I please Almighty God to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let's turn to the book of Genesis,
chapter 42, and the last clause in verse 36. Book of Genesis,
chapter 42, and the last clause in verse 36. All these things are against
me. It's not a very hard text to
remember, is it? It's the words of Jacob, and
of course he was wrong in what he said. That's what he said,
as he looked on the present situation which existed in his household
it appeared that everything was against him the reality was and
this is the wonderful blessing as the Apostle Paul tells us
in the Romans in the 8th chapter 28th verse when he said and we
know that all things work together for good to those who love God
and to those who are the called according to his purpose and
what that clearly shows to us is this what may appear to be
against us proves in the end to be for us God's ways are higher than our
ways we tend to view things as a mere mortal man Whereas God
is in control of everything. God knows the end from the beginning.
You and I only know the present and the situation from the past.
But God knows what is planned for us. God knows what is before
us. And it's therefore very wonderful
as we pass through times, and we will pass through times, when
it seems that things are against us. then to look back and realize
in God's favor, in God's goodness, in his love toward us, they weren't
against us but they were part of God's grand and glorious and
wonderful plan for us in our little life on this earth. So as we read an account like
this we can understand what Jacob felt, it did appear that everything
was against him. Yes, he lost one of his sons,
he thought. Another was imprisoned in Egypt
and now they wanted to take Benjamin from him. It appeared that all
these things were against him. But of course they weren't. And
what he didn't know was, of course, that God had worked mightily
already in granting that wonderful deliverance to Joseph, the son
who he thought had been killed by wild beasts. But no, God in
his amazing purpose had been with Joseph If you think of Joseph,
no doubt he would have thought all these things were against
him. Especially again when you just trace out Joseph's path. Jacob had sent him to see how
his brother's welfare was. It was a reasonable thing to
do. And Joseph didn't say, well,
I'm not going. he went and of course as we know
the outcome was his brothers took him and first of all were
going to kill him and then eventually sold him and he ended up therefore
in Egypt in Potiphar's house and through the evil of Potiphar's
wife he was imprisoned and he was imprisoned for many years
What had he done wrong? Well, he'd obeyed God. And yet,
you see, he was in prison. No doubt he would have felt,
all these things are against me. We're told in the Psalms,
Psalm 102 I think it is, that until the word of the Lord came,
it tried him. and that word of the Lord of
course in Joseph's case was the dreams he'd had two very distinct
and positive dreams telling him what would occur in his life
and now here he was in prison however were those dreams to
be fulfilled Well, again, let's repeat, God's ways are higher
than our ways. God's ways were higher than Joseph's. Who would have ever thought that
Joseph, the son of Jacob, could be elevated to the second in
the Egyptian kingdom of Pharaoh? Well, sight was to come to pass,
and sight was that he was to be used to maintain life. in Egypt and not only in Egypt,
in the surrounding area. And also, through his position,
he was therefore able to eventually look after Jacob and his brothers
and their families. Well, it was quite an amazing
turnaround, wasn't it? We see how many things, therefore,
were being worked out. And again, it is so relevant
in your life and my life. because we just form a very,
very small and insignificant part in the great plan of Almighty
God. And God causes us to enter into
situations which will bring about his honour and his glory. and therefore we should not be
too distressed perhaps if things don't appear to be working out
as we felt they should and you see sometimes God may we feel
speak a word to our hearts and we may interpret that word wrongly
we may not interpret it in accordance with God's ways because again
we recognise that God says your time is always but my time is
not yet we may think therefore that God has spoken to us and
now it appears that all things are against us it appears that
perhaps we were completely wrong what we thought or what we anticipated
it may not be so it may just be that we've got the timing
wrong we need to therefore recognize that God's work does go on in
accordance with his plan in accordance with his time scale and it's
a blessing therefore to be submissive to that we are encouraged to
submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt
us in due time and that we may be found casting all our care
upon Him again sometimes we try and work things out ourselves
we think well if I did that or if I said that or if I met so
and so or went so and so then that perhaps might be the right
thing to do well it might be but it might very often be the
wrong thing to do because what we're really trying to do we're
putting our hand to God's work well God is a sovereign and God
doesn't need our hand being put to his work we need to be patient
we need to sit and wait for the Lord's appearing. What a mercy,
therefore, it is. And in this case here of Jacob,
we see how all his fears were groundless. And in God's time, Joseph revealed himself to his
brothers. God's time, Jacob was brought
down and united with Joseph something he no doubt never thought
would happen because he'd made a wrong interpretation
he'd come to a wrong conclusion and we have to be very careful
in our little lives that we don't put a wrong interpretation on
