Turning Our Crisis into an Opportunity - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, November 11th. Most of us think of opportunities in pleasant wrappings, but they can also arrive dipped in pain and heartache.

Today's podcast looks at the Old Testament story of Joseph to show how God's gifts can take an unexpected shape. How do you respond when you're facing a crisis in life? There are all kinds of crises. Sometimes they're painful.

Sometimes they're costly. Sometimes they're very surprising, they come upon us. How do you respond? If you respond the right way, you can profit by it. If you respond the wrong way, then you find yourself paying a big price. Well, the message today should be very, very encouraging because there is a proper way to respond.

And what's the basis of a right response? Well, in this passage of Scripture, the life of Joseph is a perfect example of the right kind of responses in time of crisis. And the fact, instead of focusing on the crisis itself, the issue is what is my opportunity in the middle of this crisis? And today there are probably more people facing a crisis in our country than ever before in many, many years. So, how do we face it? How do we respond to it? We could be angry and bitter and hostile.

We could blame God or blame someone else. Is there a better way? Yes. Is there a way to profit in the midst of a painful crisis?

Yes, there is. So, I want you to turn, if you will, to the thirty-seventh chapter of the book of Genesis. Because this is the beginning of the life of Joseph as recorded in the Scripture. And the truth is, not going to read much of this because if you read all of it, it would go all the way to the fiftieth chapter because that last section of Genesis is all about the life of Joseph. There are not very many people in the Bible that nothing is said negative about them, but Joseph is certainly one of those leaders about which there is nothing negative said.

And I just want to begin reading by a few verses in this thirty-seventh chapter. Now, Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan. These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen 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 Zelphah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. Now, Israel loved Joseph more than all the sons because he was a son of his old age, and he made him a very colored coat, a tunic.

His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all the brothers, and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms. Now, I want to simply begin by saying, I want us to look at seven major crises in Joseph's life. And then I want you to see how he responded and how each one of these crises prepared him for some area in his future life. Because God's still doing the same thing. When He allows a crisis in our life, He allows it for a purpose. And if we respond properly, then what I experience today in a crisis, if I respond correctly, will prepare me for another crisis that's coming along.

And what happens is that each one builds upon the other, and the natural response ought to be that our faith should grow, our confidence in God should grow, and our confidence in ourselves as far as the way to respond. So, as we look at these crises, I want to begin with the first one, which is the fact that he grew up in a family where in that thirty-seventh chapter, three times it says they hated him. They hated him. They hated him.

He couldn't do anything right. He was always a subject of ridicule, of rejection. And so, that was the kind of family he grew up in.

Not just society, but that was his close, intimate family, absolutely hated by his brothers. Because they said, well, the Father has been prejudiced on him and made him this coat of many colors, as we would say. So, he'd had this dream, and this dream indicated that one day, all of them would bear down to him. Well, there's enough turmoil in this family already, and enough hatred, and then he says, one of these days, here's where it's going to be.

All these sheaves, my sheaves in the middle, all these going to bow down, mine's going to stand up straight. Well, that just made them hate him that much more. So, the issue is, how did he respond? How did he respond to living in a close family with eleven brothers, and all of them hated him? Well, he could have said, it's your fault. He could have blamed them, he could have been resentful, hostile, angry, told his dad, and a whole lot of things he could have done.

But here's what happened. He responded rightly, which means that he took the opportunity to learn how to live in that kind of a situation where there was no love, no admiration, and no encouragement. He took the opportunity to learn how to respond to that, and to respond to them without growing bitter, resentful, hostile, angry, and taking out vengeance upon them.

No indication of that at all. Now, the important thing about that was this. That was very, very important to what was going to happen to him later on when he found himself in a situation where normally that's the kind of thing he would have felt.

So, his first crisis was just growing up in that kind of a family and learning how to respond to that situation. Well, the second crisis he faced was that his father sent him over to Shechem to check on the brothers and see how the flock was going and so forth. And so, when they saw that he was coming, they just decided this was a good time to take care of him, so we'll just kill him. So, they stripped him of his garments and you remember they killed an animal and put the blood on the garment and took it back to the father and said, you know, poor Joseph, he's been killed by some animal and so forth. And so anyway, they throw him in a pit. They threw him in a pit to leave him there to die.

