Sometimes the interruptions God allows to come to our lives are disruptive, they are inconvenient for us, but they aren’t necessarily destructive. Other times, though, life’s interruptions shake things apart so thoroughly that we’re not sure they will ever be able to be put back together again. Last week we talked through God’s interruptions to Abraham’s life. Those were hard, but the interruptions His great-grandson faced were hard on a whole other level. Let’s talk through Joseph’s story, how his life was interrupted, and what his response can teach us for handling our own hard interruptions.

Making the Broken Beautiful

Have you ever had things go from bad to worse? Sick kids are no fun. Several years ago, we had one sick kid. Then another. Then another. Then one of us went down. The dominoes just kept falling. And you would think that was bad enough, but you would be wrong. Just at the point that everybody was sick and all of the accompanying laundry was piling up to the ceiling…the washer broke down. We were at the store the next day. The nice salesman asked us what kind of a washer we were looking for, and we told him we were interested in whatever he had in stock that we could take home that day. I’m happy to report that we are all still alive and well, but that was a rough few days. In the grand scheme of things, though, that particular life interruption wasn’t so bad. It certainly could have been worse. Sometimes when life flies apart on us it feels like things shatter so thoroughly it’s hard to imagine there could ever be a way to put things back together again. 

Well, today we are in the second part of our new teaching series, When Life Gets in the Way. For the next few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, we are talking about the times when life itself interrupts our rhythm in one way or another and how to handle it. The fact is that the journey through this life is rarely smooth and easy. Just when we think we have a pretty good rhythm established, something comes along out of left field that forces us to readjust in some way. This readjustment may be small, or it may be massive depending on the extent of the interruption. Either way, our plans are thrown into chaos, and we are left to figure out what moving forward looks like. These times are often scary to say the least, but they also provide us an opportunity to grow in grace and faith as we recommit ourselves to God and what He has planned that we don’t even know about yet. 

Last time, we started this series of conversations by taking a look at the story of Abraham. That was a man who became very familiar with God’s interruptions to his life. Over and over and over again, God visited Abraham to invite him to pivot and head off in a new direction. None of these interruptions were particularly convenient, and they certainly weren’t easy, but as Abraham grew more and more comfortable making these pivots, he came to understand something that made making them easier and easier. When God interrupts our plans, we can trust what He’s doing. We may not understand it, but He has a long and well-established record of moving His good plans forward even when we can’t see a line from here to there. 

But…

While the kinds of interruptions Abraham experienced and through which he learned to trust in God’s plans were certainly disruptive to his life, they weren’t necessarily destructive at all. He experienced some personal pain on his journey, but this wasn’t ever because of what God was doing. It was always because of how he responded to what God was doing. His pain came from his own foolish choices, not God’s plans. He was never made to feel like God had abandoned him. The same cannot be said of his great-grandson, Joseph. Joseph’s story was a whole other kind of hard from what Abraham experienced. This morning, as we continue forward in our series, we are going to talk about what to do when life’s interruptions aren’t just disruptive, but are downright destructive of our lives and everything we hold dear. 

Joseph’s story starts in Genesis 37 and runs through the end of the book. If you have a copy of the Scriptures handy, find your way there with me, and let’s take a look at what all he went through. Abraham’s son with Sarah was Isaac. Isaac, after a period of infertility with his own wife, Rebekah, had two sons, Esau and Jacob. God chose to continue the line of promise through Jacob and his descendants. If his father’s and grandfather’s families were messy, Jacob’s was an absolute disaster. He had twelve sons by four different women, two of them wives (who were also sisters), two of them slaves. He didn’t want four mothers of his children, but he wound up there anyway because getting what—or rather, who—he wanted was more important to him than doing what was right. His family paid the price for his arrogance and scheming. And, because favoritism ran in his family, he played the game too, resulting in an even messier situation among his sons who were all driven by jealousy for their father’s favor. For better or worse, it was the first son of his favorite wife who was his favorite, and Joseph was doted on more than all the rest of his brothers. And they hated him for it. 

From Genesis 37:1: “Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel [that’s Jacob’s other name] loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.” And you thought your family was a mess! 

Joseph goes on to have some dreams that show him in positions of power and authority over the rest of his family which just serves to inflame his brothers’ jealousy all the more. They finally concoct a plan to murder him, which the oldest son, Reuben, downgraded to just scaring him. But then, when Reuben wasn’t there, Judah had the idea to sell Joseph into slavery to a passing band of slave traders so that at least they could make some money from all the trouble he had caused them. 

So now, in addition to being abused by his brothers, Joseph was being sold to some slavers on their way to Egypt where his brothers all figured he would never be heard from again. Once there, Joseph was purchased by a man named Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. Joseph worked hard, demonstrated great integrity and character, and soon became the most trusted slave in the house. He made the most of a bad situation, and things really started to turn in his direction. 

