Genesis Week 42 | No Place for Favoritism

Sunday, November 3rd | David Allen

"Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior." — Isaiah 45:15

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Creators & Guests

Host

David Allen

Executive Pastor of Connections & Care

What is Willow Ridge Sermons?

Sermon audio from Sunday services at Willow Ridge Church.

- Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast!

We're so glad you chose to listen today.

This week's message examines the story of Joseph,

highlighting the destructive impact

of favoritism and jealousy in relationships.

Joseph's journey shows how his father's partiality

fueled his brother's resentment,

yet God's unseen hand worked to bring about

a greater purpose.

Listen as we explore how God's impartial love

offers a model for our own relationships.

Thanks for listening.

- Good morning.

Felt like I need to start dancing that little tune

there on for "Dough Holy Night."

Man, already getting me in the Christmas spirit.

If you would take your Bible, turn to Genesis chapter 37.

We're picking up in our study of Genesis 37.

I have truly enjoyed how Pastor Beau has been taking us

through all of Genesis.

It just, you know, the Bible is like a puzzle

and it starts putting all the pieces together for us

as we look at relationships and how those relationships

are a part of each other in the scripture

and how the different books of the Bible even overlap

as the Old Testament, I mean New Testament goes back

to the Old Testament, so this has been a joy to walk

through this study as a church family.

I do wanna say thank you to everyone who helped out

last Sunday afternoon.

We had a fantastic time at our Harvest Hangout,

so I wanna say thanks on behalf of your church staff

for all the volunteers that pulled together to do the trunks

and did snow cones, popcorn, you name it,

everything that took place.

You were the reason why it was able to happen

and even the greater part of that is so many folks

who were guests came with folks who were part

of Willow Ridge Church, so thank you so much

for making that happen last Sunday afternoon.

You did an awesome, awesome job in pulling that off.

Before we begin together, we're gonna be taking a look

at Joseph's life, the very beginning of his here

in Genesis chapter 37, but before we get there,

would you join me in prayer?

(congregation murmuring)

Father, thank you so much for the testimonies

that we were able to see this morning

of those who are walking with you.

Thank you for those who have poured into them

your ways and your word.

So Lord, I pray now that you would open up our hearts,

you open up our ears, you open up our minds,

and you open up our soul to receive what it is

that you would have us to receive in your word this morning.

Lord, we thank you and we love you

and we ask this prayer in your name, amen.

Well, I have a strange habit,

and many of you probably in this room

would not want to join me in this,

or would probably frown or think that I'm out of my mind.

My strange habit is this, 60 to 75% into a movie,

I'm fine with starting at that 75%.

I don't have to watch the beginning.

I know that sounds odd, maybe there's a few of you in here

that don't mind doing that.

Same thing with a TV series.

I can start at the end and be okay with that.

Some of you may realize this past week

the World Series was taking place between LA and New York.

I'm fine with just turning over to the channel

and seeing what's happened in the last two innings.

I don't need all that stuff at the beginning.

I say all that because I want you to turn real quickly,

or just listen to Genesis chapter 50, verses 19 through 21.

I'm not tying to take away from what Pastor Beau

will teach us when we finally get there,

but I think it's important for you and I

to hear the heart of Joseph as we begin to dig

into his life here in Genesis 37.

So in Genesis 50, verses 19 through 21,

we read these words.

But Joseph said to them, referring to his brothers,

do not fear, for I am in the place of God.

He's not saying I'm not God, no, he knew that.

He's trying to get his brothers to understand and to see.

In verse 20, as for you, you meant evil against me,

but God meant it for good, to bring it about

that many people should be kept alive as they are today.

So do not fear, I will provide for you

and your little ones.

Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

So this theme for Joseph's life is going to carry us

all the way from chapter 37, all the way to the end

of Genesis 50.

It's so important for you and I to hear this

because we get to see Joseph's heart.

That's what the soul, the heart, and the mind

of a God follower looks like.

After all that his brothers tried and all that he ended up

going through, he chose God above it all.

He had confidence in God above it all.

So let's look, beginning at verse one in Genesis 37.

It says there that Jacob lived in the land

of his father's sojournings.

All the places that his father went.

In the land of Canaan.

In contrast to his twin brother Esau,

Jacob stayed put in the land of his father Isaac.

Remember, Joseph, I'm sorry, remember Jacob

was Isaac's favorite.

