I'll read verses 15 through 21. Genesis chapter 50. Verse 15. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, what if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him. So they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father has charged before he died saying, thus you shall say to Joseph, please forgive. I beg you the transgression of your brothers and their sin for they did you wrong. And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. And Joseph wept. when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result to preserve many people alive. So therefore, Do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Thus reads the word of God. The year was 1977. And the place was Moline, Illinois. Terri Schaefer had a special gift she wanted to purchase for her husband David for Christmas. Her fear was that it might be too expensive. Oh, it wouldn't be too expensive for some families, but when you have to make ends meet on a policeman's salary, it could be too expensive. She kept it on her mind as she wandered along Fifth Avenue, hoping to find something like it or perhaps the very thing she had in mind. Sure enough, she did. She slipped into the store and looked into the face of a kind shopkeeper and asked, how much? $127.50. Ouch. Her anticipation turned to disappointment as she thought, that's just too much for us to be able to afford. And then an idea popped into her mind. She said to him, though we don't know each other, perhaps you would allow me to put it on hold. I can pay a little now, and then I'll come back and pay you more. And I promise you, by the time you have it gift-wrapped before Christmas, I'll pay the last amount." A seasoned businessman he was, he knew a trusting soul when he saw one. So he smiled and said, I'll tell you what. Since your husband is a police officer, I have every reason to trust you. Why don't you just give me the first payment? I'll gift-wrap it and let you take it with you today. She was ecstatic. She walked out of this wonderful gift she was so anxious to give her husband. And like a lot of us, she wasn't able to keep it a secret. So that night, as David unwrapped the gift, Terry stood there beaming. He was thrilled at her thoughtfulness and covered her with hugs and kisses. Later on the same year, patrolman David Schaefer was working the night shift and got a call on his police radio. A drugstore robbery was in process. Racing to the scene, he arrived just in time to observe the suspect getting into his car. Quickly, David switched on his siren and began the pursuit. Three blocks later, the getaway vehicle suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. The suspect was still seated behind the wheel of his car as David cautiously approached the subject. As he got about three feet from the driver's door, it flew open and the suspect fired an automatic pistol once, sending a .45 caliber slug towards David's stomach. At seven o'clock the next morning, Terry answered the door of the Schaeffer's home. Carefully and calmly, the police officer explained David had been shot. As the officer detailed what happened to David, he had bad news and good news. When she listened to the story, Terry Schaefer was thinking how glad she was she didn't wait until Christmas to give her gift. How glad she was the shopkeeper had been willing to let her pay for it later. Otherwise, David Schaefer, shot at point blank range with a devastatingly deadly .45 caliber pistol would surely have died. But the good news was that he was still alive and in the hospital, not with a gunshot wound, but with a deep bruise in his abdomen. Christmas had come early that year because David had with him the gift of life his wife could not wait to give, his brand new bulletproof vest. What do you call that? Do you know what I call that? I call that divine providence. Look, I may not be that old, but I know the providence of God when I see it. Because I've seen the providence of God my entire life. I've seen the hand of God. The invisible hand of divine providence is the most amazing thing. You know, it's one thing for God to miraculously show up and intervene on your behalf, but it is far more miraculous for him to allow all of the natural events, people, decisions, and actions to be woven together to precisely accomplish his perfect will. Listen, every single day of my life, I am surprised by divine providence. It is his invisible hand at work in the circumstances of our lives. I am learning to filter everything that happens to me through divine providence. See, I use what I know about God to interpret what I don't know about life. And that's exactly what Joseph did. I love how one commentator puts it, and speaking of Joseph. He says, Joseph was aimed and shot at by the bitter and violent words of his brothers and still more deeply wounded by their cruel treatment. He was sold into Egypt through jealousy and imprisoned through a false accusation. His virtue was violently assaulted by his wannabe mistress, his innocence wronged by his master, and his patience severely tried by the ingratitude of a fellow prisoner, yet his bow remained firm. Why? He says, because divine