God’s grace, peace and
mercy be with you. … My sermon title is Joseph’s Three D’s: Dreams,
Divine Providence and Daily Prayer, and my focus is Genesis 45:3-15. Let us
pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they
said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our
feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may
your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus
loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
I must admit that I
have strange dreams almost nightly. Mine seem stranger than any science fiction
movies I have ever seen, and although the characters in them are familiar to
me, the people are in the most unfamiliar settings. For one who used to study
dreams and their meaning, today I wake and think how odd and meaningless they
are.
People do have dreams
that lead to creative works. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was inspired by a
dream. Robert Louis Stevenson
dreamed the plot for his famous novel Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Keith Richards dreamed the song I Can’t Get No Satisfaction. He said
that he ran through it once before falling asleep. When he listened to it in
the morning, there was about two minutes of acoustic guitar before you could
hear him drop the pick and then him snoring for the next forty minutes. Paul
McCartney dreamed the melody to his song, Yesterday. Director James
Cameron dreamed The Terminator. Elias Howe dreamed the original sewing
machine. Dmitri Mendeleev dreamed the Periodic Table, and Neils Bohr discovered
the atom through a dream. Most of us have heard Martin Luther King’s dream
speech, but probably the most famous and widely known dreams are those of
Joseph.
To appreciate our
reading today, we must turn the page back to chapter 37. There we read that in
his dreams, Joseph saw 11 plants bowing down to him. He also saw 11 stars and
the sun and the moon bowing down to him. Joseph interpreted this as his 11
brothers bowing down to him. This did not endear Joseph to his brothers, who
were already jealous because he was Jacob’s favorite son, and wore a special
multi-colored coat given to him by his father.
After telling his
brothers these dreams, they bound him and threw him in a well, but rather than
letting him perish there, they sold him into slavery to some Ishmaelites on their
way to Egypt. There, through a series of unfortunate events, Joseph was
imprisoned, where he met two other inmates: the pharaoh’s cupbearer and a
baker, whose dreams he interpreted accurately.
The cupbearer
remembered Joseph when the pharaoh’s magicians could not interpret his dream of
seven lean cows devouring seven fat cows. Called to interpret the pharaoh’s
dreams, Joseph explained that after seven years of bounteous crops, Egypt would
face seven lean years. Based on Joseph’s interpretation, Egypt stored their
surplus of those first seven years so it could survive the oncoming seven-year
drought.
For this, the pharaoh
named Joseph Egypt’s prime minister, gave him a gold seal of authority, and life
was good. He was a wonderful man whom everybody loved, and wherever he went
they cheered him.
Meanwhile, a famine blighted
the rest of the Middle East. Jacob sent 10 sons to Egypt because he knew that
the country had stored grain. He did not send Benjamin, the youngest, and gave
the others enough money to exchange it for grain. That’s where we pick up
today’s passage.
Because the ten
brothers did not recognize Joseph, he was able to treat them harshly and
kindly. He imprisoned them, and then gave them food and their own money before
they left for Canaan, but warned them that they could only return to Egypt to
buy more food if they brought the youngest brother, Benjamin, which they eventually
did against the wishes of Jacob.
Joseph again treated
them kindly and harshly. He provided a feast, gave them grain, and returned
their money. He let them leave for Canan, but secretly had a guard slip
Joseph’s cup into Benjamin’s bag before they left. Joseph had them stopped,
searched, and arrested Benjamin as his servant.
Unable to control
himself before his brothers, Joseph dismissed the Egyptians before revealing
himself as their brother. They were dismayed, dumbfounded, speechless, stunned
and terrified. This man revealed himself as the brother they sold into slavery.
They told their father that Joseph had been torn apart by wild beasts. I too
would be terrified.
As Joseph spoke, he
revealed to them not only his identity, but also the fact that God sent him
ahead of them to keep their families alive and to save them in a wonderful way.
In other words, Divine Providence changed the course of events for Joseph and
his brothers. A dream comes true. That brings me to my second point, Divine
Providence.
Divine Providence is
not a phrase found in the vocabulary of most people, including Missouri Synod
Lutherans. I used it frequently when I was chaplain for the Sisters of Divine
Providence, but other than that, it’s not one of my top ten phrases. That said,
what do we mean by the phrase Divine Providence?
Divine
providence is the activity of God whereby He uninterruptedly preserves,
governs, and directs lifeless creation, plant and animal life, people and their
concerns, heaven, hell and everything else. We read in Job that God “can
move mountains before they even know it. God can shake the earth loose from its
foundations.”[1] The Psalmist wrote that
God can rain on the mountains from His heavenly home, and fill the earth
with the fruit of His labor. God can cause grass to grow for the livestock and
plants for people to use.[2] Jeremiah reminds us that before
God formed me in my mother’s the womb He knew me, and before I was born,
He consecrated me.[3] Jesus said that God knows
the number of hairs on my head.[4] There are fewer to count
today, but He still knows the number. Hebrews 1:1-3 reminds us that God is and
has always been in control or creation and communication.
God
established laws that govern night and day, and seasons for planting and
harvesting.[5] We do not always
understand the causes of God’s Providence, but He protects us so we can build
our homes and our communities.[6] Divine Providence does not
deprive us of liberty or responsibility. It does not reduce us to automats
making God responsible for sin. Paul reminded Christians in Rome of this in
Chapter One.[7]
From
our perspective, things happen unexpectedly. Life happens unpredictably. From
God’s viewpoint, all is predetermined and fixed. Job reminds us of that when
speaking of man: “Since his days are determined, and the number of his
months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.”[8] The ultimate goals then of
divine providence are: (1) the salvation of souls; (2) spreading the Gospel;
(3) and promoting the glory of God.[9]
All
creatures promote the glory of God, and in particular, people should because we
recognize the work of His hand in nature. We know that God is necessary for all
natural operations, whether they are animate (plants, animals and humans), inanimate
(planets, stars, rocks, clouds, etc.) or the supernatural order (heaven, hell,
angels). God acts in and with every creature in all its activities, except for
sin, which is due to human liberty.