Unfortunately, Joseph’s success—not to mention his good looks—drew the attention of Potiphar’s lecherous wife, who tried in vain to seduce him into an affair. From Genesis 39:6: “Now Joseph was well-built and handsome. After some time, his master’s wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, ‘Sleep with me.’” Joseph, to the great credit of his character, refused her advances no matter how hard she tried. Her frustration eventually turned to scorn, and she accused Joseph of raping her. Rather inexplicably, and in spite of his unimpeachable record, Potiphar bought the story and acted accordingly. “When his master heard the story his wife told him—‘These are the things your slave did to me’—he was furious, and had him thrown into prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph was there in prison.” 

Talk about going from bad to worse. Just when it seemed like things were taking a turn for the better, another interruption came from out of nowhere to knock him back down again. Yet even here, Joseph’s character shined, and history started to repeat itself. From Genesis 39:21 now: “But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor with the prison warden. The warden put all the prisoners who were in the prison under Joseph’s authority, and he was responsible for everything that was done there. The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him and the Lord made everything that he did successful.” 

As good as that might sound, though, Joseph was still in prison. He was still a slave. His situation was still deeply unfair and unjust. He might have been able to pull himself up a little bit by his bootstraps, but when you’ve been stashed under a rock, there’s only so much pulling up you can accomplish. And in his case, every time he seemed to get close to the top of the pile of discarded things, something else came to knock him back down again. 

One day, two new prisoners arrived—the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker. They had offended their master, the king, and he sent them there as punishment. While in prison, both men had dreams that were both intriguing and disturbing. When Joseph saw how much the dreams troubled them, he interpreted the dreams for them. Well, he didn’t do it—something he freely acknowledged—but rather, God gave him the insight to do it. The cupbearer would soon be restored to his position, but the baker was going to be put to death for his offense. And while it might be tempting to think Joseph was just blowing smoke at them, both men’s situations unfold just exactly as Joseph said they would. His only request to the cupbearer when he was freed was that he not forget what Joseph had done for him. But, as we see in Genesis 40:23: “Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.” And Joseph was left yet again to rot in prison. The hits just kept on coming. 

But then, just as suddenly as they had fallen apart, things for Joseph began to turn around. A couple of years later, after Pharaoh had had a disturbing dream himself, the cupbearer finally remembered Joseph and what he had done for him. Upon this recommendation, Pharaoh had Joseph brought up from prison, and he dutifully interpreted Pharaoh’s dream. The short version is that a rough seven years were coming for the entire region, but if Pharaoh would put the right person in charge of preparing for it, everything would be okay. From Genesis 41:37: “The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants, and he said to them, ‘Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?’ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only I, as king, will be greater than you.’ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, ‘See, I am placing you over all the land of Egypt.’” Faster than he even knew how to process everything, Joseph went from prison to the penthouse. 

Joseph went on to implement his plan, and when the hard years came, the whole region was saved from a devastating famine. It was a pretty incredible turnaround of his situation. But that wasn’t the whole of it. Not only did Joseph experience this complete reversal in fortunes, but he was eventually given the opportunity to exact revenge on the people who made such a mess of his life in the first place. 

When the impact of the famine reached all the way to where his family was staying in Canaan, his father dispatched his brothers to Egypt to purchase grain so they wouldn’t starve. Suddenly, Joseph found himself face-to-face with his original tormentors, except now they didn’t recognize him and he held all the power. It was an absolutely perfect opportunity to turn the tables on them, to sell them into slavery, to leave them to rot in prison. Their actions had taken 13 years from his life. Now, here he was with the power to take everything from them. 

Yet the character that had carried him this far, through every kind of trial and tribulation imaginable, didn’t fail him. He did give his brothers a bit of a hard time, but instead of devastating their lives as they had devastated his, Joseph eventually revealed himself to them, and invited them to be his honored guests in the land of Egypt. Ultimately, he saved their lives, and allowed for the continuation of God’s plans to create a nation from the descendants of Abraham who would eventually bless the whole world. And in the end, rather than seeking vengeance, Joseph does the hard thing and forgives his brothers. This moment is worth looking at in Genesis 50, right at the end of the book. 

Check this out: “When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, ‘If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.’” As long as Jacob was alive, his presence would have kept Joseph from doing anything to exact revenge against his brothers. Now that Jacob was dead as far as they understood things, all bets were off. What were they going to do to save their own skin now that there was no limiting principle on Joseph’s potential vengeance? The same thing they had done the rest of their lives when things got hard: lie and deceive. 

“So they sent this message to Joseph, ‘Before he died your father gave a command: “Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.” Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.’” Now, did Jacob really command his sons to say this to Joseph? We don’t have any idea. Maybe he did, and Moses just didn’t record that episode for us. Maybe the brothers just made the whole thing up to save their own skin. Honestly, given their character, I lean in the latter direction. Either way, though, Jacob was gone, Joseph was in charge, and it was up to him how to respond. 