providence forsook him not. It's divine providence. See, Joseph understood something of the providence of God because he saw it every day in his own life, because every day of his life was full of divine providence. He trusted in the God who was bigger than he could understand. He trusted in the God of divine providence. Joseph too filtered everything through divine providence. Joseph knew that all things come not by chance, but by our heavenly Father's hand. Joseph knew that nothing happens to you that does not first pass through God's hands. That's providence. Joseph knew God's unseen hand is at work in all times, every second of every single day in his life. It's divine providence. And so as we come to the 50th chapter of Genesis, there are 11 grim faces staring down anxiously at the floor. All the attention in the narrative is focused on the man who has been enthroned in front of them. They are huddled, the 11 are, around one of the most powerful rulers in all the world, one who stands only behind Pharaoh himself, and he, no doubt, has the authority to execute them. He's dressed in fashion that would be fitting for a king. He is the prime minister of Egypt, and he looks down on those humble herdsmen as they stoop before him. He has a long history with these men. That's because these men are his brothers. He has a history of pain and suffering and rejection, and the memories are vividly etched in his mind. They had wronged him in the past greatly. They had done great damage to him from a human perspective, and now the tables are turned. And he has the power and authority to enact severe retribution against them. The question is, what would you do? Because that's the question that is posed in our text this morning. What is the action that Joseph will take against his brothers? His father Jacob is dead, they've already buried him, and now they are bowing down before their brother and they just know that he's going to kill them. And so they beg him for mercy. They are frightened. They are terrified. They are afraid. because Joseph might finally seek revenge for the severe pain they had caused him decades earlier. Maybe this was the day where finally Joseph gets justice. Their crimes had finally caught up with him. Will Joseph seek his revenge? But when the silence is broken, it turns out that it's not anger, It's not fury, it's not hostility, it's not threats, it's not judgment, it's not harsh punishment. Rather, it is the sound of weeping and rejoicing. One by one, as they lift their eyes and look at Joseph, their brother, he looks back with a forgiving smile, tears streaming down his cheeks. And his tears prove to be contagious, because in the end, they're all weeping. Joseph comforts them. He speaks kindly to them. He reassures them. He provides for them. There's no vengeance. There's no hatred. There's no animosity. Joseph treated his brothers with mercy. How could this be? How could he do this? How could he have mercy and grace and joy in his heart? In the heart of someone who was so wickedly mistreated? I mean, complete forgiveness, complete compassion, complete mercy, complete provision. How could such love flow from the heart of the one who was so horribly treated? The answer is Joseph's theology. That's right. He had a clear understanding of divine providence. He understood divine providence. He knew that while they meant it for evil, God meant it for what? For good. He had a clear understanding that God was at work and that God is in control and therefore you can trust him for the outcome. It was his theology of divine providence. It was Joseph's theology of God's sovereign purposes and providence that generated this attitude in his heart. And that's a great lesson for us this morning, that unless we learn to see the big picture of what God is doing in his providence, that when the difficulties, the pain, the suffering, the vicissitudes of life come, we will miss the foundational truth that God is working all things, all of it together for our good and his glory. I mean, how else do we cope with the inevitable? It's learning that when you can't see his hand, to trust his heart. Joseph saw the reality that though he had mistreated him, it was within the purposes of God. He knew it was all tied together through God's providence. You know, God's providence is like an aspen forest. Did you know that an aspen forest is the largest living organism in the world? Because it has a single root system. By analogy, this means that nobody is isolated, that nothing happens by chance. It's all connected and God is weaving it all together to accomplish his purposes. So to gain a better grasp of the providence of God, let's flash back to Genesis 37 and see how all of this ties into the story of Joseph. There's so much we can learn here about the providence of God. If we're in it, You will learn to look back at our own lives and trace the hand of God, that fatherly hand that holds us close to see all of life as a string of gracious links in a chain of loving providences. That's our bottom line. That's the goal. That's how we apply God's word this morning. is through a theology of divine providence, God's