This theme is in the family is going to continue on.

This theme of favoritism.

It didn't fare well then and it's not going to fare well

with Joseph either.

Then verse two.

These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph being 17 years old was pastoring the flock

with his brothers.

He was a boy with the sons of Vilev and Zilphah,

his father's wives.

And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

So here's something that maybe we can think about.

Some ways that we consider what's happening here

in Joseph's life.

One, Joseph might be a tattletale.

Two, he's looking out for his father's best interests.

Three, he's doing what his father expected of him

to do out there in the field with his brothers.

He calls it like he sees it.

It is what it is.

Or four, we're getting a glimpse of his skills

of observation, preparation, planning

that will serve him well when Pharaoh hands over

the leadership of his kingdom to Joseph.

Then verse three.

Now Israel, remember, Bo pointed it out to us

when we read that remember that Jacob changed,

that God changed Jacob's name to Israel.

Goes on to say, love Joseph more than any of his sons.

Here we go.

One of the family traits of old is beginning to creep in

to this family as well.

This whole idea of favoritism.

One thing you and I need to realize is that favoritism

dismantles families.

We saw it early on with Joseph and Esau.

And now we're about to see it now with Jacob,

Joseph, and Joseph's brothers.

Let's continue on.

It says there because he was the son of his old age

and he made him a robe of many colors.

You see, Jacob didn't just love Joseph

more than his other brothers in word only.

But what we're going to observe is that he gave him

this special coat.

And this special coat became a part of his brother's

animosity towards him.

If I was Joseph in this account,

what do you think I would do?

I would go bury that coat out in the field

wherever my brothers were,

'cause I wouldn't want them to be seeing me wear that coat

for every time I wore it,

all they see is the favoritism of Jacob.

Verse four.

But when his brothers saw, here it comes,

here's where everything gets squirrely.

Then their father loved him more than all his brothers.

They hated him and could not speak peacefully.

There wasn't gonna be any kind of bonding conversation

to happen between Joseph and his brothers.

They're not going to get close

because of this very idea of how much they hated him.

They couldn't even speak kindly to him as we read that.

So that's the setup for what is about to unfold

in these next few verses that we're gonna look at

together, but it's also gonna be the theme

that's gonna run along in the remaining chapters

of Genesis as well.

This is gonna be a snowball effect

that's about to pick up speed.

Verse five.

Now Joseph had a dream.

Dreams are very important that we see in scripture.

If you remember, Joseph's father Jacob had a dream.

It's a gift and ability given by God to Joseph

that God is going to use in Joseph's life.

It's going to be used for his good,

but it's also going to be used for the good

of those around him.

Continuing on in verse five.

And when he told it to his brothers,

Joseph, don't.

You ever had that thought in your head,

it's like just keep that thought there?

Or you had a friend or a family member

and you know, man, it is rolling around in their mind,

this is about to roll off their tongue

and you're like, just don't, just don't.

It's kind of that moment right now here with Joseph.

Joseph's just don't.

Going on in verse five, it says,

they hated him even more.

They hated him even more.

Then verse six.

He said to them, hear this dream that I have dreamed.

Behold, we were binding sheaves,

it's bundles of grain in the field.

And behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright.

And behold, your sheaves gathered around it

and bowed down to my sheaf.

Yikes.

His brother said to him, are you indeed to reign over us?

Or are you indeed to rule over us?

And the answer would be yes and yes.

None of them know that.

So they hated him even more for his dreams

and for his words.

All right, have you kept count?

Have you done the list in your head,

how many times we've read the words

that his brothers hated him?

That's three times now that we've read that phrase.

Joseph, what are you thinking about telling your brothers

about this dream?

And telling them what you think it means.

Hate is a very strong emotion.

Hate can be a motivator for evil actions.

But for you and I who call ourselves a Christ follower,

hate is not a godly characteristic.

You and I need to realize that.

A side note here.

This gift and ability that Joseph has,

the gift that God has given him to interpret dreams

will be what God uses in an incredible way in his life.

I wanna encourage you and challenge you

that during this week, you'll just go ahead and read.

Go back and read chapter 37,

but go ahead and read all the way to the end of Genesis.

Just read it as you're sitting down

so that you can see the whole story of Joseph's life unfold.

I feel like as I was reading this,

that somebody just needs to pull Joseph aside.

