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[2955.74 --> 2957.80] And then the character he's talking to says, |
[2958.00 --> 2959.50] So in the long run, God wins? |
[2960.98 --> 2962.66] Yes, is the response. |
[2962.66 --> 2966.86] In the short run, though, it can be uncomfortable. |
[2968.98 --> 2972.82] So God wins, and it can be uncomfortable. |
[2974.88 --> 2980.56] The reality of our life in this world is that there is great evil. |
[2981.06 --> 2982.72] That life can be hard. |
[2982.84 --> 2983.78] That we suffer. |
[2983.96 --> 2989.76] The truth of this present moment, here and now, as we wait for that day of victory, |
[2989.76 --> 2995.50] as we wait for the return of Christ, as we wait for the full revelation of God's kingdom here on earth, |
[2995.58 --> 3002.72] we wait in the midst of pain and illness and trial and suffering and tears and death. |
[3005.42 --> 3008.48] These are the twin experiences of life in the world. |
[3008.80 --> 3009.48] God wins. |
[3009.88 --> 3011.98] The reality of God's sovereignty. |
[3011.98 --> 3021.26] And remember, we define God's sovereignty as his right to rule and reign as Lord of the universe. |
[3021.42 --> 3023.76] That is, nothing happens without him. |
[3024.40 --> 3028.40] And on the other side, we have the reality of human suffering. |
[3028.52 --> 3030.86] That things aren't the way they're supposed to be. |
[3031.20 --> 3037.56] We have this sense and this crying out at the injustice and the inequality of it all. |
[3037.56 --> 3046.14] And in that experiential tension, we live our lives of faith. |
[3048.02 --> 3054.42] Another way that this has been put is the struggle of the hiddenness of God. |
[3055.40 --> 3057.26] The struggle of the hiddenness of God. |
[3057.60 --> 3060.54] Where is God when things go bad? |
[3061.56 --> 3065.44] Where is God when my life is crumbling around me? |
[3065.44 --> 3066.18] Right? |
[3066.20 --> 3071.26] If he is so sovereign and so good, why doesn't he do something good with this thing going on? |
[3073.76 --> 3073.96] Right? |
[3074.04 --> 3084.94] The hiddenness of God is one of the most regular challenges to our experience of life and faith. |
[3085.64 --> 3089.62] The hiddenness of God is the root of so many deconstruction stories. |
[3089.62 --> 3093.58] The hiddenness of God, the crying out, why can't I see you? |
[3093.68 --> 3094.60] Where are you? |
[3095.44 --> 3101.48] It's something that any of us who have lived a little bit of life have had to contend with. |
[3103.28 --> 3108.92] Now for so many, in the moment, these twin truths, the sovereignty of God, that God wins, |
[3109.04 --> 3111.80] and his hiddenness seem sort of paradoxical. |
[3112.10 --> 3113.48] They seem incompatible. |
[3113.48 --> 3122.52] What I hope in this series is that we begin to see that they're not incompatible, but they are difficult. |
[3122.52 --> 3124.58] Right? |
[3124.58 --> 3130.62] And to help us understand how we might see God in the midst of these circumstances, |
[3130.62 --> 3137.24] we're reading the story of Joseph looking for what I am calling God hints. |
[3138.12 --> 3138.76] Right? |
[3138.86 --> 3139.62] God hints. |
[3139.68 --> 3143.30] Little clues in the story to help us not only survive, |
[3143.30 --> 3149.00] but maybe even to thrive in the midst of our trial and hardship and suffering. |
[3149.34 --> 3158.88] Now these God hints will help us, I hope, see through the hiddenness of God and remember that he is there. |
[3158.88 --> 3168.14] And the God hint for this morning, where I want us to see, is what I'm calling remembering meanwhile. |
[3169.36 --> 3169.74] Right? |
[3169.82 --> 3171.46] Remembering meanwhile. |
[3172.18 --> 3179.14] Now these God hints are glimpses of God's practical and theological helps in the midst of our suffering. |
[3179.14 --> 3182.48] So if you were here two weeks ago when we started this series, |
[3182.94 --> 3187.54] we started looking at the God hint, keep these things in mind, |
[3187.66 --> 3192.60] focusing on the promises of God, the vision of God for hope, for a brighter tomorrow, |
[3193.02 --> 3196.38] for the culmination of the story of God's salvation. |
[3197.26 --> 3205.56] In the midst of today's darkness, we can look to the future of God's fully restored, fully redeemed earth. |
[3205.56 --> 3213.40] And we said that what we choose to focus our minds on impacts how we endure suffering |
[3213.40 --> 3218.68] and how we thrive in the midst of trial. |
[3219.98 --> 3223.70] Today, we remember meanwhile. |
[3225.42 --> 3230.26] Now as you can probably guess, this comes from verse 36 of our text right at the end. |
[3230.86 --> 3235.10] Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, |
[3235.10 --> 3238.46] one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard. |
[3239.96 --> 3240.08] Right? |
[3240.12 --> 3242.52] So all of this befalls Joseph. |
[3242.64 --> 3248.98] And remember, the author is at pains to make us march slowly through this text |
[3248.98 --> 3253.22] so we can feel the weight of all of this settling on us. |
[3254.50 --> 3255.02] Right? |
[3255.10 --> 3256.66] His brothers want to kill him. |
[3257.34 --> 3258.52] They settle for selling him. |
[3258.88 --> 3264.32] They break the news to their father Jacob, who holds his son's blood-stained cloak, |
[3264.32 --> 3268.74] and he cries out in suffering and in anguish of soul at the apparent death of his son. |
[3268.74 --> 3269.14] And he says, |
[3269.14 --> 3274.04] I will continue to mourn my son until I join him in the grave. |
[3274.38 --> 3277.60] The rest of my life will be empty and incomplete. |
[3277.90 --> 3281.32] There will be a gaping hole without Joseph. |
[3281.32 --> 3284.90] And so Jacob weeps in the terror of it. |
[3286.10 --> 3288.08] And as all of this is happening, |
[3289.24 --> 3291.54] verse 36, easily missed, |
[3292.08 --> 3296.12] almost imperceptible in the midst of Jacob's pain, |
[3296.22 --> 3297.22] which is right in front of him, |
[3297.54 --> 3299.14] verse 36 quietly says, |
[3299.14 --> 3300.32] Meanwhile, |
[3302.00 --> 3305.44] the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, |
[3306.22 --> 3307.42] one of Pharaoh's officials, |
[3307.82 --> 3309.42] the captain of the guard. |
[3310.76 --> 3312.14] That little word, |
[3313.00 --> 3313.50] meanwhile, |
[3314.86 --> 3315.46] changes |
[3315.46 --> 3317.76] our experience |
[3317.76 --> 3319.00] of suffering. |
[3320.30 --> 3321.50] Now, meanwhile, |
[3321.86 --> 3323.40] that means at the same time. |
[3323.78 --> 3323.98] Right? |
[3324.06 --> 3325.04] While this is happening. |
[3325.04 --> 3327.16] And in this story, |
[3327.56 --> 3329.80] the narrator is breaking in |
[3329.80 --> 3334.32] and drawing our attention away from the main stage. |
[3335.08 --> 3337.76] So all of this that befalls Joseph and his family |
[3337.76 --> 3339.48] is happening here on the main stage. |
[3339.60 --> 3341.50] And the narrator breaks in and says, |
[3342.08 --> 3342.42] Meanwhile, |
[3343.22 --> 3344.86] as all that was happening, |
[3345.82 --> 3348.72] this is going on over here. |
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