providence, we learn to see all of life as a string of gracious links and a chain of loving providences. It's as I said earlier, it's learning when you can't see his hand to trust his heart. That through it all, the good, the bad, the ugly, we might learn to trust in God's sovereign providence. That we might walk by faith and not by sight. To do this, I'm gonna look at three links in the chain of God's providence in Genesis 37. I'm gonna look at his coat, I'm gonna look at his dreams, and I'm gonna look at his pit. Joe's coat, Joe's dreams, and Joe's pit. All of these are providences of God that prove very instructive for us. It's all here. Let's look at Joseph's coat. We're gonna move very, very fast this morning, so stay with me. Genesis 37, one says, now Jacob lived in the land where his father had lived as a stranger in the land of Canaan. These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when he was 17 years of age, was pastoring the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a multi-colored tunic, a varied colored tunic, a robe. And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. And so as the story unfolds, Joseph is 17 years of age, and almost immediately in the narrative, we are introduced to something that I call God's painful providence. He's pastoring the flock with his brothers while he's still a youth and enter God's painful providence. God's painful providence begins when Joseph puts on the coat, the robe. Some translations say a white tunic in the sense that the white was such a pure white that it could give hues of various colors. It's kitzoneth pasim in Hebrew, which simply means a full-length robe, a robe that reaches the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. It was a kind of formal robe with long sleeves that would reach all the way to the ground. These were royal robes. It was a robe symbolic of his father's love. It was a robe symbolic of family favoritism. Joseph, No doubt was the delight of Jacob's heart, and Jacob did nothing to hide it. In fact, he put it on display by giving Joseph a varied-colored tunic, a coat of many colors. One reliable Old Testament scholar in commenting on this passage says of this robe that this tunic was sleeved and extended to the ankles. He says, by implication, you can't work very well in a garment that has sleeves and extends all the way down to your ankles, especially if it's a costly, richly ornamented robe. It would be like sending a welder to a construction site wearing a Corella DeVille mink coat. In Joseph's day, the working garb was a short, sleeveless tunic. This left the arms and legs free so that the workers could easily maneuver and move about. Thus, as you can imagine, by giving Joseph this elaborate, full-length robe, which was also a sign of nobility in that day, his father was boldly implying you can wear this beautiful garment, Joseph, because you don't have to work like those brothers of yours. You see, it's one thing to have one out of 12 as your favorite, but it's a whole nother thing to make the favorite where something all the time that symbolizes your favoritism towards him. But see, this is where God's providence begins for Joseph. And it's painful providence. It's painful because it strips us of those things we value most. Right? For Joseph, it's his robe that signified the love of his father. For you, it might be your marriage, or maybe it's your health, or maybe it's your job, or your children. You see, painful providence has a way of stripping us of our own varied color tunics. By the way, the most instructive times where God's hand is most palpably and powerfully unveiled is in the pain of providence. It's where life looks like there's no way out. But it's through God's painful providence that you can learn to trust God, even when it feels like the God who loves you is trying to kill you. And you know this, it often gets worse before it gets better, doesn't it? For his brothers would eventually strip Joseph of his tunic, the varied colored tunic that was on him in verse 23. The word strip is the word that means to skin an animal. This means that Joseph's robe was violently ripped off of him and he was probably thrown naked into the pit. But that's not all. Because in Genesis 39, what is the evidence used against him by Potiphar's wife? That's right, his garment. I mean, look at how many times, turn over to Genesis 39, look at how many times the word garment is used. Verse 12 says, she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. Again in verse 12, and he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside. Verse 13. Verse 15, verse 16, verse 18, his garments, his garments, his garments over and over again. You turn back to Genesis 37. Listen to this. There's an old story that tells how when Joseph began to talk about God to the tempest, that she flung her skirt over the bust of the God who stood over the chamber and said, now God will not see. But Joseph answered, my God sees. See, Joseph's life was an open book before his God and he'd rather not have his coat and still have his character. Why? Because he trusted in the God of providence. By the way, providence literally means God sees. Note this, Joseph did not endure the pit Joseph did not endure Potiphar's house and prison because he knew he would end up in Pharaoh's palace. He simply remained faithful wherever he found himself. And God did the rest. And that's exactly what we must do when we experience the painful providence of God. We must remain faithful where we are. and keep hope alive, knowing God will do the rest. This is painful providence. But note well, the providence of God never stops there, does it? The painful providence of God always leads to what I like to call poetic justice. In Genesis 41 and verse 42, it says this. Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. He had him ride in the second chariot and they proclaimed before him, bow the knee. And he sent him over all the land of Egypt. That's poetic justice. That's what one pastor calls divine irony. the ironic providence of God. The ironic providence of God is where God doesn't speak, but he answers. It's God's providence that intervenes in his timing, at his own discretion, and in his almighty power and our circumstances to turn everything around. God's silence is not his absence. In fact, it's evidence of his providence. It's his poetic justice that holds in tension apparent meaning and actual meaning, the present and the future, your suffering and your blessing. It's when your dungeon becomes the means of your deliverance. It's when God works not by erasing the bad parts from our story, but by using the bad parts to produce something good. This is what's happening to Joseph, and I contend this is what's happening to you. Listen, God's silence is not his absence. In fact, it just means that he's moving things towards his poetic justice. Think about that for a second. Now there's one more thing we learn about the providence of God from the clothing motif in the Joseph story. Turn with me to Genesis 45. Genesis 45 and verse 21. Verse 21 says that Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions, there's our word, providence, for the journey. To each of them he gave changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of silver and five changes of garments. And to his father, he sent the following, 10 male donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, 10 female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and sustenance for his father on the journey. Here's what we learn from this ultimate family reunion, very practically. When God and his providence is steering you down an apparent cul-de-sac, a seemingly dead-end road, that just means he wants his purposes and his timing to coincide. to then bring you into the traffic of his purposes where you will be most gloriously used. In other words, God is working in your life for someone else's providence. It's when we learn to wait upon the Lord, knowing that he uses what I call the cul-de-sac principle in our lives, that his working in your life is someone else's providence. It's when we wait upon the Lord for His timing that we know He is working through a variety of circumstances and that He is simultaneously working in a variety of people. It's when things go haywire that we must learn to see that what God is doing in our lives is minimally for our lives, but it is intended to be maximally related to others' lives. Listen, what God is doing in your life, is far more significant in the lives of others. That's what happened to Joseph. And the result is he provides for them. He provides clothes for them. The very clothes that he was stripped of, he provides for his brothers that hated him. That's divine providence. Because see, Joseph understands God is never just working in one person's life. He understands that it's not really about him because what God is doing in his life had much to do with what he is doing in the lives of his family. Joseph's story is full of this kind of divine providence. That through all of this, God is dealing at a very profound level with Jacob and his 11 other sons. That all that Joseph has gone through has become the means of providing for the material needs of the people and the spiritual needs of his family. That's the providence of God. But there's more. These last two points will move much more quickly. Let's look at Joseph's dreams. Back to Genesis 37. Genesis 37.5 says, then Joseph had a dream. And when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, please listen to this dream which I had. For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and behold, my sheaves stood up and also remained standing and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheave. Then his brother said to him, are you actually going to reign over us? Are you really going to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. Then he had yet another dream and informed his brothers of it and said, behold, I have had yet another dream and behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars were bowing down to me. He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers. And his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you have had? Am I and your mother and your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you? And