Sitting in God’s Waiting Room

“Sitting in God’s Waiting Room” was preached by Pastor Mike Ray at Hopewell Baptist Church on Sunday morning, 9/12/2021.

If you have your Bibles, let’s open them, please, to the book of Genesis. Genesis 37. I want to speak on this subject this morning: “Sitting in God’s Waiting Room.”

We’re going to look at the life of Joseph. And it’s very interesting — thirteen chapters of the Bible deal with this man’s life. John 3:16 is only one verse in the whole Bible, and it’s famous. But the life of Joseph has thirteen chapters.

He is a type of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament:

· The Bible says Joseph was sold for pieces of silver. Jesus was sold for pieces of silver.

· Joseph had a coat of many colors that his brothers took. Jesus had a coat sewn without seam that the soldiers took and gambled over.

· Joseph’s Brothers did not believe in Joseph. Jesus’ brothers did not believe in Jesus as they grew up.

Many, many parallels. I just love Joseph. I just love him. He is one of the three Bible characters besides Jesus that God’s record of his life from his youth all the way through old age and death does not include one negative detail in his life that he caused. Not one.

Starting in Genesis 37:2: “These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.”

So here’s Joseph. He’s going out to the fields. He’s got at least seven other brothers, and he comes back and says, “Dad, I just want you to know what your sons are talking about. I want you to know what words they’re using, and I want you to hear what they’re saying and doing. Dad, I knew you would want to know.” By the way, there’s something called a tattletale — someone just trying to get people in trouble. But a truth-teller is one who tells the leader, “Hey, I knew you’d want to know this, and not just to get the person in trouble.” And so he tells his dad, “Hey, you know my brothers are misbehaving. You would not be proud of what they’re doing.” So he brings the evil report to his dad.

And then it says in Genesis 37:3–5 “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. [4] And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. [5] And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.” Boy, there are some problems here.

Let’s pray. Father, again, bless this time. Help us. Amen.

By way of introduction, there are four tests that Joseph went through in his life. And I’ll say this. There are four tests that a nation goes through. There are four tests that a family goes through. There are four tests that a marriage goes through. There are four tests that a young person goes through. And you have to pass all four. You have to pass all four. that’s what made Joseph great. He passed all four.

What was the first test? I hit on some of this maybe a year or so ago. He passed the test of adversity. If you spell out the word, “adverse” means against. You’re going this way, and it’s coming against you. Adverse City. We live Adverse. What’s the name of your city? Adverse. Adverse City. That’s the city where Joseph lived — in adversity.

Why did Joseph have adversity or problems? Well, for one, his dad caused it. Sometimes it’s the family itself that causes our problems. His dad makes this beautiful coat of many colors. He’s got seven sons but gives it to just one. You think the other six sons said, “Wow, what a nice coat dad made you! We’re so happy for you!” You know, they probably beat him up every day. Find your coat, Joseph. “Find your coat, and we’ll wrap that coat around your neck right now.” So the dad caused it by having a favorite. Parents, I cannot overemphasize it. Each of your kids has got to feel like your favorite, especially with blended families where these are mine and these are yours and these are ours and we don’t know who these other ones are. You know, it’s difficult because kids see it, especially teenagers. They start seeing if it’s unequal treatment where one kid is getting away with murder and they never get punished. I get time out and they get a raise in their allowance. You have to work at it. And that’s why it’s so important that parents talk. Turn the television off, set your cell phones down, and talk about the kids. “I’m worried about this one. What can we do? What do you think we should do? Let’s get on the same page. How do we raise these kids for the glory of God?” So there was adversity.

Some of the adversity was caused by the parents. Secondly, some of it was caused by Joseph. As a 17-year-old, he has a couple of dreams. And his dreams are about these stacks of wheat, and all of his brothers symbolized as stacks of wheat bowed down and worshiped his stack of wheat. He had another dream. He was the sun, and his brothers were all these little stars bowing down and worshiping him. So, he tells his brothers the dream. “Hey bro, hey bro, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed that one day you’re going to worship me.” I’m sure his brothers were so happy, right? “Wow, we can’t wait till this dream comes true and we bow down and humble ourselves next to our kid brother.” They were fired up. They hated him. So, one day he ends up he’s going to check on his brothers, and they look at him, and they’re so angry they don’t even use his name anymore. That’s how you can tell when someone despises someone. No longer do they use their name. They said, “Behold, this dreamer cometh. Let’s kill him. No…let’s sell him.” They threw him into a pit. He’s screaming and crying for his life. They sell him as a slave. Adversity.