He could have said, “Forget about what our father said, you threatened to murder me, and then sold me into slavery where I spent more than a decade suffering as a slave. It’s time for you to know what it felt like.” But he didn’t. “Joseph wept when their message came to him. His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, ‘We are your slaves!’” They really were worried about what Joseph might now do to them. 

“But Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.’ And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.” 

Joseph once again had the choice of how he was going to respond to the terrible, awful, no good, very bad interruptions that his brothers and others after them forced upon his life. He could have chosen the path of anger and bitterness and no one would have faulted him for it. Everyone would have understood. You’ve perhaps been badly hurt before by some dramatic life interruption, and you chose to walk that path in response. Maybe you still are. That’s a natural path to walk. That’s a natural path to walk in that kind of a season. 

But that’s not the path Joseph walked. He chose the path of forgiveness and grace and kindness and unwavering trust that if he just stuck to the character of God, he would eventually see his circumstances redeemed for something good. And he did. He recognized that in spite of the evil his brothers had planned for him—and don’t miss the fact that he is forthright in acknowledging their evil intentions toward him in his incredible expression of forgiveness—God had taken what was evil, redeemed it, and accomplished a far greater good. God allowed these interruptions to come to Joseph’s life because they were going to put him right where he needed to be to have just the impact God wanted him to have. 

Friends, this same thing is true in our own lives. At least, it can be. Even hard interruptions can place us where God can use us. It all depends on how we respond. Like Joseph experienced, God can and will if we will let Him redeem what seems irredeemably broken in our lives to accomplish His kingdom good. I’ve said it before in other contexts, but the point bears repeating here: God is bigger than our circumstances. If you don’t believe that then, yes, panicking or worrying, or trying to grab control for yourself when things go haywire makes perfect sense. But if that is true, then there is not a situation we’ll face He can’t redeem for His kingdom ends. There is not an interruption He is not capable of turning around into an invitation into incredible kingdom advancing. Even hard interruptions can place us where God can use us. 

Now, it won’t necessarily be a quick process to get there. Just because God can redeem a hard interruption doesn’t mean it won’t still be hard. God doesn’t often operate in the quick. He operates on the scale of history and invites us with our very finite lives to be a part of His work in it. Remember what the author of Hebrews said about Abraham and other folks like him from last time? They all died without receiving the fulfillment of the promises God had made. They had to look beyond just their lives and their circumstances to God’s bigger kingdom plans. We might see how God plans to use us in the hard place some interruption has landed us, but it might be that our pursuit of His character in that situation motivates someone else in His direction that we’ll never know about until we get to Heaven. We are not trusting in something that is limited to this life only. We are trusting in the God who is sovereign over the past, present, and future, and whose plans for a good future for His people are already locked into place. And that God can use our faithfulness no matter where we happen to be. Even hard interruptions can place us where God can use us. 

But let’s not forget the part Joseph played in this. Yes, the work was God’s, but had Joseph not played His part, God would have had to accomplish His work by other means. And what was Joseph’s part? The thing I emphasized that he did in each and every situation he faced. He leaned into the character of God. Our character during our times of trial and tribulation matters. A lot. Had Joseph not remained steadfast in His pursuit and application of the character of God in all of his various circumstances, he would not have experienced all that God ultimately accomplished through His life. 

Had Joseph embraced despair, he would have never risen through the ranks in Potiphar’s house. Had he accepted Potiphar’s wife’s invitation into infidelity, he probably would have been put to death. His time in Pharaoh’s prison gave him yet another opportunity to embrace despair that he again declined in favor of hope. And if he hadn’t embraced such a courageous faithfulness, he would not have learned to listen well enough to God to be able to interpret the dreams of the baker or cupbearer or even Pharaoh himself. And if Joseph had unleashed all his understandable fury on his brothers in the end, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation because there wouldn’t have ever been a nation of Israel. God may have used Joseph to great effect, but without Joseph’s commitment to righteousness, he would have been largely useless to those aims. Even hard interruptions can place us where God can use us, but if we don’t have the kind of character to allow the work to continue, it won’t continue through us. 

The simple truth here—one that is borne out through Joseph’s life and the lives of so many others—is that God can redeem our hard circumstances. No matter how hard your interruption seems—and it may be really, really hard—God can still redeem that interruption to accomplish His kingdom good. Even hard interruptions can place us where God can use us. Those interruptions don’t surprise Him. They don’t phase Him. They don’t derail His plans. None of that. They simply reveal to us how He intends to accomplish those plans. Wherever our interruptions happen to redirect our lives, God can use us right there. When we commit to following Him faithfully in every situation, that faithfulness will see His kingdom advanced in ways we can’t even imagine right now. Even hard interruptions can place us where God can use us. We just have to keep following Him. 

Okay, but what about when we don’t? What about when an interruption comes because we didn’t follow Him? What about when we cause our own interruption because of some sin we’ve committed? That’s where we’ll go next week as we continue our series, When Life Gets in the Way. You won’t want to miss it.