his brothers were jealous of him. Note this, but his father kept the saying in mind. It is here that Joseph has dreams, and his dreams are one and the same. And to his brothers, as one can imagine, his dreams were just outrageous. Because in both dreams, his brothers are seen bowing down to him. In verse seven, Joseph says, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheave. In verse nine, he says, behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars were bowing down to me. Now, in all honesty, keep your mouth shut, Joseph. I mean, come on, keep your dreams to yourself. Because all that did was escalate the hatred, the jealousy, the vitriol. But in Joseph's defense, how can you keep something like that to yourself when they point to a reality that has cosmic implications? You say, what do you mean cosmic implications? See, not only were these dreams from God, I mean, in some providential sense, we must agree that they must have been divinely given. And not only was Joseph an interpreter of dreams, but his dreams find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. That's why he can't keep them to himself. John Piper has written a book on the providence of God. It's his magnum opus. It's a humongous red tome, 750 pages. The first two chapters are worth the price of the book. But in it, he argues that the key to understanding the providence of God is Jesus Christ. That the providence of God finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Now stay with me here. Do you remember the second dream that Joseph had? Verse nine, he had another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, Lo, I had still another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars were bowing down to me. Now the question we must ask is, when is this dream going to be ultimately fulfilled? Is it in Joseph's life? Certainly there is some sense in which it is fulfilled in Joseph's life, but I'm talking about ultimate fulfillment. Did you know that there is only one other place in all of Scripture where the identical parallel to this particular dream is given? It's in the book of Revelation. I know we're doing a lot of flipping. This is more like a Bible study, but this is important. Turn to Revelation chapter 12. This is why he can't keep his mouth shut. Revelation chapter 12. Flip to the back, look for the large number 12, there it is. Revelation chapter 12. Revelation 12 one says this. A great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, sound familiar? And the moon under her feet. and on her head a crown of 12 stars, and she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain, to give birth. What is going on in this passage? You can turn back to Genesis 37. What Joseph is saying in that dream is, I had a dream. And in my dream, my purpose in the divine plan is to preserve the promise line of God. Joseph represents messianic promise. He represents the glory of Israel. He represents the hope of the world. Joseph sees in this dream a chosen one, one who represents the messianic fulfillment. It's a position of elevation. It's a position of exaltation. He sees it as someone who is lifted up. Someone who will in the end be over the sun, the moon, and the stars. He sees that this person is exalted above everybody else and the promises and the purposes of God find their fulfillment in him. Who is Joseph talking about? He's talking about the same person John is talking about in Revelation chapter 12. He's talking about Jesus Christ. You say, okay, then that means that the woman must be Mary. No, the woman is not Mary, though the Catholics believe that. That's why you will see Mary sometimes depicted in art as clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet and on her head are 12 stars. This can't be Mary. You say, well, then it's the church. No, the woman is not the church. This cannot refer to the church because the church doesn't give birth to Christ, Christ gives birth to the church. We are called a chaste virgin, the bride of Christ, not a pregnant wife. No, the woman is Israel. And the child she gives birth to is Jesus Christ. John is speaking of the incarnation. This means that the Joseph story is about Christmas after all. You could say it's a Christmas miracle. Listen to one writer commenting on this reality. He says, Joseph was rejected by his brethren, Jesus by the Jews, his brethren according to the flesh. Joseph was sold for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites. Jesus was sold by the treachery of Judas for 30 pieces of silver and then handed over to the Gentiles. Joseph was cast into prison. Jesus abode in the grave. Joseph in the prison was able to preach the gospel of deliverance to the butler. Jesus went and preached the gospel to the spirits in prison. The two malfactors of the cross find their counterpart in Joseph's fellow prisoners, one on his right, one on his left. And do you remember what Joseph says to the prisoners when he interprets their dreams? He says what? Remember me. What does the thief on the cross say to Jesus? Remember me. Joseph, though a Hebrew by birth and rejected by his own