The Providential God of a Dysfunctional Family

How many of you have ever had to go through “that day” when it seems like everything falls apart? What do you do on that day? Where do you turn? How do you cope? I ask you that question because today we are going to begin a new series entitled, The Certainty of Providence, that will cover Genesis 37-50, and in Genesis 37, where the story begins, we read about a time when it looked like everything had fallen apart for God’s people. This first chapter in the story is going to move us to ask, “Where is God in all of this?”

This section of the Bible that many people call the story of Joseph is really the story of a providential God, who works all things (good & bad) together for His glory and the good of His people. This is why we are going to call this series “The Certainty of Providence,” because we can be certain that God is always at work to accomplish His good plan, even when He appears not to be. Even on “that day” when everything seems to fall apart, when the unimaginable happens, our sovereign God is at work for your good and His glory.

I. Meet the Dysfunctional Family

a. The Roots of Dysfunction (37:1-11)

[37:1] Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. Our story begins with the promised seed in the Promised Land, but there is a problem. There is both a physical threat and a spiritual threat to the family of Israel. The physical threat would be the seven year famine that we will read about a little later, but the spiritual threat is found in this chapter. This is a highly dysfunctional family. They are a mess and that is an obstacle to them becoming the great nation that would display the glory of God to the nations. A lot will need to change before the family of Israel can become the nation of Israel.

[2] These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. [3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. [4] But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

Here we see two sins that are a recipe for family disaster: favoritism on the part of a father and hatred on the part of the siblings. These are some of the many roots that make a family dysfunctional. Jacob, for all his strengths, is not a role model of a father in Genesis. He is both a partial and a passive father. Rather than learn from the effects of his parent’s favoritism of himself and Esau, he follows right in their footsteps. Jacob is also a passive father, who does not address this hatred among the siblings, just as he did not address the rape of his daughter (Gen. 34) or the affair that his son Reuben had with one of his wives (Gen. 35:22). Parents take notice: favoritism will divide your children and destroy your family, and fathers should also take note of what happens when they are passive men who do not lead their families to God. And in a chapter where we will not see God named, I want to remind you that without God, your family will be highly dysfunctional.

[5] Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. [6] He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: [7] Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” [8] His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

[9] Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” [10] But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” [11] And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

The second sin we want to unpack now is the hatred the brothers have for Joseph. The first thing we need to understand is simply that favoritism and hatred are both wrong. What is ironic about the brother’s hatred of Joseph is that Jacob is the one playing favorites, and yet Joseph is the object of their hate. The reason that their hate is aimed at Joseph and not Jacob is given to us in 37:11: “his brothers were jealous of him.” They are not frustrated over the unfairness of the situation. They hate Joseph because they are not the favorite son(s) and they want to be. They want the robe. They want to be one in the dreams that everyone else bows down to.

These sins ravage not only earthly families, but also the family of God. Partiality, jealousy, and eventual hatred must be put to death by the cross of Jesus Christ. Don’t think that you are immune because we all struggle with this as parents, siblings, and Christians (examples). We all have our “favorites” in the church and we all know what it is like to see someone else prosper or be blessed and think that it should have been us. As fallen people, we have a hard time rejoicing with those who rejoice. We must repent of these sins and deal with them, because when we do not, they eventually manifest themselves in some destructive ways.

b. The Fruit of Dysfunction (37:12-36)

[12] Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. [13] And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” [14] So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. [15] And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” [16] “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” [17] And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

[18] They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. [19] They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. [20] Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”

Learn something about sin here: when we do not repent of sin in our lives, it will eventually manifest itself in ways that are unimaginable. Our sin will take us to a place that we never thought we were capable of being. These brothers are premeditating the murder of their own brother and the cover up story to get away with it. This is where jealousy and hate can take you.

Another attitude that I want to point out here is their rejection against God’ plan. Who gave those dreams to Joseph? God did. And what do the brothers say? “We will see what will become of his dreams.” This is an outright rejection of God’s revelation. God has spoken, and the brothers say, “We’ll see about that!”

