You know, the church in the Middle Ages, for example, probably the most powerful pope that lived in probably the whole history of the Christian church was a man named Innocent III. He was in the early part of the second millennium. He controlled maybe as much as a third of all the land in Europe. This was a man who commanded armies, who invaded countries, who tortured his enemies, who amassed tremendous, tremendous wealth and power and influence. And it's easy to look at him as a villain, and he was. But what drove him, by all accounts, was not just the desire for personal power. He was a monk and he lived like one. He was not guilty of the same kind of what they call simony, you know, of selling of church offices and the personal corruption and all those things that a lot of the popes and church leaders of the day were guilty of. What drove him was the idea of Christendom. He wanted to make Europe a truly Christian place. And all of his exercise of power was to try and force that state into existence. And of course he failed, and ended up being one of the catalysts of the Protestant Reformation, ironically. But you see that motivation, and you see it over and over again. You can look at the Puritans in New England, that they were gonna build the city on a hill. They were gonna build it through politics, and having the right laws, and forcing everybody to go to church every Sunday for four hours at a time. And then they would bring Christendom into existence. And less than a century later, they were all Unitarians. over-realized eschatology that, and we see it in our personal lives as well. You know, people, it's a common phenomenon that people, people early in the, they hear the gospel, they hear the promise of Christ, and they're so excited, and they convert, and they're so, they're so ready, they all, they're happy, and they're, everything's wonderful, and all their problems are gonna go away, and then when all their problems don't go away, and they discover that in many ways, the struggle is really just beginning Once you become a Christian, it's not over. And they get disappointed and they get discouraged and they fall away. What Jesus talks about in the parable of the sower and the seed, that seed that falls in shallow soil, that springs up with joy. And then when the sun comes up, when life gets hard, when persecutions arise, they get discouraged and they fall away. when we are unable or unwilling to wait, to wait on the promises of the Lord. What Christian among us, who of us that has been a Christian for any length of time at all, doesn't get discouraged with the problem, the struggle with sin? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could just push a button and make all our sin go away? What Christian would not push that button? But the Lord calls us to wait. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst. And blessed are they who know what they really are hungering and thirsting after. That you're not hungry, you're not really hungry and thirsty for the things of this life. That you're hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of God. We've been promised salvation, we've been promised eternity. Joseph had been given promises. Joseph had been given a promise that he was going to rule over his brothers. Joseph was given a promise of deliverance. And he had to wait for that promise. We'll have our own wait too. Every Christian will. The thief on the cross only had to wait a few hours. for his deliverance, but that's not the norm. That was an exception. Most of us have a longer wait than that. But in comparison with eternity, when we are in the new kingdom perfected, that wait will seem but a moment. The difference between a wait of 50 years, 80 years, or the wait of a few hours will seem like no difference at all from the perspective of eternity. And in fact, that different perspective on time, from the perspective of our very short lives, the perspective of eternity, that reveals another issue that comes up in several places here in our story today, and that is the tremendous difference between human wisdom and divine. Sometimes, you know, things will remind me of my life when I was 20 years old, 25 years old, and how I thought about things at that time in my life. At 20, you know, I was a pretty smart guy and I knew a lot of stuff, but I didn't have any experience. I didn't have time. Didn't have that perspective. We laugh at the kid the week before Christmas who just cannot wait. He just feels like he's going to die if he has to wait three more days to get his presents. On the perspective of a 40 or 50-year-old, what is three days? We would all prefer to sometimes slow time down a little bit. I have a little bit more perspective than I did when I was 20. I'll have a lot more perspective than I do now when I've been in the eternal kingdom for a thousand years. But God is eternal. God sees the end from the beginning. It's all one to him. His wisdom necessarily then transcends any possible human wisdom. Now the Egyptian soothsayers, he comes to the Egyptian soothsayers and he tells them they're unable to interpret the dreams. You know, these soothsayers must have had some kind of wisdom. They must have known something, something valuable, had some useful perspective on the world. Pharaohs weren't idiots. You know, the Egyptians, you know, these were the guys that, you