Off to the side and explain to him the possible outcomes

of what would happen when he not only tells them this dream

but he interprets this dream.

Joseph either wants to smear it in their faces

that their dad loves him more than he loves them,

or he hasn't learned the importance

of the dynamics in relationships.

He hasn't learned how that can play out in his life.

You see, there are consequences.

You know this, right?

In the relationships that you have with family,

in the relationships you have with friends

or coworkers or neighbors,

that there are dynamics in the relationships

that you and I have,

and there are consequences in those dynamics.

There's rippling effects and there's repercussions

from our words and our actions in relationships.

In verse nine,

then he dreamed another dream.

Yes, here we go again.

And he told it to his brothers and said,

"Behold, I have dreamed another dream.

"Behold, this sun, the moon, and 11 stars,"

representing his 11 brothers,

"were bowing down to me."

Now, can you imagine being one of those brothers

that hates him, and you're standing there,

and now you hear your brother say a second dream,

and then he's interpreting that dream,

and the outcome is not in your favor?

But in verse 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?"

The answer to that is yes.

And his brothers were jealous.

So now another element of this relationship,

the idea of jealousy, enters in.

"But his father kept the same in mind."

Even though Jacob rebukes Joseph

over this dream and the interpretation,

in his spirit, Jacob must have wondered

if this could be something special.

Maybe it's pointing something out in Joseph's life

that maybe his father is just holding onto.

Down the road, is Jacob going to have

a moment of enlightenment?

Will he see this scene played out right before his eyes?

Now, the jealousy of his brothers

is about to rear its ugly head.

Let's continue in verse 12.

"Now his brothers went to pasture

"their father's flock near Shechem.

"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,"

meaning I'm ready to go.

"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.

"And a man found him wandering in the fields,

"and the man asked him, What are you seeking?

"I am seeking my brothers, he said.

"Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.

"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."

You see, Joseph is showing you and I here

of his obedience to his father, Jacob.

He goes at his father's request.

He does what his father expects him to do.

You see, in verse 14, I wonder if this could have been

what Jacob requested of Joseph back in verse two.

You remember when he goes out into the fields

and reports back to his dad what his brothers were doing,

the bad that they were doing?

I wonder if that's exactly what took place

in the beginning.

He wasn't being a tattletale.

He was doing what his father expected him to do.

And so he comes back to report.

Verse 18, "They," meaning his brothers,

"saw him from afar, and before he came near them,

"they conspired."

Let's get together, guys.

We're gonna do something about our brother Joseph.

Boom, the snowball of evil is picking up speed.

Then it finally says in verse 18 there, it says,

"Let's conspire against him to kill him."

I've never had that kind of conversation.

Can you imagine what that conversation would be like?

We get to see that unfold for one of his brothers.

But you know, killing was nothing new to the sons of Jacob.

Plotting a plan was nothing new to the sons of Jacob.

Go back to Genesis 34 when two brothers,

Simeon and Levi, thought it was a good idea

to kill Hamar, Shechem, and all the males in the city

because Shechem had defiled their sister Dinah.

Hatred and jealousy unchecked can turn

into a life-altering decision.

It can change the course and direction of your life,

and that usually means not for the good.

Life-altering for the individual carrying out the action,

life-altering for the individual receiving the action.

Life-altering for those that love those individuals.

The pain and suffering gets handed out all around.

It doesn't appear that these brothers

are taking into account any of this

when they talk about conspiring.

In James chapter three, verses 14 through 16,

we read these words.

"But if you have bitter jealousy

"and selfish ambition in your hearts,

"do not boast and be false to the truth.

"This is not the wisdom that comes down from above,

"but it is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,

"there will be disorder in every vile practice."

James is reminding the believers there

of what jealousy can do.

It's a reminder to you and I of what jealousy can do

when it goes unchecked in our lives.

Picking back up in verse 19.

"The brothers said to one another,

"'Here comes this dreamer.'"

Man, this is under their skin, right?

I mean, they are bringing back up to their mind

this whole idea of Joseph and his dreams,

and now they're calling him, "You're the dreamer."

This phrase shows how deep their hatred

and jealousy runs for Joseph.

They're not letting it go,

and they're going to allow that hatred and jealousy

to carry them even deeper.

Verse 20, "Come now, let us kill him

"and throw him into one of the pits.

"Then they will say," here comes the deceit,

here comes the deceit that they are all so familiar with.