He went through some tough times. You’ve got to pass that test. By the way, America went through some tough times. You study history. I know they don’t teach it anymore, but you study it. History is “His story.” The History of America is His story of dealing with a nation called America. You read about how the ships barely even made it to America, how the mast broke on one of the first three ships, how they took a big bolt out of the printing press they were bringing to America to print Bibles. And so, the big bolt fixed the mast. So, they made it to the new land, and on and on. In God’s dealings with our country, there was adversity. Every family lost a loved one. That first Thanksgiving there was disease. Then there was a battle with the Indians. And then there was persecution among themselves. False teachers came in and said if you don’t baptize your babies we will burn you at the stake or drown you. So there was religious persecution. Everyone who came to America…guess what? They went through adversity. We went through the Revolutionary War and the Civil War and World War I and World War II. God is a big God Who can get a nation through anything. We got problems. Now I’m not going to rehash the news. You’ve seen a lot of news this week. But I’m saying our God can humble a nation. He can bring the nation to its knees. We may go through some tougher times before it gets better. But we do want revival.

Joseph passed the test of adversity. Joseph didn’t quit. He didn’t get cynical.

Number 2. He has now sold to a man by the name of Potiphar. You can read it in Genesis 39. Joseph works for him — if you do the math, it’s hard to believe — for eleven years. He works from age 17 to age 28. He is lonely. He has no church. His parents aren’t around. He is now sold to an Egyptian. He’s in Egypt where there are no morals, and there are pagan gods and idols to worship. He has no preacher to say, “No, no, no.” He has no parents to keep an eye on Joseph. His owner, Potiphar has a wife. He’s working in the house one day. She says, “Hey come here. Here’s the bed.” The Bible says, “neither would he lie by her or be with her,” and he fled out of her presence. Test number two was allurement.

Whether it’s sexual sin, or lying, or cheating, or stealing, or whatever the sin is. It allures us. We are all allured by some sins. “Come here. No one will know. No one will tell. It’s just you and me. I know you’re lonely. I know you’re weak. I know you want me.” He got out of the house. Let me encourage you, if you’re ever going to be used greatly for God, you’re going to have to find out what the thing is that allures you. Is that alcohol? Is it drugs? Is that a fake lifestyle? Is it gangs? What is it that allures me? Is that pornography? What is it? And you’re going to have to run from it? No one would have known. But he said, “How can I sin this great sin against God and against your husband? I cannot do this.” And guess what he got for it? Prison. He got prison. She filed charges. He tried to do the right thing, but he went to jail. He never got to speak his piece. He never got a lawyer. It was just that the boss said it and he was in jail for two years. He does right, and look how out pans out.

Now let me just encourage you. Sometimes you’re going to do right at work. You may lose your job. Your boss may say, “Now we want you to say this.” You respond, “Well, that’s a lie.” “I said we want you to say this.” “Well, I don’t lie.” “You’re going to lose your job.” “I guess. I’ll lose my job.” There comes a time when you do right. There may be some persecution. That’s one thing we’ve never seen in our lifetimes in America. In Afghanistan last week, two church leaders were killed. It’s not going to make the news. One was crucified. One was drug behind a car until he expired. Leaders of churches were killed by the terrorists. It’s not going to make the news, but that’s what happened last week. Persecution here in our country, at most, may mean someone honking the horn at you and saying, “Hey, we don’t like you.” Someone may say, “Don’t give me this gospel track.” But we could experience a whole lot more persecution than that. We don’t know.

He passed the test of adversity. He passed the test of allurement. And then he passed the test of advancement.

Many of you know the story. I’m not going to read all the passages. He ends up interpreting the king’s dream, and the king promotes him to be the prime minister of the land. He tells the king there’s going to be a famine. Seven years of famine are coming, but before that, seven years of plenty. Seven years prosperity, and then seven years a famine. So he gets advanced. He is now the leader.