know, made the pyramids. And we're still trying to figure out how they did some of the things that they did. These were not dumb people. And yet they kept these soothsayers and magicians on the payroll. Must have been for something. But the dreams baffle them. And now, two years late, but better late than never, I suppose, Butler remembers Joseph and Joseph's superior divine wisdom. Joseph's wisdom is superior, not because Joseph is superior. As he says over and over again, in verse number 16, for example, he says, so Joseph answered Pharaoh saying, it is not in me, God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace. He's able to give the meaning because Joseph has this revelation from God, he has this wisdom from God, and he knows that wisdom from God is superior to anything of this earth. And Pharaoh recognizes it, recognizes this superior wisdom, so much so that when he needs someone then to implement this plan of Joseph's, He looks around and he says he's got nobody that has demonstrated the kind of wisdom that Joseph has. He recognizes the superiority of that divine wisdom and elevates Joseph to the highest position in the kingdom under only himself to implement what's needed to manage the plenty and the famine. And as the story tells us, Joseph does so brilliantly. You know, 20% tax was actually quite reasonable. by ancient kingdom standards. There might actually be some supply side economics going on here, that Joseph is actually advocating during the time of plenty to exact a lower tax than what was normally exerted on them, that that would encourage greater production and therefore overall higher tax revenues in the long run. Whatever the case, we know that, like I said, most ancient kingdoms took more than 20% of their subjects' produce. But the 20% tax, a fifth of all the produce, it works. The grain, it comes in like the sands of the sea. So much so that Joseph gives up counting it after a while. Collects this wisdom. collects this grain, driven by God's wisdom, and that wisdom works, that wisdom produces results. Tremendous results. It's a good demonstration of the superiority of God's wisdom. The superiority of God's wisdom is something we see throughout this chapter, and throughout the story, in fact. And we see that same principle at work throughout history. You know, Jewish scholars, Jewish, when Jewish people were, the various diaspora scatterings that happened in the ancient world, you know, first the Assyrians invaded and conquered the Jews and took them as slaves in a lot of different places. And the Babylonians did it again. And many of those Jewish tutors ended up in Greek and Roman lands. Philo, the Jewish historian, says that Julius Caesar learned law from Moses. He learned law from a Jewish tutor. Alexander the Great probably had a Jewish tutor. And the wisdom that they received from the Word of God enabled, in many ways, the greatness that they then displayed. The Roman law that led to the establishment of the great empire bears many resemblances, in fact, to the law of Moses. Even more greatly, you see that when Christianity comes and the spread of Christianity throughout the world. Today, the world has been so transformed by Christianity. That even those who reject Christianity, deny and attack Christianity, yet can't avoid it. To such a degree that people use Christianity's own language to criticize Christianity today. When they say Christianity is oppressive to the poor, and to women, and it's intolerant, and it's racist, and things like that. These false accusations that they make. But they use Christianity's own principles to do so. They would not criticize Christianity the way the ancients criticized Christianity. They don't say that Christianity is too lenient on slaves, for example, or too elevating to the position of women. too tolerant of the foreigner, that Christianity is not superstitious enough. That's the way the ancients criticized Christianity. But Christianity has so transformed the world that the way that the ancient pagans think is incomprehensible to most people today, even those who are not Christians. Christianity, the wisdom of Christianity has proven itself over and over again. The wisdom of the Bible, the wisdom of God's word has proven itself over and over again to be something utterly unlike anything the world is capable of producing. So much so that when the unbeliever criticizes the church today, essentially the criticism that they're giving us is that Christianity is not Christian enough. And they're right, we're not done yet. By God's grace, we'll all remember that same truth. It's so tempting for us to chase after this or that, to get excited by some novelty, some new fad that comes along. And there is wisdom to be learned from the unbeliever, as we've said before. It's not that they know nothing. But the wisdom that we have accessible to us, the wisdom that we have accessible to the word of God and in the teaching of that word over centuries is something so far beyond that while it's not wrong to learn things from the world, we ought to put the focus in the right place. We ought to spend a great deal more time absorbing and learning and drinking deeply from the word of God, even while we might taste a little bit from other places as well. We have his wisdom accessible to us. And he is telling us in his book, he's told us what he is