It is a family trait that they have grown up with,

the idea of deceit.

"Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him,

"and we will see what will become of his dreams."

We're tired of them.

We're tired of hearing those dreams.

We're gonna take care of this.

They are burning with hatred and jealousy.

Then verse 21, "But when Reuben,"

finally, there's a brother.

Finally, there's gonna be one to step up.

"But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him.

"Thank you, Reuben.

"He's willing to do what is right.

"Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands,

"saying, 'Let us not take his life.'

"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,

"'that Reuben might rescue him out of their hand

"'to restore him to his father.'"

"Reuben had a rescue plan that involved no blood,

"that involved no death.

"I'll encourage my brothers

"just to throw Joseph into this pit.

"Then I'll come back, I'll rescue Joseph out of this pit,

"and then I'm gonna take him back to our father, Jacob,

"and I'm gonna make this right."

Finally, the eldest brother, in a sneaky way,

stands up to correct his brothers.

And then in verse 23, "So when Joseph came to his brothers,

"they stripped him of his robe,

"the robe of many colors that he wore,

"and they took him and threw him into a pit.

"The pit was empty, there was no water in it.

"Not only was Joseph not going to be killed

"by the hands of his brothers that day,

"he wasn't gonna be drowned by their hands either."

I think that's the understanding that we see there,

why it was mentioned that there was no water in the pit.

There was nothing that was going to take Joseph out.

Then in verse 25, "Then they sat down to eat,

"and looking up, they saw a caravan

"and Ishmaelites coming from Gilad,

"with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh,

"on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

"Then Judah, another brother, says to his brothers,

"what profit is it if we kill our brother

"and conceal his blood?"

It's a little shift in thinking, a little bit.

These are some ruthless brothers.

I don't know about you, where you are

in your thought process with these guys,

but in mind, these dudes are ruthless.

"He's no good to us dead, let's make some money off of him."

In verse 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."

In one brief moment, Judah has a heart for Joseph.

It's brief.

But he has a moment for his brother.

"And his brothers listened to him.

"Then Midianite traders passed by,

"and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit,

"and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 30 shekels of silver."

Today's value would be only $200.

Can you imagine?

They were willing to sell, one, they were willing

to kill him, but now they're willing to sell him

for only $200.

They had no value for life.

They had no value for Joseph's life.

That's how much that hatred and that jealousy

is eating at 'em.

Egypt is going to be the setting for most of Exodus

that you read in Exodus.

This is how now the children of Israel find themselves

in Egypt, is starting with Joseph.

If you don't know the story, you might be thinking,

"Oh no," for Joseph.

But God.

Remember that phrase, but God.

This means a lot.

Just when you think it's all over, but God.

Just when you think you've been dealt a bad hand, but God.

Just when you think things look desperate, but God.

When God is involved, nothing is impossible.

But God, he knows how to save and rescue.

But God, he takes the bad and leads to the good.

Oh no is soon going to become oh yes for Joseph

once he gets to Egypt.

In verse 29, when Reuben returned,

now a thought came to my head,

Reuben, where in the world did you go?

I mean, you're here in the midst of all this plan,

you're coming up with your own plan, where do you go?

We don't know.

He was off somewhere.

He wasn't around when Judah came up

with the idea to sell him.

At least Reuben was going to stay true

to trying to rescue his brother Joseph.

Just had a forgetful moment of how ruthless

his brothers were by stepping away.

Let's continue on.

To the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit,

he tore his clothes.

When you see this whole idea of the tearing of clothes

in scripture, it's a sign of either grief,

distress, or repentance.

Imagine here is Reuben, the distress

that his brother who he was going to save and rescue

being now overwhelmed with that stress and grief

to respond in a way like this.

And in verse 30 it says, and he returned to his brothers

and said, the boy is gone and I, where shall I go?

Now Reuben is having an aha moment.

Now Reuben's realizing the brothers I got around me,

I better start and think about this situation.

If they're willing to do this to Joseph,

maybe they're willing to turn on me.

Who knows what his thinking's going on,

but he has this moment where he just simply says,

where shall I go?

What am I going to do now?

But it doesn't faze his brothers one moment.

Verse 31, then they took Joseph's robe

and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood

and they sent the robe of many colors

and brought it to their father.

They could care less what Reuben was feeling in that moment.

