GENESIS SERMON SERIES

                         But God…

                                           Genesis 50: 15-26

 

 Pastor Robyn Hogue                 August 31, 2014            Skyline Presbyterian Church

 

There is an ancient Chinese story of an old farmer who had an old horse to work his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills and when all the farmer’s neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” 

A week later the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?” 

Then, when the farmer’s son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” 

Some weeks later the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer’s son with his broken leg they let him off. Now was that good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?

Christian therapist Wayne Oates wrote in his book entitled Luck, A Secular Faith that the majority of modern people across the world no longer believe in a purposeful, intervening, directing God. Instead, luck has become the way of explaining what comes our way. 

Most people of faith are not willing to go quite so far, but they will go along for a bit of the ride. Do I dare ask for a show of hands on how many people here this morning have bought lottery tickets? We hear about lottery prizes that reach astonishing figures for one winner. And despite the ridiculous odds against winning (something on the order of getting struck by lightning...5,000 times in a row), millions play them, all hoping for luck to smile on them this time. Week after week intelligent Washingtonians play numbers based on their birthdays or the ages of their dogs when they died. All very “scientific,” don’t you think? 

Speaking of science, Blaise Pascal observed while science shows there is “probability,” there is nothing in nature that could be called “chance.” No doubt this is part of what was behind Einstein’s statement, “I don’t believe that God plays dice with the universe.” 

God and luck? Did you know that the word “luck” never appears anywhere in the scriptures? Odd, in a way, since it was a popular concept in the ancient world. Pagans were always ascribing things to the Fates, those celestial women who sat at their spinning wheel in the heavens and, when their thread broke, so did the lives of some poor mortal on earth. Our lives, said Homer, are mere playthings of the gods. It is all a matter of luck, fate, chance. And what can anyone do? 

Sometime back, the National Safety Council urged news organizations to stop speaking of “accidents” on our highways. Rather, they thought it more accurate to speak of “crashes.” If you are doing ninety on I90 outside of Ellensburg and have a wreck, is this really an “accident?” 

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why luck has become so popular – if we can say, “It was just bad luck,” we are absolved of responsibility for our lives. If it’s all up to good or bad luck, well, don’t blame me. Roll the dice and take your chances. 

There are several stories in scripture that sound like they fit right in with this mindset. God’s people cast lots (something very much like throwing dice or drawing straws) to make decisions. But even though they sound very much like a reliance on luck, in each case, it was just the opposite—the “gamblers” were counting on God making the divine known through the way the lot would fall. These were not gambles but a demonstration of supreme faith, faith that God would intervene. 

The brief passage from Genesis 50 is the climax of one of those stories. Joseph says to his brothers, “Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” (verses 19-20)

If you were to count all the places in scripture where the phrase “but God…” appears and use them to teach divine providence, even in the face of monstrous malevolence, you would discover that the phrase “but God…” appears 43 times. Over and over it comes as God responds to some failure or folly and instead works a blessed outcome. 

By the time we encounter “but God…” in the Genesis narrative Joseph is nearing the end of a most fascinating life. As we recall, young Joseph was his father’s favorite son, a bitter enough pill for his brothers to swallow, but the boy did everything he could to rub their faces in it, and the result was that his fed-up siblings took matters into their own hands and sold him into slavery. (And you thought you had a dysfunctional family!) To make a long story short, the Pharaoh had an eye for talent and made our Hebrew hero the Prime Minister of Egypt - from the jail house to the penthouse. Not bad for a bratty kid who had been sold into slavery by his brothers! 

As a famine settles on the Near East Jacob tells his sons to go to Egypt to buy some grain. They do and in the process meet Joseph, only they do not know it is Joseph. It happens twice. Finally, Joseph reveals his true identity. The brothers are shocked and rightly scared. It is payback time! But Joseph does not do that. In fact, he stuns them with these words:

“And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.” (Genesis 45: 5-8)

The story goes on. The brothers go back home and tell their aged father that Joseph is still alive. He cannot believe it, but eventually they convince him to come to Egypt with them. He makes the trip and is reunited with the son he had given up for dead so many years ago. Then he meets the Pharaoh who offers to let Joseph’s family settle in for as long as they like. The family moves to Egypt and lives in peace there for many years. Finally Jacob dies at the old age of 147. 

As we enter the scene today it is just Joseph and his brothers. Again they fear retribution. With Father Jacob gone, brother Joseph will be free to take his revenge. So they tell Joseph, “Oh, by the way, before Dad died he told us to tell you to treat us kindly.”         Uh huh. 

Listen again to Joseph’s gracious response. These are the words of a man who understands the provision of God: “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:19-20) All the while his brothers thought they were doing Joseph in. But theirs’ was not the only doing. God was working behind the scenes weaving even their evil into good purposes. 

Can you think of other stories from scripture that demonstrate the same thing? Of course, you can. The most famous of all is the one we celebrate in Christian churches over and over and over again. We gather on the first day of the week for worship because we recall another first day of the week, another “BUT GOD…” event. Listen to the way Peter describes it in his sermon in Jerusalem on Pentecost: 


“[People] of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. BUT GOD raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. (Acts 1)


To be sure, the story of Jesus, the cross and the tomb, say very loudly, despite our belief in God’s providence, that everything that happens is not good. Not at all. Horrible things happen but our faith has the rest of the story. In the words of the apostle Paul: “We know God is working for good in all things [...even the terrible things…like the cross].”(Romans 8:28)

There is no such thing as luck. What there is, is “providence,” the providing care and guidance of God over God’s creatures. We can see providence in our lives, but usually only in the rearview mirror. It is difficult to speak of God’s guidance in terms of what happens to us in the moment or what will happen to us tomorrow, but, with the benefit of hindsight, we are more able to discern the loving hand of the Lord in that which has happened to us in the past. 

Augustine described it this way: when you first consider your life, it looks like nothing but a bunch of chicken tracks in the mud of a barnyard, going this way and that. But through the eyes of faith, we begin to observe pattern, meaning, and direction.

As we leave here from week to week, you know I do not wish you “Good luck!” Rather, I try to remind you of God’s providence, God’s provision and presence in your life. We say goodbye, which is simple shorthand for “God be with you,” or adieu in French or adios in Spanish, which as you language scholars well know are both “God be with you.” Remember this if you remember nothing else about this day: as we go out into the world, we do not go alone; we go with each other, and our God goes with us to work God’s ways for good.