about to do. Just like Joseph told Pharaoh. What is he about to do? Well, for one thing, what he is about to do is whatever it is that comes to pass. That's all the work of God. Not a sparrow falls without the will of the Father. As Amos says in chapter three, verse six of his book, he says, shall there be evil in a city and the Lord has not done it? That's what the Lord is about to do. Seven years of plenty, seven years of famine. Both are from the Lord. There's such great wisdom in this. A lesson that, frankly, Joseph himself has not yet fully learned. As we'll see next week. But all that God does, He does for His purposes. And He does for good. And either we believe this at the end of the day, or we don't. Envy, bitterness, resentment. It shows we don't yet believe these things as we ought. God was going to give seven years of plenty to Egypt, and then he was going to give seven years of famine. That's gonna be very difficult. As he says, those seven years of famine were going to be so hard that the seven years of plenty weren't even going to be remembered anymore. These things are in the Lord's hands though. And he does as he pleases. And his own infinite wisdom guides all his work. Joseph knows some things pretty specifically. He knows that what matters is how they react to and handle what the Lord is going to do, which itself will, of course, be part of the Lord's will. No point in fighting it, trying to change it. Hearing that such a calamity was coming, some might collapse into anger or depression or despair. Joseph knows they need to get busy to prepare. And that requires a belief in God's goodness. Not just God's sovereignty, but God's goodness. You know, the ancients believed in fate. The ancients believed that divine forces outside of our knowledge or control charted out everything that was gonna happen. It was all just a product of fate. But often their response to that was because they didn't believe in the goodness of God, they just, there's just, a lot of them just, there's just no point. You might as well just, Do what you want to do and make yourself happy, please yourself however you can, because it doesn't really matter. It's just fate. The Christian belief in divine providence is very different than that. Because his sovereignty is not just blind determinism, but it is the personal providence of a God who knows us and loves us and does good for us in everything that he does. And therefore, they could endure. They could endure whatever providence comes along. They couldn't change it, but they could prepare for it. Understanding with divine wisdom, knowing what was coming, they could prepare. If God is good, then no providence that ever comes our way should ever work to spare in us. Or hopelessness, or thinking there's no point in us even trying. Well, we know what God is doing in our lives too. We're told. God's wisdom is revealed to us as surely as it was to Joseph. Maybe we think it would be amazing. Wouldn't it be amazing to have dreams that were from God and to have interpretation of those dreams? To know divinely and infallibly what those dreams meant. What the next seven, what the next 14 years of our life we're going to hold. But we know more about the future than Joseph did. You know more important things about what the future holds for you than whether the next seven years are going to be plenty or famine. You know that God works all things for the salvation of His people. God works all things in heaven and earth to bring His elect people to Himself. And you know then that everything that comes to pass, every event that occurs, is for that purpose, to work that will, to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. And so as Joseph, excuse me, as Joseph did not collapse in despair at the news of this coming tragedy, this coming calamity, so too we can deal with things that come to happen in our lives with trust and faith in a good and a gracious God. That doesn't mean there's no pain. That doesn't mean that we pretend that nothing hurts. That everything is happy all the time. As we know, there are some real tragedies and real hardships that the Lord will bring into our lives. Trusting God with those things means dealing with them in reality. It doesn't mean just pretending everything's great and nothing ever hurts. Distracting ourselves with entertainment or booze or whatever our choice of distraction is. It means dealing with the pain and the hurt of life honestly. Pretending everything's fine and distracting ourselves with pleasure or work or whatever is no more trusting God than giving up in despair and killing ourselves is. And so when we experience good times, prosperity, surplus, you know, honor God with our lives, give thanks for what he's given up, lay up for the future, prepare for whatever hardship we know will come. He gives good things to us. He gives wealth and extra to us in order to learn discipline, to learn self-control, to do good for others, even as we enjoy the good gifts that God gives us. And when times are hard and when we are suffering, then we're called to trust a gracious God and do what we know to do to get through, knowing that nothing ever lasts forever and that everything happens for a reason. All these things happen for a reason. The seven years of plenty, the seven years of famine, all of that was according to God's plan. So it is in our