Reuben, just go on and do your thing,

but we are sticking to what we're going to do.

This we have brought it to their father and said,

this we have found.

Please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.

Can you imagine that moment that Jacob is going to have?

The brothers could care less about this trauma

and this grief that they're about to put on their father.

That they are coding this lie,

they have fabricated this lie,

and they could care one iota about what Jacob

and how he's going to receive this.

And in verse 33 it says,

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.

Then Jacob tore his garments, same thing,

that grief, that stress.

Jacob tore his garment and put sackcloth on his loins

and mourned for his son many days.

And his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him.

These dudes are despicable.

They come up with this plan for Joseph.

They bring his coat to their father

and now they're just going, hey man,

let's make this, we gotta sell this, right?

So let's just kind of mourn along with our dad,

let's see if we can help him out.

This is the character that they are.

But Jacob refused to be comforted and said,

no, I shall go down to Sheol to my son mourning.

Thus his father wept for him.

Meanwhile, the Mennonites had sold him in Egypt

to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh,

the captain of the guard.

In Egypt, God doesn't stop showing up in Joseph's life.

God continues to do the impossible for and through Joseph.

Here's some takeaways that I gathered from this story,

this beginning story of Joseph's life.

You see, Joseph, when we see him here,

he's about 17 years old, it tells us, 17 years old.

Here's what we learn.

Favoritism has no place in relationships.

Relationships you have, relationships I have

with family, friends, coworkers,

anybody that favoritism can enter in,

it has no place in relationships.

It will destroy relationships.

And it can't be covered up.

It will be revealed.

Joseph's brother saw it, it was revealed to him,

it was very obvious in that.

Favoritism can produce jealousy.

But here's something that you and I can know in God's word

that we see about the God we serve,

the God that we worship.

When you and I look in Romans chapter two, verse 11,

it says there, for God shows no partiality.

For God shows no favoritism.

So you and I, if we're going to be followers of Christ,

that needs to be what is impressed in our minds

and our hearts and our spirit,

that we're going to be the same way.

We're not going to show favoritism.

But again, it has destructive purposes.

In Deuteronomy 10, verse 17, it says,

for the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,

the great, the mighty, and the awesome God

who is not partial and takes no bribe.

God can't be persuaded by one ounce of anything

that you and I can do to cause him to love us more,

for him to have favoritism.

It doesn't work like that with God.

The same thing should work like that with you and I.

It doesn't matter.

Favoritism should not be in our vocabulary.

What behaviors of favoritism do you need God

to help you correct?

What behaviors of favoritism do I need God

to correct in my life?

Another takeaway I see is this.

Jealousy will destroy relationships.

We see it played out right here

with Joseph and his brothers.

They become jealous.

But jealousy will destroy relationship.

It eats at you and produces wrong thoughts,

wrong motives, wrong behaviors, and wrong actions.

Jealousy can produce hatred,

which can produce evil intent.

There's nothing good and productive with jealousy.

Recognizing and addressing jealousy in our hearts

is crucial to maintain healthy relationships

that you and I have.

Allow God to deal with any jealousy

that creeps up into your heart and mind.

And then finally,

God is consistently and intentionally at work around us

even when we don't see him.

God is consistently and intentionally at work around us

even when we don't see him.

Here in chapter 37, we don't read in the story,

yet we have to believe about God is this.

God is ever-present.

Even though he's not mentioned, he's ever-present.

But God is present.

Isaiah knew this about God.

In Isaiah 45, verse 15, it says,

"Truly, you are a God who hides himself.

"O God of Israel, the Savior."

God doesn't have to be seen to do his work.

It's amazing.

I have heard this word this past week

multiple times, the idea of God's hiddenness.

That God being at work even when we're unaware.

And that is so true, right?

I mean, as Joseph life plays out, we're going to see that.

God is constantly at work in your life

and around your life even when you don't see that.

That's important for you and I to store away in our minds

for when we come to those places in our life

where we have doubts that God is doing something.

We need our minds to kick in of what we know in God's word

that says, "I am hidden, but I am at work.

"I am doing what I do."

We can't forget that.

God's hand is at work in Joseph's life

and the very pieces that play a role in his movements.

There are no coincidences here,

only the hand of God when you see that.

I'm not a believer in coincidences.

I'm a believer in the hand of God.

In June of this past year, our youngest son, Brennan,

went on a three-week mission to New York City

with Campus Crusade for Christ.