Folks, I just want to encourage you — be careful during times of advancement. You get a raise. Be careful, get some possessions. Be careful. Don’t feel guilty for being spoiled by your heavenly Father. But be careful. Sometimes you develop false security. I’ve got these things. I own this. I’ve got this, I’ve done this. Be careful. He got advanced, but he never changed. He was still the same old Joseph. Advancement.

And then he passed the test of animosity. At the end of the famine, his brothers get hungry back home and they want to go to Egypt. They don’t know he’s alive, and they come to the new prince of Egypt if you will. There he is — a beard, thirteen years older, maybe more. They bow down and say, “We would like some food.” Interesting. That’s when he remembered his dreams. “I remember this.” That would have been me. I’d have said, “They cost me thirteen years of my life. They caused me to be a slave. They sold me while I was crying and screaming. Thirteen years!” You know what he does? He feeds them. You know what he does? He calls his daddy back, and feeds him for the rest of his life, gives them the best land possible to graze their animals. He overcame animosity.

Now, let me just tell you, folks, we live in a day of a lot of anger. The fruit of the spirit is joy. The lust of the flesh is anger. The fruit of the spirit is peace. The lust of the flesh is anger. You have to whip that thing. Nothing destroys a marriage like anger. Nothing destroys a father, a son, a mother, or a child like anger. Nothing ruins friendships like anger. You’ve got to overcome that. See it’s gone past the person you were angry at. Now it has infiltrated you, and there’s anger all the time. It is you.

And so here is Joseph. He said, “I’m going to forgive you guys. You’ll never know what you did to me. You’ll never understand. But I am forgiving you.” How do you know he forgave him? He named his two sons Forgetful and Fruitful. By the way, you’ll never be fruitful for God until you’re forgetful. You’re going to have to forget some things. “I’ll forgive, but I’ll never forget.” If so, then you’re going to live with it.

We’re talking about people that passed the test to be used of God in a great way. Every one of us, if we passed the microphone, if we turned this into the Oprah Winfrey show and just said, “Who’s hurt you? “You’ve been hurt physically, hurt emotionally. Who lets you down?” Every one of us would be whining, crying, and hugging each other. All of us have had hurts. Hurting people keep hurting. Hurting people hurt people. We have to whip these things. Here’s Joseph who went through all these things. He passed all the tests.

Here’s the message in chapters 40 and 41. This test was probably the hardest. So here he is. He is sold by his brothers. Now he’s a slave. He’s done nothing wrong. But right now in chapters 40–42, he’s in prison for two years. He interprets the prisoner’s dream. He said, “Don’t forget me.” Instead, the other prisoner forgot him. So, for 11 to 13 years, guess where Joseph Is? God’s waiting room. He’s waiting. He’s not in the surgery room, he’s in the waiting room. Everything’s in slow motion. He knows all the furniture. What’s he doing? Waiting.

Maybe the hardest activity for any Christian is waiting.

· Waiting for comfort.

· Waiting for the doctor to call.

· Waiting for the grief to get better.

· Waiting for the job to come in.

· Waiting for them to call for a date.

· Waiting for the job to call and say, “You’ve been hired.”

· Waiting to feel better physically.

· Waiting to get the test results.

· Waiting for God to avenge people that have hurt us.

· Waiting for the pain to stop.

· Waiting for the temptations to stop.

Joseph had plenty of time to grow bitter cynical. I wonder if anyone would have just stopped in the weight room and said, “Joseph, does it pay to serve God? Where did it get you, Joseph?” “Well, I got my name flushed down the toilet. A woman said I try to make a pass at her. My brothers sold me now. I’m in prison in the dungeon, 24 months of prison food. That’s where it got me.” But he never grew bitter. Wow! What a guy. He just sat there growing old.

I want to just remind you today, dear folks, while you wait, God works. Just because you were idle, don’t assume that God is. You can be glad because He is good. You can still be glad because He is active. You can rest because He is busy. You find anyone that God used in a great way. They were in His waiting room.

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Hopewell Baptist Church is an Independent Baptist Church in Napa, California pastored by Mike Ray. It is Bible-based with a warm, friendly atmosphere. Hopewell is dedicated to bringing the water of life to the Napa Valley and beyond.