The Mysterious Ways of the God of Wonders 2
I welcome you back, friends, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to continue the discussion we started last week: The Mysterious Ways of the God of Wonders. And if you recall, we read from Genesis 45. In the interest of those who were not with us then let’s read again.
Genesis 45:3-9
3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry.
PRAYER:
Father, we have come again. And we want to thank You for this privilege we have of hearing Your Word freely in this part of the world. We do not want to take it for granted. We ask now, dear Lord, that You breathe upon Your Word the breath of life, that the people who hear, my friends, be blessed in every respect, in Jesus Name. Amen!
The Mysterious Ways of the God of Wonders!
We saw, last time, that God said that His thoughts are not our thoughts; His ways are not our ways. And I sad this is an indictment of sort, especially for those who have been recreated in the image of God through Christ. Our thoughts should mirror His thoughts; our ways should mirror His ways. But because God is a mysterious God, and the mystery about God is found even in His nature, He’s a being who cannot be touched, a being we cannot see, a being who cannot be fully explained, a being who is infinite – though dealing with finite man; a being who is Spirit – dealing with people who are physical.
And Jesus said in Matthew 11:27 that nobody can know the Father except by revelation or through revelation. So the mysteries of God are so because of who He is and who we are. And I said that the mystery of God I find in the account of the life of Joseph is very very impressive. God had revealed to Joseph when he was a teenager that he had some plans for him in the future, and Joseph did not handle it well. He offended his brothers in the manner in which he related what God revealed to him.
And what do we mean by mystery? We said that mystery is the truth about God: the ways of God – the works of God that we cannot know except by revelation. The mysteries of God stretch beyond human thought, and cannot be known with our divine revelation.
So we saw in the life of Joseph the unveiling of the mysteries of God. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers out of jealousy. And when they sold him into slavery…the first thing they wanted to do was to kill him, but they ended up selling him into slavery. And as they were doing that they said; let’s see how his dreams will be fulfilled. So we saw that Joseph went through so much hardship in Egypt. He was a slave. But God was with him in Potiphar’s house. And then Potiphar’s wife framed him and accused him of rape that he did not commit. And he was put in the dungeon. God was still with him.
The mysteries of God as they unfold, you would see, that this God we worship is the God of heaven and earth. And nobody should trifle with Him. Why did God reveal a catastrophic thing that was going to happen not only to Egypt but the whole of Palestine famine? He revealed it to a heathen king. Why? It was through this dream of the famine that Joseph was released from that dungeon. In Genesis 41 you find the account. Pharaoh was strategically positioned though a heathen king to effect the release. Pharaohs’ dream brought about the fulfillment of Joseph’s dream which came to be fulfilled thirteen years later. It was through Pharaoh’s dream and Joseph’s interpretation of that dream and the counsel he gave to pharaoh that God preserved the lives of the descendants of Abraham in Egypt during this disastrous famine. This last point is the central point in the mystery of God and His revelation, according to this story we are discussing. God literally has a thousand and one ways available to Him to carry out His purposes.
Before I conclude our thought today I want to draw our attention to this popular hymn that I believe many of you know:
- God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
- Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
- His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
The foundation of God’s mysterious ways is His sovereign will. The explanation for God’s mysterious ways lies in the desire that accomplish His sovereign will – not yours – not mine, because God moves in a mysterious way and in mysterious ways.
That which you fear could be the bearer of your blessings. Joseph feared the separation from his brother but especially his beloved father and his younger brother Benjamin. Yet that in the end: that separation was the bearer of his blessing and the blessings of his family. Judging the Lord who moves in a mysterious way by our feeble minds by what we understand or do not understand is the wrong thing to do. Do not judge God’s ways by your little understanding, for God is infinite and you are finite, and there is no way that which is finite can accommodate the infinite. The wise thing to do is to trust God who moves in mysterious ways because hiding behind what you may regard as a frowning providence, hiding behind what you may call a frowning divine direction, is His smiling face. God’s smiling face was hiding behind each of the frowning providences that Joseph experienced. Who knows what your frowning providence is. Behind it God’s smiling face hides. It is a mystery of God that what you detest as a bitter bud opens up into a sweet flower in the end. I am finding out personally that my bitter bud is opening up into a sweet flower.
You are bound to make a serious mistake if you watch the work of God in unbelief for the God who moves in a mysterious way, the God who moves in mysterious ways interprets what He does and makes what He does plain to those who would believe Him. So the key then to seeing and experiencing and enjoying the blessings of the God who moves in mysterious ways to perform His wonders is to believe Him. Some of us are suspicious of God. We don’t understand His ways. And because we don’t understand His ways many a time when He is working even on our behalf we complain and we criticize Him. Do not do that. You should know that God loves you. If He did not love you He will not send His son Jesus Christ into the world for you.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. That is the Word of God.
What a mystery that He would send His Son to die for His enemies because of love. Friend, will you receive Him, the Lord Jesus Christ – and the mysteries of God for your life will unfold. Let it be so for you in the Name of Jesus.
Let me pray for you now.
PRAYER:
Father, again, we have come to the end of our study – of our discussion. And I want to thank You for these friends who have listened. And there in radio land they have various needs. Father, the greatest need is the revelation of you to them. Reveal Yourself to as many as do not know You. Reveal to them the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, meet the various needs they have: needs that are beyond their capacity, no matter who they are or the amount of wealth they may have: the needs that are beyond them. You are able to meet them, and I say dear Lord, in mercy and grace, meet these needs, we pray, in Jesus Name. Amen!