RECAP
Intro: What it Means to be
Blessed
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God gives us
blessings, produces blessings, and promises blessings.
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We as people
tend to focus on material blessings more than God does.
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God has given
us blessings, but how much stuff we have is not the best way for us to measure
God’s blessing in our life.
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The truth is
that we ARE blessed— blessed with every spiritual blessing.
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We have access
to the blessing of God.
- However, we must walk in them in order to experience His blessings the way He intended for us.
Part 1: Delighting in God’s
Word
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There is a
blessing when we delight in God’s Word.
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Blessed is the
man who refuses to listen to the voice of the world.
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Blessed is the
man who delights (values) God’s Word
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Blessed is the
man who meditates on God’s Word
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Blessed is the
man who obeys God’s Word
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That person
will be blessed: stable, sustained, fruitful, enduring, and prosperous.
- Walking in God’s ways is the closest thing to heaven on this side of it.
Part 2: Walking in Integrity
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Integrity
means wholeness—being the same person publicly and privately.
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Integrity is
not perfection. When people of integrity fail, they admit it, repent, and make
it right.
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Through
integrity, we are building the life we will live in tomorrow. Our words,
decisions, and actions eventually become our foundation.
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God connects
integrity with His blessing: His favor, His vindication, and a generational
blessing upon our children.
- Never sacrifice what God has promised tomorrow for what compromise can give you today.
Part 3: Making God our
Refuge
- A refuge is
a place that we run to in times of trouble.
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We make God our refuge when we stay close to Him and by
declaring that the Lord is our fortress and our defense.
- God promises protection over our
life, even the things we don’t see coming.
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He also promises His personnel of angels concerning us to
watch over us.
- God promises to be present with us, answer us, and deliver us in times of trouble.
Part 4: Living Generously
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God chose someone who needed a blessing to give them an
opportunity to become a blessing.
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Your need does not disqualify you from being used by God to
be a blessing.
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Your need is the soil by which God uses to bring blessings
into your life.
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When we live generously, God frees us from fear and leads us
to faith in God.
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God will sustain you with what you need as you meet the
needs of others.
- As we refresh others, God will refresh us with blessings on our life.
Introduction
I love the game of basketball. I coach a team that my daughter plays on. If you have ever been to one of our practices, you would see that there are certain parts that our players enjoy. They love shooting, working on their moves, and especially love scrimmaging. However, NOBODY enjoys the moment when one of our coaches blow the whistle and says, “everybody get on the line!”
You can tell that after a while shoulders start sagging, their legs get tired, their lungs begin burning, and they wonder how much longer they will have to run. In that moment, conditioning can feel like punishment. But a good coach knows that they are not trying to hurt their players. They are preparing them for the moment when the game becomes difficult.
Eventually, they will find themselves in the fourth quarter—tired, under pressure, and tempted to quit. When that moment comes, they will need the endurance that was developed during conditioning. The part of practice they enjoyed the least may become the very thing they need the most.
Life has a way of feeling the same way. We enjoy life when prayers are being answered, when doors are opening, and everything seems to be working. However, we all experience seasons if difficulty, hurt, and times we wonder how much more we can take. What we don’t realize is that the very thing we want God to take away is the very thing God is using to prepare us for what’s ahead.
James 1:12 — “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial…”
God considers the person who endures hardship as a believer “blessed.” The Bible never promises that blessed people never experience hardship. It says there is a blessing connected to enduring hardship faithfully. However, if we misunderstand hardship, we will respond to it incorrectly. Just as a player can mistake conditioning for punishment, we can misinterpret what is happening during the difficult seasons of our lives.
As we go through this message, we will be looking at the life of Joseph to help pull principles from his story that help reveal the purpose of hardship in our life. But before we do that, we need to confront some of the myths that are commonly believed in America.
Myths About Hardship
Myth 1: If I am
living right, life should go right
•
We assume good
choices will protect us from any bad experiences.
• While wise choices can keep us from unnecessary trouble, obedience does not guarantee an easy life.
John 16:33 — “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
• Truth: Faithfulness does not make us exempt from living in a broken world.
Myth 2:
Hardship is punishment from God
•
Sometimes
hardship results from our choices.
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However, not
every hardship is God correcting us.
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Hardship can come
from another person’s actions.
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Hardship can come
from the brokenness of the world.
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Hardship can come
from circumstances beyond our control.
Truth: Don’t be quick to assume that you did something wrong when
experiencing hardship.
Myth 3:
Hardship means God has abandoned me.
•
When
circumstances become difficult, we may assume that God has left us.
•
But throughout
Joseph’s hardship, Scripture repeatedly
makes the same statement: “The
Lord was with Joseph.” — Genesis 39:2, 21, 23
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God was with
Joseph when he served in Potiphar’s house.
•
God was with him
when he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife.
•
God was with him
while he sat in prison.
•
Joseph’s circumstances changed, but God’s
presence did not.
Truth: God’s presence is not
determined by the level of our circumstances.
Principles for Enduring Hardship
With that said, today we are going to be looking at the life of Joseph as an example on how to endure hardship. Joseph was seventeen years old when God gave him a dream about his future. However, his journey toward reaching that dream looked nothing like he expected. His brothers hated him, threw him into a pit, and sold him into slavery. He became a servant in Egypt, was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, and was sent to prison. Even after helping Pharaoh’s cupbearer, Joseph was forgotten.
Joseph could not control what happened to him, but he could control how he responded. Today we are going to look at 4 principles on enduring hardship, according to the life of Joseph.
