"Finding Freedom" Genesis 44:1-45:15 Pastor Allan Wooters, D.Min.

The theme of freedom is one that shines brightly all through the Bible. In the book of Exodus, God called Moses to free His people from their bondage in Egypt so they could experience a new life and relationship with God. In the New Testament, Jesus declared in John 8:32 that, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Paul wrote in Galatians 5:1, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free…” In this message we are going to take up this theme of freedom but apply it to one crucial area of our lives: our past. Everyone has some wonderful aspects to their past, but we also have some hard issues to deal with as well. That’s part of our fallen nature and world. You might struggle with your past, but the great news is that you can be freed from the grip your past might have on you which is making your life more of a challenge than it needs to be. To this end, God’s Word shows us the way.  

In Genesis 44 we pick up the time following a meal Joseph had arranged for his brothers who still don’t know it’s Joseph. The men are ready to return home. But before they go, Joseph does a very strange thing according to chapter 44:1 – 5. He has their grain sacks filled full and then puts a silver cup of his in his brother Benjamin’s sack to make it appear that the cup was stolen. This cup is said to be used by Joseph for “divination.” Two questions immediately arise.

First, did Joseph really practice divination? God outlawed the practice of divination years later but still, what is Joseph doing practicing divination, a pagan practice? Given that this note is set in the context of an elaborate ruse, it is impossible to say with assurance that Joseph was a closet pagan who sat around reading tea leaves. No sort of practice on Joseph’s part is noted anywhere in Scripture. Indeed, Joseph got his insights from dreams not reading the movement of some liquid in some sacred cup. Regardless of how we see this detail, Joseph clearly intends for his brothers to believe that he had the power of supernatural discernment.  

Second, why did Joseph do this to his brothers? It was probably to get them to finally tell the full truth of their situation which is exactly what they do in the following verses, v.6 – 14. At this moment, Judah steps forward and speaks for his brothers. The rest of this chapter is the account of the pain experienced in the family for years following the brother’s betrayal. Judah tells how bonded their father is to Benjamin and how much sorrow he went through when he thought Joseph was dead. Judah pleads to be the one to stay in Egypt and to send Benjamin back so their father would not be grieved beyond coping (vs.33 – 34).  

With this story and the facts Joseph learned about his father’s situation he loses it. Note 45:1 – 3. The depth of Joseph’s grieve is deep. He asks if Jacob his father is still alive. He’s been told his father is still alive so it’s not that he’s asking for information as much as making a declaration in the form of a question. He expects a “Yes” for the answer. It’s a note of joy amid the rush of conflicting emotions that tore at his soul in that moment.  

What follows is the account of Joseph and his brothers proverbially burying the hatchet. But in this account, we must not miss some key insights in vs.4 – 8. Joseph understood that God had turned all his hard experiences into something good. Here is one insight that can help us find freedom from the negative aspects of our past. As it was for Joseph, so it is for you and me: God was working in our past especially in the painful moments.   

God Was Working in Those Past Events 

Given the lack of spiritual depth we can discern in Joseph’s brothers, this statement by Joseph was critical for those men. It is critical that we see this fact as well. All of our past, including the painful events – and especially the painful times – God was and still is working in them.  

This can be a hard concept to embrace. It’s hard to see how God can permit bad things to occur. But there are two factors here that help. One, terrible acts show us how horrible and powerful sin is. Sin is not some minor flaw in our otherwise faultless human nature. Sin destroys! Sin kills! Sin separates us from God and all that is good and right and holy. When someone gives over his or her life to sin, they can do incredible damage. Look what just one man named Hitler did due to his decades-long embrace of atheism and giving himself more and more to sin. Sin is not some outdated notion but a curse that is around only to destroy all that is good. The reality of sin, especially our own sin, should drive us to Christ where we can find forgiveness. 

But the other factor here is if God isn’t involved in our past, using it to work out His plan, then all of our past, the bad and the good, has no real meaning. Note v.5 again: “You sold me here, [but] God sent me before you to preserve life.” We may struggle with such a view but what are the alternatives? Take away the reality and involvement of God in the painful aspects of our past and all you have is a life that is truly “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Take God out of the picture and you still have your pain but you have no ultimate way to deal with it. You see, with God there is always hope even when we can’t see all of what He is doing.  