situations we form our conclusion. It may not be God's conclusion
at all. It may be part of God's plan
for us, but it may not have reached a conclusion. And therefore we
should recognize that we need that submission to wait for the
Lord, to wait upon the Lord, to wait for his appearing And
very often in our lives, if our plans had been worked to, the
person that would have claimed the glory would have been ourselves. Whereas if God fulfills his plan,
then we are able to thank and to praise God for the fulfillment
his promises. Things perhaps that we never
thought would actually work out. Well that happened didn't it
in the case of Jacob. So we have to be very careful
in coming to a judgment like Jacob did when he said all these
things are against me. They weren't Jacob. They were
all working together for good. And you know, you and I can trace
out so many things, can't we, in the Word of God, where that
pattern is so clearly followed. Yeah, we can think of the Old
Testament, we can think of Abraham, can't we? Abraham left Ur of
the Chaldees, and we might think, well, that was a strange place
to leave. He went out, not knowing whether
he went. No, but what did he do? He did
God's will. He was submissive to God's will. And it's a wonderful testimony,
example we have in that list given to us in the 11th of Hebrews
those who walk by faith and not by sight sight you see would
have directed them in the wrong way but they walk by faith that
means they were reliant upon God's promises you know God had
promised Jacob that his seed would be blessed And it was. And God was to fulfil that. But
you see, Jacob couldn't see it at the time. He knew what the
promise was. But now things appeared to be
against him. And therefore he drew a conclusion
which was wrong. All these things are against
me. Well, we can think perhaps of
New Testament examples we can think of. You know, Philip and
the eunuch going to that place which was desert. Fancy going
there, Philip. Well, God instructed him. And
God directed him with a wonderful purpose. To be there when the
eunuch came with his chariot. And when the eunuch was reading
the 53rd of Isaiah. And there was Philip to interpret
the Word of God. You see how wonderful God is
in these things. And we can think of Paul and
Silas, when they were told to go over to Macedonia. And we
would think, well, that was a strange thing to do, to be directed to
go over to Macedonia. But they were willing, and they
went. They didn't hesitate. They went. And of course, initially,
everything seemed to be going well. The ministry was blessed. blessed when they preached and
blessed to Lydia and then of course they found things didn't
continue in that way and what the result was they were imprisoned
and they were beaten and imprisoned and they went well I said all
these things are against me but what they didn't realize was
God was going to work a wonderful miracle in bringing that earthquake,
which opened the prison doors and caused the jailer to come
in. No doubt he would have heard
them singing hymns at midnight, which they had. And now he comes
with that great question, what must I do to be saved? That was a very personal statement. And so if Paul and Silas had
said, all these things are against me, it would have been not unreasonable. But the reality was God was working. God was working. And God's purposes
were to be fulfilled. And God's purposes were fulfilled,
as we know. And the Jada was wonderfully
converted. So we can be very thankful that
we have such examples like that. And we might think also, we go
back to the Old Testament, we can think of Ruth, can't we?
You know, there was Naomi, she'd gone with her husband into Moab,
she'd left where they were in Israel and gone to Moab, departed
from God's place, and what happened there? Well, Ruth was one of
the wives of one of the sons of Naomi. And of course, what
happened there? Her husband died. Her father
died. At least her father-in-law died.
And it didn't look very rosy, did it? Didn't look very rosy
at all. And she could easily have said,
all these things are against me. but as we trace out the life
of Ruth we find how God was gloriously working in her heart and causing
her to see the difference between real religion and false religion
and that's a great blessing if in your life and my life things
appear to be working against us and yet God's purposes are
being worked out and it was a wonderful blessing in Ruth's case it was
wonderful how she was able to speak to her mother-in-law and
tell her when she was encouraged to go back to her own people
but the Spirit of God was upon her and she was able to tell
Naomi, no she would go with her She wanted her God, Naomi's God,
to be her God. She saw, didn't she, the light,
the light of true religion, and she wanted to follow that. Well,
what a blessing, therefore, if things appear in our lives to
be against us, but they're not. They're working together for
good. And so we see that Ruth was wonderfully
blessed and of course as we know she was in the line of Christ,
she was the mother, the wife of Buys and something she could
never have thought of or anticipated. But yet you see God's purposes
were worked out. And what a great blessing it
was for that to come. where you only have to think
of Job and Jeremiah and the Word of God, to prophets who were
directed by God and preached faithfully the Gospel. Yet in
both their cases you would think, surely there'd been a mistake. Why did they have to suffer? Why did they have to endure? But we know as we read through
Job and come to the last chapter, a couple of chapters, we see
how God indeed was with Job and brought him to that position
to acknowledge that he was vile, that he was a sinner, and it
was the Spirit of God that had brought him to that position.