brethren, nevertheless was raised to supreme power and saved myriads of them from death. Jesus, of Jewish birth and yet disowned by Jews, was nevertheless exalted to the supreme seat of power and is now enthroned in the hearts of myriads of people all around the world. The very name Pharaoh gives to Joseph meant savior of the world. That's our Lord's title. He says we must carry the parallel even further. After Joseph had been some time ruling and blessing Egypt, his very brethren came to him for forgiveness and help. So in the days not far away, we shall see the Jews retracing their steps and exclaiming as thousands are now doing in Israel, Jesus is our brother. He concludes with this, we have now therefore to think of Jesus as seated on his throne, prime minister of the universe, the interpreter of his father's will, the originator and executor of the divine decrees, there's providence. And on his head are many crowns, and on his finger is the ring of sovereignty, and on his loins the girl of power, glistening robes of light envelop him, and this is the cry which precedes him, bow the knee. So what should we do by implication in light of this? I think we should do what Jacob his father does. In verse 11 of Genesis 37, it says his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying, the var, literally the matter, in mind. It's the exact same wording we read about earlier in the service that Luke uses to describe Mary in response to the things which were told her by the shepherds about Christ. It says Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. That's it. That's what we must do. We must keep everything that God is doing and his providence in mind. We must treasure all of it. We must ponder all of it in our hearts, knowing that every single thing that happens in the universe fits perfectly into his will, and all of it points to Jesus Christ. Look, Joseph rode the wave of God's providence his whole life, and all of it pointed to Jesus Christ. It led Joseph to worship. It should lead us to worship. That things come together, things coalesce in Christ in ways that are absolutely stunning. It's coming to a point, as a Christian, where you fully embrace where you are and where God is taking you, knowing that in the end, the goal is to be like Jesus Christ. It's meditating on providence and praising God for his faithfulness. It's rehearsing God's plan and his divine providence, the nature of God and the work of God. This is what we celebrate every Sunday. This is what we celebrate every single day. It's a deep sense of trust in the heart that looks to God for everything and locates Christ in everything. It's that sweet communion with Christ in which you meditate on the nature of who he is and what he is doing in the unfolding of his providence and thanking him for both. Even when it means that you will be hated and you might even end up in a pit. That's our last point, the pit. Let's look at it quickly. Genesis 37, 12. Says, then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, are your brothers not pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come and I will send you to them. And he said to him, I will go. Then he said to him, go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock and bring word back to me. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, what are you looking for? He said, I'm looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing the flock. Then the man said, they have moved from here, for I heard them say, let's go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. They said to one another, here comes this dreamer. Now then come, let's kill him and throw him into one of the pits and we will say a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we will see what becomes of his dreams. So the brothers are feeding the flocks and Dothan and Jacob sends Joseph, his personal spy, to go check on his brothers. By the way, Dothan is 63 miles away. So this was quite a trek for Joseph. And the text says, when they saw him from a distance, and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. He goes on to say, so it came about that when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the very colored tunic that was on him. They hated robe of special favoritism. They say, in essence, remove the robe. It was as if they were saying, take off that fur coat, you are no better than we are. And they took him and they threw him into the pit. Bor, in Hebrew. These were pits that were shaped like bottles. They had a narrow neck big enough for a bucket to go down. The walls of the neck of the pit would be slick masonry. They'd be virtually impossible to get out of once you were shoved down into them. And Joseph would be at the bottom of this pit. It was a deep, dirty pit. He'd be scared. He'd be confused. He'd be frightened. His brothers were done with him. Genesis 41, 21 says he cried out, that he pleaded with them. He begged them, please don't do this. Please don't do this. But there's a detail in the text that we need to get. Did you notice how Moses describes the well, the pit? The text says, now the pit was empty without any water in it. Why the