Joseph, Genesis 37

Notes from Jack Abeelen's sermons, Growing Thru Grace:

Joseph

Joseph takes up a lot of real estate in the Bible.
Uniquely loved by Jacob--not good for Joseph at the time but interesting as a typology of Christ.
Coat of many colors may be actually, a coat of "one"---seamless. It was more about the position of authority that he was given by his father.
Hated by his brothers because he was a kind of naive kid---showed coat before brothers, told dad that brothers were not working, kind of clueless
"with"ness was the example in his mind, not "witness"

Providence

"In other words, once you surrender your life to the Lord, you can be assured of the fact that God has a plan for you, and it is one that you will discover as you seek Him – without doubt. Right? That’s the providence of God. Now God will use you if you don’t submit to Him, but it won’t be to your blessing because you won’t have surrendered. But the minute you surrender your life to the Lord, you find the providence of God. By definition, providence is a sovereign God superintending the affairs of my life in such a way that it leads to a predetermined outcome. God has a plan. God wants to get me to a place. God wants to use me to accomplish certain things, and so that becomes the providence of God. And to the extent that I submit myself to God, I find myself fully in the place that God wants me to be." -Jack Abeelen

"Joseph is that kind of guy. And unlike miracles, where God suspends or intervenes or contravenes the natural laws to do something miraculous (special), providence is God utilizing natural laws but working supernaturally naturally within the context of what’s going on. He’s not stopping the clock, He’s not moving the mountain, He’s just very ably leading us without our even being aware of it, sometimes, towards that place where He wants us to be. Miracles see God supernaturally working in an unnatural sense; things that aren’t naturally occurring, God moves those things – miracles." -Jack Abeelen

"But providence is very different. I think if you look back over your life, you can oftentimes see the providence of God when you look backwards. You say, “Oh, I didn’t get that job” or “Oh, I didn’t marry that girl” or “Oh, I didn’t go to that school” or “Oh, I didn’t graduate over there” or “Oh, we moved when we were young,” and you start to look at all that happened and say, “Man, the Lord had a plan for my life!”-Jack Abeelen

Reuben

"You might remember a couple of weeks ago, I think we jumped ahead where Jacob, when he’s about to die, prophesies over all of these boys. In chapter 49:3, he speaks about Reuben, “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. Unstable as water.” (He said, “You can’t ever get the guy to make up his mind. You can’t depend on him, you can’t rely upon him.”) “You shall not excel because you went up to your father’s bed.”

But he’s unstable, so I suspect he’s up one minute, down the next, and now he’s all in with, “Let’s go lie to dad about it.” So this is Reuben to a tee. He hates his brother. He wants him out of the picture. He doesn’t want to kill him. Yet he leaves long enough for his brothers to deal with him. So, if you want to learn anything from Reuben, learn that half-hearted godliness can never withstand active wickedness because he appears to have some kind of halfheartedness, but when wickedness comes his way, he’s overwhelmed by them. He’s unstable as water. Pretty good lesson,

Reuben, for us, as far as – if you’re not a person that’s filled with convictions that are developed as you walk with God, you’re never going to lead anyone. You’re always going to follow someone, and you’re usually going to follow the people you last talked to because you don’t have any personal convictions. You’re just, “Yeah, whatever.” Here you go, kind of walking around. That sums up Reuben, and we’re going to run into quite a few chameleons like Reuben as we go ahead through the Scriptures." -Jack Abeelen


Jacob's sons had very little love for their father--put them through this ruse regarding Joseph for 13 years.

Never become envious of another person's place---if there is envy or self seeking, this comes from below not above (James).  "All things work together for good" is more than to just cover disappointment.  Joseph doesn't see God for a way out, he just sees God.  God's providential good.