We can see the truth of what Joseph understood if we step back and look at life in general. We get hints off and on of how God is working in times of suffering. The best example I can ever give of this fact comes from the life of Joni Tada. At seventeen years of age, Joni suffered a broken neck and has since lived as a quadriplegic. But in the decades since her accident, God has used Joni in countless ways to help people all over the world. Joni started an initiative to get wheelchairs to people in poor, third-world countries. She has raised awareness of the challenges faced by people with disabilities. She has shared her faith in Christ on countless occasions and won many to faith in Christ. She has written several books on suffering as well as on heaven. She has also produced The Beyond Suffering Bible, an annotated Bible which highlights biblical truth concerning suffering. Joni sees what God has done and has found freedom from regret, depression, and hopelessness.   

Joseph saw what Joni sees; that God was at work in the past and in the present is working out His perfect plan. I pray you see this truth so you can begin to enjoy the full freedom you have in Christ. But that’s not all. There’s one other factor that comes to light in this account. It is that God, in His perfect time, redeems our past for a glorious future.  

God, in His Perfect Time, Redeems Our Past for a Glorious Future 

We see this in two ways in the text. At vs.7 – 8. The reason Joseph faced and endured all he did was so his life would in turn bless others. Joseph’s actions in preparing Egypt for the time of famine saved countless lives including those of his own family. But the blessings don’t stop there. Note vs.9 – 15. Not only will the family be spared death from starvation, but they will now live in virtual luxury. They are to live in the land of Goshen, a rich, fertile area. They would be together as a family at last but not the same family. There would be no more jealously. No more hatred. No more plotting or toxic relationships. They would be cared for, protected, helped, and most of all, comforted.  

This is what God is doing for you! Every event of your past, including the hardest and most painful, are set by God for your good now, for tomorrow, and for eternity. For one day the suffering of this present life will be totally transformed into a glory that we at present can’t imagine. We too will be provided a place at the table of heaven where according to the book of Revelation we will dine at “the marriage supper of the Lamb” (19:9). We will be united with the redeemed of the ages! Most of all, God will be visibly with us (21:3).  

Here is our reality. Here is the truth we can use to reinterpret our past; to see it does all have a purpose. You may be struggling with this. But I must ask you again, what alternative do you have? What better help do you have that will allow you to come to terms with the painful parts of your past?  

Joseph understood that every episode of his life’s story, and that of his brother’s, was under God’s direct rule. The old preacher and commentator Donald Grey Barnhouse summed up this narrative perfectly: 

The jealous hatred of brethren; the dreams of a youth; the passage of a caravan bound for Egypt; the preparation of Joseph by a life of adversity; the anger of Pharaoh and the imprisonment of two officials; the strange dreams of these prisoners and Joseph’s supernatural gift of interpretation; the dreams of Pharaoh; the change of rainfall in a fourth of Africa to bring about the two cycles of abundance and famine by the flood and failure of the Nile; the elevation of Joseph to the throne of Egypt — all of these things were brought about naturally by the supernatural work of God who is Lord of all, in order to fulfill the counsel of His will. ¹ 

Please recognize that Joseph was not giving his brothers a theological lesson to set them straight but rather sought to comfort their trembling hearts. How comforting to know that their sins, though they had caused immense hurt to Joseph, their father, themselves, and many others, had not thwarted the plan of God. God used it all “to preserve life” (v. 5) and “to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance” (v. 7). 

What an encouraging, hopeful, and healing word this is! Here is the answer you need. It is a simple approach to your past and yet it is a sufficient word. Even better, you’re not alone in applying these truths to your life. God’s Spirit is active in helping you enter into the joy that comes from seeing that nothing in your past is wasted. It is all being redeemed. For you see, what we see Joseph doing for his family, the Lord Jesus has done for us. He suffered much due to our sin as Joseph did for the sins of his brothers. Yet, God has taken those sufferings of Jesus and made a whole new future for us. It might seem crass to say that it pays to know Christ as Savior and Lord but it’s true! Being a follower of Christ pays in ways beyond imagining. But we do know that through Jesus there is freedom from any chains of our past that still imprison us. Rick Warren said, “While we are the product of our past, we don’t have to be prisoners of it.” So true! May that freedom be yours! 

For Further Reading 

Bad Memories: Getting Past Your Past, Robert D. Jones 

Redeeming Your Painful Past: Present Grace, Future Hope, Stephen Viars