Wednesday Bible Study: Joseph part 2- the Five Guys Method

If you didn't check out Sunday's post first, go back and do it, and come back when you are ready for more.


All set?  Here we go.  I wanted to expand on what I learned from Joseph- about making God the center of thought and life, and coming to the point of total reliance.  I remembered in Ezekiel 14 that God used as an example of righteousness Noah, Job, and Daniel.  I threw in Abraham and David- and of course Joseph, so it really is six guys, but five PLUS Joseph- and sought out what set them apart.  And I put them down in what I thought was a random order to study- but nothing's ever random with God.  And it wasn't here, either.


I started with Job.  Now, you have to say Job was God-centered- he even did sacrifices in case his kids did some sin they hadn't considered!  He was on top of being God centered.  But he wasn't God-RELIANT- when the trouble started, he began whining about how unfair his treatment was, and God wasn't giving him a chance to tell HIS side.  Of course, the only reason he thought he had a side to explain was because he was relying on three friends that told him he MUST be the one at fault.  It was only when he HUMBLED himself- realizing that he didn't know what he was talking about, and God really didn't OWE him an explanation, that everything was restored to him- including the respect of his friends.

Food for thought:  He had had 10 kids with his wife at the beginning.  Then she crapped on him, telling him, "Curse God and die."  Afterwards, he had another 10 kids when all was restored.  Now did that first wife that turned on him pump out another 10 kids- or did God get him a "newer model"?  No answer here, just a thought...


Next up is Noah.  I was running some numbers last night, and I realize this a flight of fancy, but bear with. IF Mt Ararat, where he landed, was as tall as today- like 11,800 feet- and the rain covered it to a height of 22 1/2 feet above the top, and it rained for 40 days- how much rain had to fall?  Realizing that the mountains might have been smaller, and the "fountains of the deep" contributed to the water level, but- the record for rain in 1 hour by the books is 13.8 inches.  This would work out to 13 FEET in an hour... or some such.  Please don't go by this.  But whatever it was, it was a wild ride.  It would have been turbulent.  It would have been a completely new experience- rain had never fallen before.  They were sealed in BY God.  Despite the shoddy construction on the PBS special, no light from outside is getting inside a boat sealed BY GOD.  And, consider- there was never any mention of provisioning the ark with food- now was there?  So for one year and ten days, they were eight people on a boat sailing a sea the likes of which had never been seen, with no natural light, no food, a cargo hold full of animals that MUST NOT have been using the bathroom, as they weren't neck deep in it a year later...

Not only was Noah God centered, he was God RELIANT- for everything, in a way we can't imagine.  He had the faith to RIDE IT OUT.

Next comes Daniel.  We know he was God-centered, because he refused the food that the King's men tried to feed him- and prospered.  But about reliance?  Check this part of the story on Nebuchadnezzar's dreams out, after the King says to kill any wise man who cannot tell Nebuchadnezzar his DREAM, as well as the interpretation:


Dan 2:15  He declared to Arioch, the king's captain, "Why is the decree of the king so urgent?" Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 
Dan 2:16  And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king. 
Dan 2:17  Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 
Dan 2:18  and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 

See?  He took the STEP OF FAITH that God WOULD reveal to him the dream, before even God said He would; then goes back and prays for it.

Next comes Abraham.  One of the things that I never realized before the last year or so:  When Abraham took Isaac to Mount Moriah to sacrifice him, it wasn't that he was hoping God would relent.  It was that God had promised that the line of Abraham would run through Isaac, and that even if Abraham killed him, God would somehow raise him back to life- because he had made a promise.  Abraham was so God-centered that, after all the false starts he had made in not trusting God, this time he was going to RELY ON THE PROMISE OF GOD-  No matter what.  And that made all the difference.

Then comes David-  the man after God's own heart.  You can't get more God -centered than that.  But I want to point you to one signature incident.  After his sin with Bathsheba, God told him through the prophet that the son of adultery would die.  David wore sackcloth and ashes seven days, fasting and praying for the child's life- but, in the end, he died.  And David cleaned up, shaved, and got something to eat.  Which didn't make sense to the staff:

2Sa 12:21  Then his servants said to him, "What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food." 
2Sa 12:22  He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' 
2Sa 12:23  But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." 

You see, David RELIED ON THE WILL OF GOD.   And accepted His will, for good or ill.

And that is what I learned- first that being God-centered and God-reliant are NOT the same thing.  And to get to that point of reliance, you have to do what the Five Guys did:

Humble yourself

Be willing to ride out the hard parts

Take a step of faith

Rely on God's promise to you

Trust God's will is for the best

And that is how you get to that level of reliance that gets you to do Joseph things- or, more accurately, to do God things in your own life.