And it was deep enough he couldn't get out. And so, here he was, helpless and hopeless, leaving him to die, but he had a dream. And that dream was that one day all his brothers would bow down to him and what was happening in that period of time while he was in the pit, he was learning something and he found himself absolutely, totally dependent upon God. Only God could get him out of that. Well, because he had the right attitude about it and because he took advantage of the opportunity to trust God in this helpless, hopeless situation, what he didn't know was that God was preparing him for a time when he would be in a similar situation, much worse. And yet, God would be there to rescue him no matter what. You see, oftentimes we forget that one crisis in our life is oftentimes preparation for enabling us to go through something worse.

And the truth is, if you'll think about it, how do we grow? We grow in the Christian life by facing one trial after the other. One heartache, one hardship. And oftentimes, if you'll think about it, we don't think it's fair, but God does. That it seems that, well, if I survive this one, why should this one be so much more difficult? And if I survive this one, God, it ought to get easier and easier. How many of you have asked, you don't have to tell me, how many of you have said to God, why doesn't it get easier somewhere along the way?

Because what makes us grow is the testing and the trial. And you see, the greater the test, the greater the trial, it's like we just keep pushing and pushing or He does and we just grow up and up and up and we don't like it, but at the same time, something good's going on. So, now He's thrown in the pit. So, His brother comes along and says, no, there's no way we're going to kill Him. Let's sell Him to these caravans that are going by. And so, they decide to sell Him as a slave into Egypt.

So, this was another crisis. Here He is going further and further away from His family in Canaan. He's going to be sold as a slave. That means He's a nobody and that He'll be lost in the civilization that was absolutely foreign, totally foreign to them. So, think about it. He could have fought against His captors.

He could have gotten very belligerent and blaming them and wondering where God was or take the opportunity. I'm going to Egypt. I'm going to learn what Egypt's about. I'm going to, if I'm a slave, I'm going to learn their language. I'm going to learn their ways. I'm going to learn how they operate. That is, I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity somehow in some way.

God's going to work me out of this, which was also preparation for another event that was coming in His life. So, when He gets to Egypt, they put Him on the block to sell Him. And of all the people that would buy Him would be the man who is the chief bodyguard. He's captain of the bodyguard of Pharaoh himself.

And so, he buys, purchases Joseph and puts him in his household. But, you see, he's already been learning a little bit as he's coming along. And now, he could see himself as a slave or he could see himself with a tremendous opportunity. He could learn the language of the Egyptians. He could learn how the upper class in Egypt operate and live. He could learn about their wealth. He also learned how to be a leader. He learned how to manage. Because finally, Potiphar said, You've done so well, I'm going to put you in charge of my whole household. So, he comes as a slave, as a nobody. And now, he's the number one person in the family, apart from the intimate family themselves. And he's overseeing all of Potiphar's business, his belongings, everything.

He's in charge. So, what was God doing? God once again was preparing him for something that was ahead. And if we can get that in our thinking, that whatever I'm going through today is preparation for something I'm going to face tomorrow. If you get that attitude and you begin to operate on that basis, then things begin to change in the way you see them. So, he saw this as a wonderful opportunity.

And watch this. Every time he took advantage of the opportunity, he came out winning. He came as a slave, but his attitude was right.

Because you don't, there's no indication that it wasn't. And so, what happens? It wasn't an accident that the captain of the bodyguard of Pharaoh happened to be the man who purchased him. So, now he is in Potiphar's household and everything's going better.

And then what happens? The next crisis he meets is Potiphar's wife. And so, she began to woo him and try to seduce him every way possible. She could have destroyed him. The truth is he could have destroyed himself. But here's what he saw. He saw this as an opportunity to discover about himself, his weaknesses and his strengths. And he said to her, Your husband has placed everything in this household in my possession. He said, He has given me everything in this household but you.

And I cannot prove to be unfaithful to God and disobey Him. That crisis was an awesome opportunity for him to discover his own strength, his own faithfulness, his own loyalty, his own devotion, no matter what the price would be. And he knew there had to be a price because she, of course, accused him and he got thrown in jail. And so, you see, every time you and I are tempted by something, it is also an opportunity for us to find out something about ourselves, whether it is a moral temptation or a financial temptation or temptation about some relationship or whatever it might be.

You see, there's also an opportunity. And the opportunity for him was that he could demonstrate to her that his allegiance and loyalty to God superseded every other desire in his life. He had all of Potiphar's household. He didn't have her. More important than having everything was to have his relationship to God to be right.

