Resilient – The Story of Joseph Part 7 – When You’re Being Tested

Resilient – The Story of Joseph

Part 7 – When You’re Being Tested

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Genesis 42:36-43:15

Murphy’s Law – “If anything can go , it will!”

Because life doesn’t always go our way, we have developed a few tendencies…

• We tend to respond instead of !
• We tend to view problems from a perspective instead of a perspective.
• We tend toward rather than .

36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!”

37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.”

38 But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.” Genesis 42:36-38

Jacob chose an exclusively viewpoint filled only with and .

Think about your most recent life test… Did you inspire with faith or did you cower with fear?

God always gets His way; but it’s a lot more painful for us when we fight Him on it than when we to it. When tested…

1) Jacob and .

Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’” Genesis 43:1-5

2) Jacob responded with and .

6 Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?” Genesis 43:6

7 They said, “The man pressed us hard, asking pointed questions about our family: ‘Is your father alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How did we know that he’d say, ‘Bring your brother here’?” Genesis 43:7

8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.” Genesis 43:8-10

3) Jacob relented by and .

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. Genesis 43:11-12

4) Jacob moved toward and .

13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” Genesis 43:13-14

15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. Genesis 43:15

How can we take a divine viewpoint over our natural, human viewpoint?

• Be honest about your tendency toward .
• Surrender to the in all things at all times!
• to a new idea for at least five minutes!

Worship Song List

Evidence

Champion

Good Good Father

How Great Thou Art

A Thousand Hallelujahs