Principle 1: God is with you through hardship
Joseph faced many trials during his journey to the palace. However, the defining truth was that the Lord was with Him. The Lord was with him in Potiphar’s house (Genesis 39:2), He was with him in the prison (Genesis 39:21), and he was with Him throughout his time of hardship. Although Joseph faced difficult seasons, He was never alone.
There are times in our life where God delivers us from the hardship. Amen for that! However, other times He walks with us through the hardship. Either way, we are not alone. Let that encourage you! We imagine that if we are facing difficulty that we did something wrong. However, God is right there with us every step of the way.
Psalm 23:4 — “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…”
Principle 2: Remain faithful where you are
Through everything Joseph faced, he was faithful in every situation. He served faithfully in Potiphar’s house. He served faithfully in prison. He managed whatever was placed in his hands, even though he was not the position he had dreamed about. Joseph did not wait until he reached the palace to become faithful. He was faithful right where he was as a servant and a prisoner before he was ever made ruler over Egypt.
There is a temptation for us to complain about where
we are in difficult seasons. Some people are waiting for the storm to pass by
before they begin doing what God has called them to do. However, it is
important that we remain faithful even during difficulty like Joseph. No doubt
that hardship is a test!
Principle 3: Do not allow hardship to change your character
Joseph was constantly treated unfairly. He was betrayed by his brothers, falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife, and was forgotten by the cupbearer. Joesph had every reason to become angry, dishonest, or bitter. But Joseph refused to allow what happened around him to corrupt what God was developing within him. When Potiphar’s wife attempted to seduce him, Joseph responded:
Genesis 39:9 — “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
Joseph believed that his circumstances did not have to change his convictions.
We don’t get to choose what circumstances we go through. However, we do have a choice how we will go through those circumstances. We must holdfast to our convictions in God’s Word and choose to honor God no matter the situation. As I mentioned before, it is a test! That is what it means to endure hardship. Don’t allow what happened to you to determine who you become.
Principle 4: Trust God with the outcome
Joseph never tried to force himself into a better situation. Joseph could not force Pharaoh to notice him even if he wanted to. He couldn’t open the prison doors nor could he determine how long his season would last. Nevertheless, Joseph’s job was not to find a way out of his circumstances. Instead, Joseph’s responsibility was to remain faithful. The outcome belonged to God.
At the right time, Pharaoh had a dream no one could interpret. The cupbearer finally remembered Joseph, and Joseph was brought out of prison. In a single day, God moved Joseph from the prison to the palace. But that moment came after years of quiet faithfulness.
Psalm 105:19 — “Until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.”
If we are not careful, we will spend time trying to figure out how to get out of our circumstances. However, many times God is needing for us to remain faithful. You may not be able to control when your circumstances change, but you can choose to trust God until they do. At the end of the day, your responsibility is faithfulness; the outcome belongs to God.
The Blessings of Enduring Hardship
James 1:12 — “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial…”
James 1:2 — “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”
God’s Word reveals that enduring hardship brings about blessing in your life. So let’s discover what some of those blessings are:
1.
Endurance
Produces Spiritual Maturity
James 1:2-4 — “The
testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work
so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing”
Hardship matures us in ways that comfort cannot. It teaches us patience,
strengthens our character, deepens our faith in God, and develops spiritual
stability. While we are asking God to change our circumstances, God is using
our circumstances to change us.
The blessing: We become stronger, wiser, and more spiritually mature.
2.
Endurance
Produces a Proven Faith
1 Peter 1:6-7 — “6 In
all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven
genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even
though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ
is revealed.”
Hardship has a way of strengthening our faith. It reveals what is already in
us. One of the best things to come from it is a faith that has been tested and
has been strengthened. Many times, we do not know how strong we are until we
are tested. That is the only way we grow. The same is truth with our faith. A
tested faith is one that has struggled and still chosen to trust God.
The blessing: We come out of hardship with a deeper confidence in God’s faithfulness.
3.
Endurance
Carries an Eternal Reward
James 1:12 — “Blessed is the one who
perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive
the crown of life…”
It is important to understand that when James uses the word “trial,” he is
referring to hardship that the Jewish Christians were facing at that time.
There were scattered among many different nations and were facing many
difficulties, including being mistreated due to their faith in Christ. However,
James wanted to encourage these believers to persevere because of the blessing
awaiting them. That blessing was the crown of life.
When we endure hardship, it reveals the genuineness of our faith. James tells
us that we must stand through the test and trials we face. The truth is that
not every hardship will be fully explained in this life. Not every loss will be
restored exactly as we hope. But God promises that our faithfulness will never
be wasted. There is an eternal reward waiting for everyone who continues
following Christ through every trial.
The blessing: God sees, remembers, and will eternally reward our
faithfulness.
The players running during conditioning cannot always see how those difficult moments are preparing them. They only know that they are tired, uncomfortable, and ready for it to end. But the coach can see the game ahead.
In the same way, we cannot always see what God is preparing us for through the difficult seasons we walk through. We only know that we are tired and want the season to change. But God sees what we cannot see. He sees the fourth quarter. He sees the responsibility ahead. He sees the people our testimony will one day help. He sees the completed story.
Joseph could not see the palace from the pit. He could not see the purpose from the prison. But God was present in every situation, using every season to prepare Joseph for what was ahead. God is doing the same thing in your life as well.
TAKEAWAYS:
I.
Don’t
interpret hardship as God being absent
II.
Don’t
allow your circumstances to change your character
III.
God
lets nothing go to waste
IV.
Today’s
hardship is preparing you for tomorrow’s purpose
