I am currently working on my third sermon in a series on the life of Joseph, Genesis 37 and following (although I think I may skip Genesis 38, because the passage I am working on now and the passage that comes in Genesis 39 work very well together for sermon themes, and Genesis 38 deals with Judah and Tamar, not Joseph). The passage this week is Genesis 37:12-36, in which Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery. The text ends with these words: "Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard" (NIV).
What a cliff-hanger ending. This comes just after Jacob (now called Israel) is mourning over Joseph as if he had no more children. And then the passage ends on this slim glimmer of hope. It occurred to me in the process of reading and studying this passage that I wish I was reading it for the first time. As it stands now, I know how it ends, I know how things turn out, and so there is no suspense in it for me anymore. But if I was going through this for the first time? It would be great. Too bad I am not a good story-teller.
However, while I do not have the suspense I would otherwise have, I do have the benefit of seeing the big picture, and thus understanding much more about this account of the history of the people of Israel much better than if I really was reading it for the first time. Instead of suspense, I see the great and awesome beauty of how the Lord works in his creation to fulfill his plan of salvation. Instead of wondering how it will end, I can wonder that a God, who by all accounts would have been totally just to have destroyed all of his creation once it sinned against him in Adam and Eve, does not do so, but instead uses sinful, weak human beings--those who sinned against him in the first place--to carry out his plans. What a glorious thing to see.
The more I work on sermons, the more I delve deep into the riches of God's revelation to us his people, the more I stand in awe and amazement at the God who does all of this for his people, and for his glory.
At least I have that compensation: while I do not have the suspense anymore, my reading has matured, and so have I through the reading of God's Word, and the work of his Holy Spirit.
2 comments:
hey, you could blog about your exciting, stressful, tiring day with a rambunctious three -year-old! :)
thanks again, i hope you had as much fun as we did!
I could, but it would be a boring post. Evan was great, and not that rambunctious. He played with (or around, at least) Callum, we sat and read stories while Callum napped.
It was a good day. I even got a bit of reading done! Not much, but a bit nonetheless.
And it was no problem.
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