How very important it was. Because that too would provide basis for something else that was going to happen in his life. So, following that, of course, he gets thrown into prison. So, now we're into the next phase of his crisis. And when he's thrown into prison, he could have said, Well, God, at this point in my life, had to be in his twenties by now. At this point, I've done exactly what you've said do.

I've been obedient to you. He could have blamed God. He could have blamed everybody.

But you know what? It wasn't very long before he was in charge of the prison. Why?

Watch this carefully. Because he had the right attitude. In other words, God has allowed me here, what is my opportunity now? What was my opportunity in Potiphar's household? To learn and to be submissive to those in authority over me. And to learn how to manage, learn how to rule. And now in prison, what kind of opportunity can that be? Well, they put all the prisoners under his charge. And so, now he's learning how to be authoritative. But he's also learning how, watch this, to treat other people right. Because you see, he grew up in a family.

They didn't treat him right. He knew what rejection and pain and suffering and heartache and feeling like you're a nobody and that you don't count. In fact, I'm not too sure that there are many emotions in life, if any, that has the depth of pain that rejection has. Every divorce, every separation, every separation of kids in their family, whatever it might be. The feelings of being rejected, especially by somebody that you love or somebody that is meaningful to you and somebody very important to you. It is a very, very painful, indescribable, painful emotion.

And so, he knows that. And so, when he's head of the prison, I am sure that all those experiences he'd had back home and the way he was treated and the way they just absolutely, totally tried to destroy him. How would he respond in prison? He would take the opportunity to do what?

To express genuine caring. Because you see, he was there, not because of something he had done, but because he was falsely accused. Have you ever been really falsely accused of something?

It's a very painful feeling when you know that you've done what's right and somebody else accused you of doing something wrong. So, how did he respond? He responded, I believe, in a caring way for those prisoners. Because, you see, his past crisis had made it possible for him to respond in the right way.

Then, of course, he's in prison. And you remember the two gentlemen who worked for Pharaoh, the baker and the cupbearer. Both of them had dreams. And one of them was restored and the other one was not. The baker was hanged.

And so, you know, it's just one crisis after the other. Then one morning he wakes up and they come to him and they say, you need to get a shower and get dressed up here. You're going before Pharaoh himself. Well, what was all of that? Well, that meant his death or whatever it meant. And so, they dress him up and what's happened is that Pharaoh has had this dream. You remember the dream about the cows?

The lean cows and the fatted cows and the lean stalks and the heavy stalks of corn. And so, he's had this dream and all of his sous-sales and so forth, they couldn't interpret it. So, the butler says, there was a man in prison when I was, he was a Hebrew. And he interpreted my dream.

So, Pharaoh calls for him. Well, what did that mean? He didn't have an idea what that meant, but it was a wonderful opportunity.

Now watch this. He said, I'm not an interpreter, but he will. He can interpret your dream. And so, he told him the dream. And Joseph interpreted the dream because Joseph had the awesome privilege and opportunity to present his God, this Hebrew God Jehovah, to confront all the heathen gods of Egypt. So, he interpreted the dream. And Joseph interpreted the dream and said, there'll be seven years of awesome bounty. Seven years of absolute nothing.

Nothing is going to grow. And the wisest thing for you to do is to, in these first seven years, plan for the next seven years. And so, when he got through talking to Pharaoh, Pharaoh asked the question, well, what man is there in all of Egypt as wise as this man? And he said, well, what man is there in all of Egypt as wise as this man? And he said, well, what man is there in all of Egypt as wise as this man? And he conveyed him second only to himself. He said, he'll ride in the second chariot. And he said, no one will lift a hand in all of Egypt without Joseph's permission.

Now think about this. When he was at home, he didn't know anything about ruling over something else. He served faithfully Potiphar. He learned how to manage. And now he has the very awesome position of being able to rule over all of those who had ruled over him.

What was his attitude in this time? Looking to the Father, trusting Him. He had a dream and he was believing that what God had shown him would be true one day.

And he said, I believe that God is who He says He is. Do I believe that God works the way He says He does? Do I believe that God loves me enough to personally involve Himself in my life? Do I believe when I don't understand, He understands me? Do I believe with all my heart that God has a plan and a will for my life?

Yes. Do I believe with all my heart that in every circumstance there's an opportunity for me to grow in my Christian life or to prosper in other ways? It all boils down to your faith.

It all boils down to the fact, do I believe what is true is really true? Because that's the way we're going to respond. Thank you for listening to Turning Our Crisis into an Opportunity. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.