detail of without any water in it? Listen to this, the English divine Henry Law wrote this about the empty pit. He says, he that is God moves the ever moving wheels of circumstances. He says, no sparrow falls, no leaf decays, but in accordance with his ordering mind. He wills and things occur. Chance is a figment of a dreaming pillow. It never was, it never can be. Thus, to the child of God, there is no trifle or unimportant event. Momentous issues often hang on rapid words, on sudden looks, on unintended steps. He says, when Joseph's brothers thirsted for his blood, who caused the pit to hold no water? Answer, God. Listen, God's providence in your life is no doubt gonna be full of pit stops. Because see, God knew that Joseph needed a pit stop if his dreams were going to be fulfilled. If his dreams were gonna become a reality. You know this, God often pushes us into a pit where our only hope of rescue is his providence. Anybody here today in a pit? Anybody here today in a situation that you just can't fix? a hole that you've dug yourself that you just can't get out of, or maybe a hole that someone else has dug for you that you feel like you've been thrown into and you can't get out of, then remember that that pit, that hole, is God's. And it's his providence that will pull you out. Because see, we know how the story of Joseph ends, don't we? Joseph goes from the pit of slavery to the pinnacle of power. And all of it is by God's providence. It's Psalm 41 and 2. I'd write this verse in the margin. Where King David says, I waited patiently on the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit. That phrase, he brought me up out of the horrible pit, indicates that God did not just see what David was going through. He did not just listen as David cried out. He did something about it. He got into the pit with David, with Joseph, and lifted them out. Listen, even though the providence of God is deep, even though at times the providence of God is dark, One writer says the providence of God is often a dark and impenetrable abyss. Even though it's deep, even though it's dark, even though there's seemingly no way of escape, God has provided a light and a ladder to get out. You don't have to be stuck where you are. You don't have to waste your time focusing on where you are or where you think you should be. Remember, the hope we have in Jesus Christ and his providence means a brighter tomorrow. That we are no longer chained to a deep, dark pit, but providence gives us wings to soar out of it. And so Joseph had a dream from God, a coat from his father, and a promise of providence on his life. And his brothers hated him for it. They sold him into slavery. And there, in his master Potiphar's house, he is falsely accused and imprisoned. And while in prison, those whom he helped forgot about him. But ultimately, God raises him to second in command. And his brothers who have wronged him now find themselves afraid that he will use his powerful position to execute vengeance against them. But he doesn't. Why? Because of divine providence. Because he has learned that everything that is happening to him, is by the providence of God. That's why Joseph can say, don't be afraid, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. He says again, so therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke to their hearts. As we close, three lessons. Three lessons we can learn from Joseph's life and divine providence. Number one, divine providence relieves me from fear. Look, if you doubt God's providence in the past, you will fear the future. In other words, unless you can come to terms with the fact that God's providence in the past was exactly right and necessary, you have reason to fear the future. If you don't like the past, if you don't think God was fair to you, if in your mind God has failed you in the past, then you're going to have major problems trusting him for your future. But if you trust God's hand in the past, then you have no fear of the future. This is laid out over and over again in Genesis 50, isn't it? Joseph says, do not be afraid. He says, fear not three times. Do not fear because, see, he trusted the God who led him in the past to lead him in the future. You and I must do the same thing. If we're going to smile at the future, Proverbs 31 says. There's a verse that comes to mind. This is a verse to remember. I'd write it somewhere in your Bible where you'll never forget it and you'll see it over and over and over again. This is divine providence. Joshua 23, 14. It says this. Now behold, today I'm going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed. All has been fulfilled for you. Not one of them has failed. That's a life verse if I've ever heard of one. That's Joshua looking back at his life saying nothing to change. God was faithful. Therefore, I have nothing to fear. Remember, divine providence always looks better in the rear view mirror of life. John Flavel has said divine providence is like Hebrew words. They can only be read backwards. Look every day for the unfolding providence of God in your life. Keep your eyes open. Learn to connect the dots. See the amazing leading of the