As
Lutherans, we believe that Divine Providence refers to God's preservation of
creation, his cooperation with everything that happens, and his guiding of the
universe. While God cooperates with both good and evil deeds, with the evil
deeds he does so only inasmuch as they are deeds, not with the evil in them.
God concurs with an act's effect, but he does not cooperate in the corruption
of an act or the evil of its effect. Lutherans believe everything exists for
the sake of the Christian Church, and that God guides everything for its
welfare and growth.
According
to Martin Luther, Divine Providence began when God created the world with
everything needed for human life, including both physical things and natural
laws. In Luther's Small Catechism, the explanation of the first article of the
Apostles' Creed declares that everything people have that is good is given and
preserved by God, either directly or through other people or things. Of the
services others provide us through family, government, and work, he wrote, “we
receive these blessings not from them, but, through them, from God.” Since
God uses everyone's useful tasks for good, people should look not down upon
some useful vocations as being less worthy than others. Instead, people should
honor others, no matter how lowly, as being the means God uses to work in the
world.
From
Divine Providence to Daily Prayer. We see Divine Providence in what happened to
Joseph – from his dreams to being sold into slavery, from being a prisoner to
becoming prime minister. We have an understanding of how Lutherans understand Divine
Providence, but what does any of this have to do with my life? That is why I
think we need to look at our daily prayer.
What
does your daily prayer look like? It’s a question we each need to answer
privately. Here’s mine. Each morning I wake around six o’clock. While I drink
two cups of black coffee, I read a few Psalms, a Biblical passage (Proverbs,
these days) and a non-Biblical passage, usually the Church Fathers. I also read
the Daily Devotion from Lutheran Hour Ministries. My wife and I always pray
before meals and discuss a daily dialogue question which we close with the
Lord’s Prayer. Some morning, we pray together, and most evenings we say Night
Prayer before retiring. Throughout the day, I ponder God’s will for me.
Some
years ago, I started to realize how Divine Providence has guided my life. Cindy
and I agree that for some reason, God brought us together. We did not know each
other. We both lived in Alameda County, California, a large populous county
east of San Francisco, but at opposite ends. We met through the most unusual
circumstances, which I can reveal over a sandwich. Needless to say, God brought
us together. We fell in love and married a year after we met. Again, allow me
to say: God brought us together.
A
year after we were married, we left very good paying jobs in Northern
California for a promised job and a new life in North Texas. Our initial plans
did not end well, and we were both unemployed. Two months later, we found
ourselves in Oklahoma City, where I began working for an international
nonprofit. It was providential. I had begun the Colloquy process to become a
Lutheran Pastor just as we were leaving California; and several months later,
landed in Holy Trinity, the largest congregation in Oklahoma. After meeting with
Pastor Barrie Henke, he assigned Vicar Justin Smith, an academically-minded,
erudite seminarian, to meet with me weekly to study the Book of Concord and the
writings of Walther, Pieper and others. We met for about a year. In December
2012, I was received into the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod as an ordained
Pastor. My employer closed its doors on February 28, 2013. Holy Trinity’s Associate
Pastor accepted a call out of state; and as Pastor Henke said, God dropped me
into his lap. I started working as a Pastor at Holy Trinity on March 1, 2013.
Divine Providence.
Throughout
the years since then, we moved from Oklahoma to Southern Illinois to Northern
Illinois and then to Pennsylvania. With each move, God provided enough
sustenance to keep us afloat. As we reflected on our return here in March 2020,
we had a house and plans for a new home, but I had no job. That’s when Tom
Bradshaw called me. After that, I was rehired to work as a Background
Investigator, and then as a Vacancy Pastor at Prince of Peace. My point is
this: I believe Divine Providence is at work in my life no matter the
circumstances. That comes through my daily prayer, my daily examination.
Daily
prayer should include the prayers found in Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, and
some sort of daily examination. To my surprise, a number of Lutherans practice
and promote some sort of daily examination made popular by Ignatius of Loyola.
I have made copies of various versions available for you in the lobby. Each has
five steps:
1.
Become aware of God’s presence.
2.
Review the day with gratitude.
3.
Pay attention to your emotions.
4.
Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.
5.
Look toward tomorrow.
At
times, we may wonder about God’s presence in our lives. I am sure that Joseph wondered
that. As a young man he was sold into slavery by his own brothers, and imprisoned
for years. He must have wondered if God abandoned him. Countless individuals
incarcerated as prisoners of an oppressive regime, abusive parents or an
unloving spouse must wonder if God abandoned them. Innumerable people with dead
end jobs, limited skills, disabilities or dying loved ones must wonder if God
abandoned them. We would like to say that everyone’s story ends up like
Joseph’s, but most stories do not. Our stories may or may not, but if we
believe in God’s Providence, we know that he holds a place for us beyond our
wildest dreams.
My
friends, I ask you to incorporate into your daily prayer, some time to reflect
on how God has been present to you whatever your circumstances. Give God thanks
for whatever blessing He has given you. Look forward to tomorrow. If today
seemed like Good Friday, know that Easter Morning is just another day away.
Believe this, and when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understand
keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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