What a wonderful thing it is, isn't it? when God brings you
and me in our lives to a place where we are able to make a confession
before God Job had at one time thought himself self-righteous
sometimes we might think ourselves self-righteous but God deals
with us in what appears to be all these things are against
us but what does it show to us? He shows God's compassion toward
us. He shows His love toward us. He shows His mercy toward us. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
glorious to be able to trace out these situations? And similarly
really in Jeremiah's case, Jeremiah had a tough life, was imprisoned
for telling the truth to the king, not an easy place it wasn't
a comfortable prison like they are today it's a very uncongenial
place but there he was but God brought him up and God delivered
him and again it's wonderful really to be able to read the
Lamentations which tells us of the spiritual life of Jeremiah
and how in that third chapter you can read of the obstacles,
the difficulties that were in his life and yet it brought him
to that place where he was able to declare unequivocally about
the faithfulness of God. Well, what do we see? in these
examples we see God's goodness and we see God's mercy. So what a blessing it is for
us today to recognise these favours and these blessings and as we're
able perhaps to trace back our life And it's good sometimes
to be able to trace back our life and to see what God has
done for us and how he's led us and how he's directed us. It's a great and wonderful blessing. It was so with Israel and Moses
when he wrote the first five books in the Bible and when he
came to Deuteronomy and he records there really the history of Israel
and he wanted to leave a record, I know it's under the blessed
influence of God, he was raised up to do that, to leave a record
of what God had done for Israel and how he had instructed them
to encourage them in the path and therefore in this 8th chapter
he says this in the 2nd verse and thou shalt remember all the
way which the Lord God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness
what was the great object? to humble thee and to prove thee
to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not. Neither did thy fathers know
that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
the Lord doth man live that's a very wonderful statement and
it's a very humbling statement if you and I prove it in the
same way and as we look as Israel went those 40 years and we know
of course the 40 years was because of their sin they disobeyed God
and wouldn't go up possess the land when they were told to after
they've been in the journey about a year and they had to suffer
for that and all those who were over 20 years never came into
the land of Canaan but God was faithful and God was able to
instruct Moses to leave such a record as this and then it
came down further in this same chapter Moses says who led thee
through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery
surface and scorpions and drought where there was no water who
brought the fourth water out of the rock of flint and in a
spiritual sense that's the same today for the church of God he
does lead us through this earth can be described as a great and
terrible wilderness Yes, described to Joseph. A waste, howling wilderness. And the world is to the Church
of God. It's not a place of comfort.
We tend to think we can settle down here and enjoy our life
on this earth. We're traveling through this
earth, through this life. What a blessing if, like Israel
of old, we're led to that happy land. that land of Canaan. And so Moses goes on to say,
who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, God made a provision. No food naturally, God provided. You might think, this must be
the wrong way. This is just too difficult. If
God is still feeding, if God is still directing, it's the
right way. not the way you choose it's the
way that God chooses who fed thee in the wilderness with manna
which thy fathers knew not that he might humble thee and that
he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end that's
a relevant statement isn't it for all of us we want God to
do us good don't we at our latter end by that I mean this we don't
want to come down to the day of our death the day when we
must leave this earth and have no evidence of the life of God
in our soul we want to have the evidence that God is our God
and that he has led us and although to us we might come To a conclusion,
all these things are against us to realise they're not. It's all part of the preparation. Here we have no continuing city. What a mercy if we can say, but
we seek one to come. That isn't heavenly. This place
is, this world is not our rest. it is polluted perhaps we try
and settle down perhaps we try and find comfort in this life
well be assured of this the Lord will stir us up you may remember
the example we have of the eagle you're familiar with an eagle
it makes a nest, a pretty thorny nest and the eaglets are hatched
and that which has appeared to be a bit soft and downy perhaps
that the mothers and the father have made comfortable then when
it's time to fly time to go out the eagle stirs up the nest so
all the spikes come to the surface so it's not very comfortable
and it's time to get out well the church of God are on this
world but there will be a time when it becomes very thorny it's
time to get out God has prepared his habitation He's prepared
that place of glory for each one of his children. Therefore,
you shouldn't be surprised therefore if the world becomes more uncomfortable
and not comfortable. And so we can understand perhaps
why Jacob said, all these things are against me. But of course
they weren't. He was brought safely down into
Egypt. He was told, fear not, to go
down into Egypt. Yes, perhaps naturally he didn't
want to. It's an alien place. It's a godless place. And God
told him, fear not. God was with him there. He was