Spirit of God that unfolds right before your very eyes, because when you do that, you have nothing to fear. Number two, divine providence reweaves evil to good. Famous verse in Genesis chapter 15, verse 20, says, as for you, you meant for evil against me, but God meant it for good. You see that word meant? It's the Hebrew word chashav, which means to weave. Joseph says, you came weaving a tapestry of murderous hatred, jealousy, evil, heartache, and abandonment. He says, you came to me with the intention of shedding my blood, of destroying my life and my family. He says, you put on the loom and you weave a web of wickedness, but God rewove it. He took the very fabric, the very threads that you intended to harm me to weave evil into my life and in his providence, he rewove it into something good. Is that not a glorious principle? That whatever happens in life, whatever people intend, God reweaves it for our good and his glory. Number three, divine providence. reminds me that God loves me. Does anyone here know what this is? It's not a prayer shawl. Does anyone know what this is? Maybe John Bryant can help me or maybe Chris Browns can help me. Do you know what this is? What is it? Invisibility cloak. That's right. And in, it's not really invisible, but when you put it on, I guess you become invisible. It was a Christmas gift to Harry from his father, James. I can hear Ron now, Harry, wake up! Come on, Harry, wake up! The piano playing in the background. Harry wakes up, grabs his glasses, jumps out of bed. He steps out into the hallway and Ron shouts, happy Christmas, Harry! Harry responds, happy Christmas, Ron! What are you wearing? He was wearing a knitted sweater with an R on it. Oh, my mom made it. But it looks like you have one, too. I've got presents? Yeah. Harry runs down the stairs, gets over to the presents, and begins to open the first one. And on top of the present was a note saying, your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time that it be returned to you. Use it well. And then Harry rips open the present, and lo and behold, it's an invisibility cloak. Listen to J.K. Rowling describe the scene. It had been Harry's best Christmas day ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it, the invisibility cloak and whoever had sent it. Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as he had drawn the curtains of his four-poster. Harry leaned over the side of his bed and pulled the cloak out from under it. His father's. This had been his father's. He let the material flow over his hands, smoother than silk, light as air. Use it well, the note said. He had to try it out now. He slipped out of bed and wrapped the cloak around himself, looking down at his legs, and he saw only moonlight and shadows. It was a very funny feeling. Use it well. All that's good, but that's a fairy tale. But did you know that God has left you a Christmas present? And it, too, is an invisibility cloak. And to quote Harry Potter again, it conceals the wearer so absolutely that not even death itself can find them. It's a seamless robe. It's a scarlet robe. It's Jesus' own robe. In John 19.23 it says, then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took their outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one place, so they said, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be. And this was the fulfilled scripture. They divided my garments among them, for my clothing they cast lots. It must have been Jesus' finest possession. I mean, Jewish tradition called for a mother or a father to make such a robe and to present it to their son as a departure gift when he left home. And now think of this. On the cross, he was stripped of his blood-soaked tunic and left to die. And like Joseph, he cried out in agony, but nobody heard and nobody came. And the pit that he fell into was infinitely deeper. And in the end, he lost his father's coat. Do you know why? So that you could be assured that you have it. He gave up the invisibility cloak. In fact, he is the invisible become visible. He was made a public spectacle. He was put to open shame. He was stripped naked of his robe and dignity. He took our punishment so that we could be clothed with a dignity and standing we don't deserve. He did all of that so that you could know that God loves you. is that you can have the assurance that God loves you, and it's when you ask him to accept you, though you've blown it, because of what Jesus has done, you get the coat. You get the invisibility cloak. And you don't have to wait until Christmas to wear it. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for your providence that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Thank you for the joy that comes from knowing that all things are in your hands and there's nothing, no nothing that can snatch us out of it. I pray that during this Christmas season we would be ever mindful of your divine providence. That providence that led to your son being born to live a life that we could never live and die a death that we deserved so that we could get the cloak. Holy Spirit, clothe us today in humility and in hope. Bless us now, I pray, amen.