And they spent time out in parks, just constantly outside.

Well, three days before he was supposed to leave

and come back to the upstate where he lives at Clemson.

I can't believe I said that.

I'm a Carolina grad, I apologize.

Sorry, Lord.

Three days.

He didn't know where he was staying.

I mean, he knew once he got up there

that he was staying at this facility

called Nisum Nisum Bo Brent Joe,

y'all correct me if I'm saying that word wrong.

It's an acronym for a place where folks go and stay

when they're doing ministry in New York City.

He didn't realize that's the place he was going.

It's funny, you know where our students and adults,

where our students went and stayed this summer

when they were in New York?

Same place.

You're giving me chills

as I'm sitting here saying this story to you.

He didn't know.

But they arrived at the beginning of that week.

And so, Brennan comes back to Nisum Nisum

and he's there and all of a sudden

he gets very sick, very ill.

And one of the girls that's with him,

a friend of his from crew at Clemson,

is trying to do her best to help him out.

And then finally it just had to be a moment

that God placed a thought in his head and he says,

"You know what?

There's a lady here, Miss Lisa,

that I know who's a nurse

and she's got a lot of knowledge.

And my youth group is here.

I'm gonna get in touch with them."

And so he does and I'm drawing blanks here.

I don't know if he had reached out to Joel

or if he had reached out to Lisa,

but somehow it got word.

And so Trish and I are having a typical evening

at the house watching TV and I get a text.

I might have got a text from Mike C first or Joel.

Some of that gets cloudy.

Long story short, they came in, Lisa checked him out

and then texted and said, "Listen,

we think he needs to go to the emergency room."

Long story short, he had dehydration.

There are no coincidences with the hand of God.

Now you and I could probably have a discussion about that

and say our separate things,

but I know looking back at that

and looking at that moment and the prayers

that my wife and I prayed,

there's no doubt in our minds and hearts

of the hand of God in the hidden moments.

If you wanna look back on your life

and look at some things and go,

"Oh, that's where God was."

I guarantee you, you've had those hidden moments

in your life where God showed up and you didn't realize it.

You see, when you and I cover things in prayer

and you and I are talking with God in prayer,

God is working, God is working.

Even in those moments where Satan wants to cast doubt

in your thoughts that,

"No, God's just sitting there having a good time."

You gotta turn him off

because God is at work in those hidden moments

orchestrating the things that he needs to do

to work out his plan in your life,

in my life, in ministry.

God is at work no matter what.

There's one of the studies that we're doing this quarter

by Brian Heasley, it's called Be Still.

It's about having a quiet time with God.

He says this, "Beware of spirituality

"that is all about the highs.

"Enjoy them when they come, but when they don't,

"remember that God hasn't gone anywhere and persevere."

Trust God, have faith in God

that he will do what he says he will do.

I close with this in Psalms 121, wonderful reminder.

The psalmist says, "I look up to the mountains.

"Does my help come from there?

"My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

"He will not let you stumble.

"The one who watches over you will not slumber.

"Indeed, he who watches over Israel

"never slumbers or sleeps.

"The Lord himself watches over you.

"The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

"The sun will not harm you by day nor the moon at night.

"The Lord keeps you from all harm

"and watches over your life.

"The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,

"both now and forever."

Father, we truly thank you for your word.

In your word, there is truth.

We know that it is truth.

We know, Father, that you operate from your word

in helping us understand how you do what you do,

in helping us understand who you are in this life.

Father, continue to teach us as your followers

your hand and your work in who we are and what we do, Lord.

Father, it's always amazing to hear the stories

of your working in people's lives.

Lord, to even see what you're doing around us, Lord,

not just in individuals, but areas of our country,

areas of our world.

There's no idea that you slumber,

that you sleep.

Father, you are a constant.

You're constantly working in and through our life.

You do it from that place as we discover in scripture

of your love for us, your love for your people,

and your desire to draw us into relationship with you.

Lord, we are truly, truly grateful.

Father, may you fill our hearts, our minds,

and our spirits with those things that we need

to remember this week of who you are

and the fact that you're with us in every moment,

even when we just have those shreds of doubt.

Father, we love you and we thank you,

and we thank you for who you are.

And we ask this prayer in your name, amen.

- Thanks again for listening

to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast,

and be sure to check back next week

to hear another message.

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