Is this not what we are saying with our jealousy though? Aren’t we saying, “I want to be them!” or “That should be me!”? And isn’t that a slap in the face to a God is sovereign over all?

[21] But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” [22] And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. [23] So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. [24] And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

[25] Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. [26] Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? [27] Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. [28] Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

[29] When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes [30] and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” [31] Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. [32] And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.”

[33] And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” [34] Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. [35] All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. [36] Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

This is a devastating picture. We might even be wondering where God could be in all of this. I hope you are, because I want to show Him to you!

II. See the Providential Hand of the Sovereign God

a. Where We See God

The first place that we see God at work is in the dreams given to Joseph. This is God’s revelation of what He is going to bring about. This lets us know that the partial father and the hateful brothers are not the only ones with an agenda in this chapter. God has one as well.

The second place we see God at work is in the timing of the events that take place in the betrayal. Joseph is sent to check on the brothers and bumps into a Shechemite man, who coincidentally knows exactly where the brothers are. Joseph’s delay puts him at the very place that the Ishmaelite traders are going to pass by at the very time that they are going to pass by. Those things are not coincidental.

The last place that we see God at work here in this chapter is in where Joseph ends up. He ends up a slave in Egypt. That would have certainly rung a bell for an Israelite hearing this story for the first time.

b. What God is Doing:

God is providentially working through their dysfunction in order to accomplish His good plan to redeem and transform His people. When we “pan out” to Genesis 15, we see that God is at work in this chapter to keep His promises to Abraham and his family. God is going to make this family a great nation in Egypt. So what looks like a step back for this family is actually progress in God’s plan of redemption. And remember that God’s promises to Abraham have to do with the redemption of everything! Jesus Christ is the ultimate offspring of Abraham who will be born to this nation in order to purchase the blessing of redemption for all nations.

God is also interested in the transformation of this family. He is going to use these tragic events to eventually reconcile them to Himself and to one another. These brothers will change and come to love one another through this experience.

c. What We Learn From His Working

We see the certainty of providence in this chapter. Providence simply means that God is working all things together for our good and His glory at all times, regardless of whether He appears to be or not. And providence acknowledges the reality of unjust suffering & persecution. This is important because “that day” when the unthinkable happens is coming for all of us. When it does, we are not supposed to react like people who do not know God.

God is not evil and He is not powerless. He is providential. He is completely sovereign and completely good at the same time.

And just as God’s providential hand is going to transform this dysfunctional family, it will transform us as well if we will humble ourselves under it. Trust and hope in God and surrender to Him is what it all comes down to. A trust in God’s providential hand allows me to stop playing favorites. It allows me to trust that God has placed the people in my family and church there for me to love and to help me learn to love. A trust in God’s providential hand also pulls the rug out from under my jealousy. It allows me to rejoice with those who rejoice because it recognizes God as sovereign over all. Finally, a trust in God’s sovereignty also allows me to stomach injustice. It reminds me that God would only be allowing it if it was part of His plan to bring about a greater good in the end.

In our suffering, we need what Joseph needed: a word from God to trust and know that God is for us. We have such a word and more (Romans 8:28). According to Paul, we have a greater word than Joseph had, we have God’s love demonstrated for us on the cross (Romans 8:32), which is better than any dream we could have.

This story reminds us of another Son who pleased His Father very much. Like Joseph, this Son was sent on a mission by His Father to those who would reject Him. Like Joseph, He would be betrayed by one of His own for pieces of silver. He too was stripped and mocked and mistreated. And like Joseph, the injustice done to this Son would be used to bring about a greater good. But unlike Joseph, this Son was royalty. He is the King of Heaven. And whereas Joseph had a near death experience, this Son was butchered and died. But He did so for us, to pay for our sins, to earn our righteousness, and to conquer death for us. The cross is the ultimate story of God’s providence, where He ordained the greatest tragedy in the universe in order to bring about the greatest good in the universe: the salvation of His people. Will you come and surrender to this great and sovereign God today? And if you claim to know Him, will you trust Him?