with him in Egypt for those years that he spent there before he
passed away. God was with him. So let us not
be dismayed if it appears that things are going against us. And then, no doubt, as Jacob
was able to look back as he came down to his death to realize,
well, God's been gracious. God's been merciful. He's been
so kind towards me. What a great blessing it is to
have a God who is kind and gracious. You know, we don't know what
God's mind is toward us, do we? We know it's for good. We don't
know the details. God keeps all the details, the
secret of the Lord, is with them that fear him he reveals his
secrets in his time and in his way what a blessing that is in the 11th of the epistle of
Paul to the Romans it's a wonderful book of course the Romans as
we come down to the end of the 11th chapter he tells us this
oh the depth of the riches Both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God. Again, let's keep that in our
minds. The riches of the wisdom and
knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgment
and His ways past finding out. Past our natural ability. to
work out what God's doing for us but we can rest in this truth
he led them forth by the right way and so Paul goes on and says
for who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his
counsellor or who hath first given to him and it shall be
recompensed unto him again. For of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. This is the great God that
we have. Oh, it's wonderful to realise
that we have such a great God, such a kind God, such a merciful
God. And again, towards the end of
the eighth chapter of the Romans, again, well-known verses which
we should be thankful for. The apostle says, who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God. who also maketh intercession
for us. Again, simple words, but great
words, wonderful depth. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? We might think perhaps our sins
separate from Christ. Well, they may cause a division. They may cause a time when we
have to mourn our barrenness. But yet here we have this statement,
shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness
or peril or sword as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all
the day long. We're accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. And then he says, nay, in all
these things. We are more than conquerors. Through our own strength? Through
our own ability? No. Through Him that loved us. More than conquerors. Through
Him. Isn't that a great and wonderful
statement as we may be looking around and think well I passed
totally wrong. I made a big mistake. Everything's
going wrong. Remember then what the Word of God tells us we are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And then He
gives those wonderful last two verses. For I am persuaded. It's good to be persuaded. And you and I are persuaded by
God's Word, by His mercy toward us, by His faithfulness, by His
loving kindness toward us, for I am persuaded says the Apostle
and he had an experience which brought him to be able to conclude
in this way I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels
nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things
to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord." Well, things may appear to be against us,
but none of them will be able to separate us. from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What a wonderful statement
that is. What a wonderfully positive statement
it is. And no doubt of course, Jake,
you came to the same conclusion as we know that we come to the
end of his life and he's able to bless his children. There's a wonderful end that
he made. He just gathered up his feet
into the bed and passed away. He was ready to go and to be
with Christ, which is, of course, far better. All these things
are against me. So you see, you and I read the
Word of God, and we have to read it carefully, because this is
a clear statement here, and left to yourselves, you might take
this on board and think, well, that was true, but it wasn't
true, because it was all part of God's plan. The things at
the moment, appeared against him but all things were not against
him because there were those things which were to come where
God gloriously came and delivered him in a way that he would never
have thought of and often we find that to be true. God's plans,
God's ways are higher than our ways and we can sit back and
be amazed at God's grace toward us, his compassion toward us. We look at ourselves and our
own heart, the evil of it, and to be amazed that God hasn't
cut us off. Indeed, as a cumber of the ground,
something which is of no value. But his mercy has been extended
to us. and His mercy has been extended
to us for this very reason, to show forth His praise. As we see God's hand upon us,
as we're able to trace out God's love and mercy toward us, it's
good to be able to come and to give God the honour and glory
and to testify in our little lives and be able to say there
was a time in my life when things went wrong they didn't
work out as I thought they would I seemed far off I seemed hard-hearted
I seemed barren but God was dealing with me in love to my soul it
may be almost like the The prodigal son, that remarkable statement,
he began to be in want. A spiritual want for
his father's house. What a blessing my friends, if
that's so, in your life and my life. We begin to be in want
and we can trace out in our lives, that time, that time of blessing,
when the Holy Spirit caused us to be in want. Well, many things,
there's many other examples you can think of and trace out, but
it's good to ponder Such statements as this, all these things are
against me. And to realise what appeared
to be so, in the end was working together for good. Well may you
and I prove it in our lives, God's goodness and mercy, and
be able to say, has followed me like David did, all the days
of my life. and I shall, by God's mercy,
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.