own lives, whether joy or sorrow, prosperity, poverty, health or sickness, all these things come to us by God's plan and purpose. They all are part of His story. They all work His will. God is graciously and gently shaping us and training us Sometimes life doesn't feel very gentle, for sure. But we can know that our good and gracious Heavenly Father would never subject us to more pain, more suffering, than what is absolutely necessary to accomplish His good and perfect will. He's told us what it is that He's about to do. We should listen. Whether it's good or evil, from our perspective, that happens in our lives, whether it's on the national or international, things we read about in the news, things that are going on in the world, the economy, inflation, weather disasters, or the things that happen very much in our own personal lives. Perhaps things that nobody else even knows about except for us or those closest to us. Whatever it is, He's doing it, and He's doing good. He's told us what He's doing. We have God's own word through Joseph that whenever God repeats something twice, then it's extra sure. He says that Himself in the text. And something that God repeats through Joseph several times in the text is that He says, God is telling you what He's about to do. God is telling us what He's about to do too. He's calling a people to Himself. He's saving the human race from His own rebellion and sin, our own rebellion and sin. He is glorifying His holy name through His goodness and His love for His people. Everything that happens in our story is working that result. You know, a good storyteller never puts anything unnecessary in a story. The Russian playwright Anton Chekhov once said that if you see a gun above the mantelpiece in act one, then you can be sure that in act three, that gun's gonna be fired as part of the story. Never anything unnecessary. And there is not anything unnecessary in your story either. Just as all of this, everything that's going on here is part of the story that God wants to tell, that He is telling. This is how God forms the family of Jacob. How Joseph learned some very important things. How Joseph's brothers all learned some really important things as well. How they all learned to repent of their resentment and bitterness and envy of Joseph. How Joseph learned to trust the goodness of God no matter what happens. All of this is part of the story of the founding of Israel, how Israel becomes a nation. How Israel comes into Egypt, which then leads to their enslavement, which then leads to their deliverance. Their establishment as a nation, their coming into the promised land as a new people. That exodus, that deliverance from slavery and the exodus to the promised land is one of the major, one of the chief motifs of our story of the life of salvation, the life of Christianity, being called out of slavery to sin now through our journey through the wilderness on our way to the promised land. It's one of the chief metaphors of the Christian life. Joseph himself is a Christ figure. He experiences, He suffers from the envy and the hatred of His people. He suffers at their hands a kind of a death and then a kind of a resurrection. And that resurrection leads to the salvation of those very same people who had hated and envied Him. His story teaches us to trust God. It points us to His sovereignty and His goodness. And all of that above all, it always points us to Jesus. who is himself the greatest Christ figure of all. Joseph knew some basics of the promise so he could face the future with confidence, with trust. We know even more than he did. People of God, live like you know the promises. Live like God has told you what he is about to do because he has. Amen, and let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness. You are such a faithful father, a good father to us. Lord, even as we suffer the difficult providences of this life, even as we suffer the pain and the sorrow of the things that happen, Lord, help us not to sorrow as those who have no hope. Remind us of your goodness and grace in all things. Remind us that whatever we're going through right now is not the end of the story. That we are, as Joseph was, in the midst of the years. We're in the middle of the story. And sometimes it's hard to trust. We confess. Be gracious to us, Lord. Be kind. Remind us always of your good providences, your good promises, your kindness and graciousness to your people. Even as we suffer the pain of this life. to know that you will bring, certainly you will bring glory to yourself by bringing salvation to all of your people. Help us to rest in this promise. Help us to live our lives in that light, giving up resentment and bitterness and despair, turning away from the desire to distract ourselves and to not think about it and to plunge ourselves into entertainment or pleasure or work or booze or whatever else. and is said to rest ourselves in your goodness and be faithful with whatever you've given us to do today. We pray these things in the name of our precious Savior, He who always trusted you, He who always did the work that you had given Him to do. He whose name you have glorified above every name. He whose elevation, whose reward has been ample. For his obedience, Lord, help us to rest in him and in his truth and in his salvation. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen.