God of the Meanwhile

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

If you have a bible with you this morning, would you turn to Genesis chapter 37 As we as a collection of people, we are the church, not where we meet as evidenced by, once again, here we are in the park. Long as the sun holds out and the temperature holds out, it's alright, even despite the aerating of the grass. Yeah. No. Not something else.

I got a little tickle in my chest this morning, so please forgive me if I have a cough or two. Genesis chapter 37. We're going to read a story that's probably very familiar to most of you, maybe brand new to some of you. That would be awesome. And then we're going to we're gonna talk about a you.

And Nancy would say to Clay, there's only one you, baby. Lord, help us. Lord, help us. That in the in the multiverse, there's all kinds of parallel tracks in each decision that we make, in each thought that we have, in every word that we say, in everything that happens to us, there is an alternative, like, we get to a trail junction. We could turn left or we could turn right.

We, this version of us in this universe, turns right. But as soon as we turn right, there's a splinter in the multiverse where there is some version of you that turned left and all of those things that result in your left hand turn down the trail play out. And at each choice and intersection and word, there's this splintering of multiple realities. My brain. Or string theory.

String theory says that instead of atomic attraction of particles, there's actually some type of subatomic connection that's not particular. It's not connection of particles and electric electronic electric connection, but there's this big thing called this this force, if you will, that connects all matter in all of the universe, and that one change or one thought or one decision or one action is like plucking a string that causes ripples and vibrations throughout the entire universe. And we are plucking these strings, and and we are feeling the ripples of other strings being blocked that affect us. And so you have this idea of of string theory in the multiverse for whatever it's worth. But in this verses that we just read, we can kind of see a version of let's just call it the multiverse at play here.

There are three different main characters and three very different things are playing out with these three characters in this story. And that's what we're going to look at today for the few minutes that we have together. So let me ask you. As you look at the story that we just read, could you tell me one of the main characters that has their thread of events playing out in their life? Who do you see?

Just tell me one. The low hanging fruit, Joseph. Very good. Very good. Who else?

Okay. So you have the brothers, and then, you know, Laura, you're actually right. They're like like, Ruben does kind of have, like, specifically have a part to play. So if we wanna say four characters, then you get full credit because Ruben is involved. But we'll consolidate it down to what group?

The brothers. So we have Joseph, the brothers, and then who's that third one? Not the Ishmaelite traders. Jacob. Jacob.

So we have three and a half main characters. And we're going to we're going to look at the same story through each of their lenses. It's in the same place, the same time, the same events are unfolding, but each of these characters has very different unique perspectives and experiences. So let's just really quickly, let's look at look at the brothers. So if you know the backstory of Joseph in the coat of many colors.

His father, Jacob, loved him a lot. He was about 17 years old, and his his father made a special robe for him, and he got to wear it. And his brothers are like, dude. He had 11 other brothers. Right?

They couldn't stand it. Only one younger. One younger than him, Benjamin. Yep. So not only did Joseph have the favor of his father, but now all of a sudden and this is the first time in the story of the bible that we see god introducing what we could later call prophetic ministry because god began to speak to Joseph in dreams.

And we see later that Joseph interprets dreams for Pharaoh. So Joseph has two different dreams. One of the dreams is about stars and suns and moon. The other dream is about what is it about? Cattle, wheat, and the basic takeaway from these dreams is, oh, you older brothers, you're gonna be bowing down to me, your younger brother.

They couldn't stand it. It ate them up with pride, bitterness, envy, jealousy. And so one track, we have the brothers who, being hotheads, decide to take matters into their own hands. Oh, really? You've had these dreams.

We're gonna bow down to you. Like, I don't think that's gonna happen. How about we just eliminate you? Brothers being good brothers always have a obligation to hammer their younger brothers. Right, Hucks?

Yep. And so how many of you are the younger brother? How many of you got hammered by your older sibling? Yeah. See?

Yeah. That that's just kind of the way it goes. May a Joseph blessing be on you. But be careful if you receive it. Read the story.

So on one hand, we have we have the brothers. They think that they can solve their own problem. They use their own effort, their own energy, their own resources. They they they think long and hard about what is the best this particular problem. And out of their own wisdom comes, I don't know.

Let's kill him. Okay. Fine. We won't kill him, but we'll let him die a slow agonizing death, starving to death in an empty cistern. That was their best idea.

Rather drastic, but it was the best that they could come up with. Simultaneously, who else do we have? We have Jacob. Now Jacob is going about his business. He sends his his older brothers are out tending the flocks, and then he sends Joseph to check on them.

Joseph, in his mind, is thinking, yep. Or excuse me. Jacob, in his mind, is thinking, yep. I've sent Joseph out. He's going to run this errand for his best to papa, and then he'll come back and have a good report.

He has no idea what's unfolding out in the wilderness with his sons. We know what his sons do. They decide they they want to kill him. They decide, okay. Fine.

We won't kill him. We'll throw him into this pit. While he's in the pit, the Ishmaelite traders come along. And then Judah, who's got that business mindset, is like, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. We might be able to make some money here off of this. Kill him. Yeah. That's no good.

And what are we gonna do with the evidence? Here's an idea. Let's sell him. So they're like, okay. All of this is unfolding.

Jacob has no idea what's happening. And then in verse look at verse 29, sometime later, Reuben returned to get Joseph out of the cistern. When he discovered that Joseph was missing, he tore his clothes in grief. Then he went back to his brothers and lamented, the boy is gone. What will I do now?

And this is where Laura's picking up. Well, maybe there is a fourth character of Reuben, and that's probably worth coming back around to when you get to preach, and you can tell us more about, like, what you're seeing in the the Reuben story. Verse 31, then they killed the young goat. So their idea was to kill Jacob, and they're like, oh, we'll make it look like an accident. And so now here they are trying to, like, cover up their tracks.

Have you ever have you ever tried to employ your own wisdom to get yourself out of a hole only to dig it deeper? Daily. Then the brothers killed a young goat, dipped Joseph's robe in the blood. They sent a beautiful robe to their father with this message. It's weird.

Look what we

found. Doesn't this row belong to your son? Oh, those guys.

So Ruben wasn't with them when they sold him? Right. Okay. I don't

know where Reuben was. We'll find out from Laura.

He

would say their father recognized it immediately. Now notice we're looking at Joseph excuse me. We're looking at Jacob in the this multiverse. So Jacob receives the robe covered in dried blood, torn to ribbons. And what does Jacob do?

We can see here. Verse 33. He says, he makes he jumps to two conclusions. What's what what do you see? It's in the text.

He jumps to two conclusions. Yes. A wild animal must have eaten him. And what's the other thing? And he has been torn to pieces.

A wild animal killed him, and he has been torn to pieces. Now is it a is it a big stretch to make that conclusion? No. No. Is it what happened?

No. Now this is this is super this is super important because we encounter things every day. And part of the amazingness of being human is that we can take evidence and clues around us and put a picture together using logic and reason and imagination to put together events that we didn't personally witness, but can later be proven to be true. Now, in this particular instance, put yourself in Jacob's shoes. Here's the evidence.

The robe, the blood, no Joseph. What would you conclude? He's dead. That's reasonable to conclude that. Was it accurate?

No. I feel like somebody like Sherlock Holmes, you know, with that brilliant analytical mind would instantly say, well, here's what we do know. We do a DNA test. A DNA test. Swab it for COVID.

Okay. So so now let's not be let's not be Jacob, but let's be Sherlock Holmes when the robe that is ripped to shreds and covered in dried blood comes before us. What would Sherlock Holmes think or say about the robe in front of him? You can just say it, and then I'll repeat it in the mic for all of our families that watch the livestream. Okay.

So you would say it's staged. That's a big jump. Well, if he's Observate using the tools of observations. I I'm sorry. I cut you off.

That's okay. Like, if he's like, okay. Let's observe what happened here. It could be a setup.

Okay. Sherlock Holmes, like, your goal is

to figure out who set who up or who did what.

So motive is something. Yeah. Motive is something that could to a conclusion that perhaps it's stage, but we first use the powers of observation. The a good question. Where's the body?

What I would do

Where's the body?

And tear, would be teeth marks. There there would be some implication. But if his brothers if his brothers they probably couldn't rip it apart with their hands. They probably had to cut it or slice it. So that's what I would do.

End of the story. Amen. Now

we're thinking now we're thinking like

Certainly, Jacob knew that there was envy in his tribe.

Yeah. Absolutely.

He should have thought a little deeper about what I mean, the brothers showed evidence of their envy often.

Oh, they despised him in their heart. Even Jacob himself

Yes.

As the the patriarch and the father, when Joseph shared his dreams, it was like, boy, you're asking for a whooping.

Anyone who has children, the first thing you'd say is like, uh-uh. Like, walk me through exactly what happened. Like,

did you

see it?

How'd the coat come off? How do you know? Let's like and then I'd watch for discrepancies Where's in the

the body? Oh, that's a good question. Do you think that Jacob thought that his sons would kill their own brother? Well, we've seen some savagery from the other from the other brothers. Remember, because there are 12 brothers and then one sister.

I think the sister got violated, and not only did they kill the I think they killed the entire town. Savagery brutality is in the family.

Jealousy motivated

murder. Look at this message we're crafting here together, I

have a question. So this presupposes that Joseph walked around and paraded around in this ornate robe.

Oh, yeah.

So is that like what he did? Would he go out in the middle of nowhere ornate robe and hang out with his brothers in his ornate robe and shove it in their face, basically? Yeah. Like, look at me. I'm so special.

I think so. Yeah. Like Jimmy Fallon in his tight pants. I got my tight pants on. Here, I'll take it back there.

I

think there's something worth thinking about here, like, to Alyssa's point of, like, wanting to instantly be questioning it. But also if he were to question it, like, what would that mean? Oh. Like, if he automatically was just like, I'm just gonna go straight for the wild animals because the alternative means that my sons have killed arguably my favorite son. And to the point of him parading around this coat, like, was Jacob's gift to him.

Like, Jacob, it wasn't just Joseph singling himself out. Like, Jacob also singled him out. And so that could mean that it was his fault too if the brothers did kill him. And so maybe he's just like, alright. I'm gonna jump straight to the one conclusion that has no, like, huge moral implications.

Oh. Like, not even wanting to entertain the idea that it could have possibly been his fault for singling out Jacob I mean, Joseph.

Yeah. I I like where you're going with this. And if anything, he doubles or triples down on that because look at verse 34. Look at verse 34. I count one, two, three, four, five, six things that Jacob does in this particular stream of reality.

Can you see them? He tore his clothes. He dressed in burlap. He mourned deeply for a long time. We'll count that.

He refused to be comforted. And then he said, I will go to my grave mourning for my son. Number six, he would weep. We've talked about the brothers. We've talked about Jacob.

Let's talk about Joseph. What's the title of our conversation? God of God of meanwhile. Verse 36. Meanwhile, the Midianite traders arrived in Egypt where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Potiphar was captain of the palace guard. Meanwhile, Joseph was not abandoned in a pit. Meanwhile, Joseph was not murdered by his brothers. Meanwhile, Joseph did not die at the hands of a vicious wild animal. Meanwhile, God was up to something.

His brothers thought one thing. His dad thought something completely else. Meanwhile, God was up to something. Now think about for just a moment, the parallel track of Joseph and Jacob. Jacob is either believing or jump to conclusions or doubling down.

I I can't go there with this reality like you were pointing out, Connor. I'm gonna double down on the shredded by wild animals. If your wild animal's with you, give them a scratch behind the ear this morning. There you go. Good.

Jacob, is grieving the loss of his son, who he thinks is dead, but is Joseph really dead? Joseph ain't dead. That may not be so great for Joseph right now. I don't know if you've ever been thrown in a cistern in a dry well and then sold as a slave. It's not great for Joseph, but he ain't dead, and he ain't been shredded by wild animals.

This reality is happening while at the same time the reality of Jacob believing that his son was dead is playing out. I don't know about you, but I love and serve and follow the god of the meanwhile. In my reality, in my world, I walk through circumstances with question and hardship and heartbreak and uncertainty. Meanwhile, my god is always at work behind the scenes. Meanwhile, my god is busy orchestrating circumstances for his glory and my benefit.

Look at this verse. Psalms one thirty nine verse five and six. I love to read it from the passion translation. Don't let him plug his ears, Gretchen. You've gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness, you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past.

You have laid your hand on me. This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible. Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength. The god of the meanwhile is always diligently at work working out his plan according to his goodwill and pleasure. And somehow, someway, he works into his plan your free will.

How he do that? I don't know. But everything works out according to his goodwill and to his pleasure. Consider the circumstances that you may find yourself in here this morning. You may be walking down, walking out a one thread of reality.

And the things that you may be experiencing, now there's a chance that they could be perceived. Jacob, just like you said, Jacob had jumped to this conclusion that his son had been killed. Was that the truth of the situation? Nope. But Jacob was walking down this this path of reality that his son was gone and killed and the world was over.

Oh. And let's let's give a little bit of credit to Jacob. I mean, how else would we have thought if we had experienced those same things? It would be hard not to come to that same conclusion. Our emotions, oh, just run wild.

But there was a different reality that was playing out. Whatever circumstance you may find yourself in this morning, there's a chance that it could be perceived, and you are just blowing it up, making it bigger than it really is, and you need to, like, calm down breath for a second. Maybe there's a chance that things really are exactly playing out as you think and feel that they are. But you've got to remember the God of the Bible, which is unlike any other god in the universe. Could you say this about the Buddha?

Could you say this about Muhammad? Could you say this about Krishna? Could you say this about Vishnu? Could you say this about Joseph Smith? No other God has described as the God of the meanwhile.

Meanwhile, God is working in your circumstances for something for you to encounter in the future. Psalms one thirty nine. God has gone into your future to prepare good things. When you think about when you lay your head on the pillow and you think about worst case scenarios and stress and and trouble and impending events that are coming and they stress you out, do you ever put God in there and how he's gonna come through, or do you just, like, dwell in the stress? First dwell in the stress.

Thirty minutes.

And then we help each other and think. Meanwhile, God is at work in this situation.

Yeah. On those same lines, I'm I always think of the invisible world. It's so easy as a human, obviously, to just look at what we can experience with our five senses, but there's a supernatural reality that exists at the same time that's the one that created this physical world. But I think of the story in the Old Testament of Elijah and his servant and how his servant started freaking

Battery?

You

say it, and I'll repeat it. Yes. So Elisha and his servant are in a city surrounded. They're like in Minas Tirith surrounded by a vicious orc army. The servant frets, and he's experiencing one reality.

Elisha's like, he's in this transcendent reality. Hey. How was church today? I don't know. The pastor was talking about a transcendent reality.

Yes. You're in the right place. Nice to see. And here's what what's playing out. The servant is experiencing doubt and fear and confusion.

Meanwhile, the angel armies have surrounded the the enemy and are about to undo them. Do not ever neglect the power of the meanwhile. You were lost as a ball in tall weeds. Meanwhile, God was at work engineering circumstances for you to come to the Lord. Right?

Isaac, say it out loud and I'll repeat it. Use your outdoor voice. Yeah. Yeah. They've gone over there.

I couldn't find him. So the point that what Isaac just said was if you rewind the story a little bit, Joseph goes to look for his brothers where they should be, doesn't find them. And then a mysterious character says, oh, I know where they are. They've gone to Dothan. So Joseph continues on.

God is always at work in the circumstances even though we might not be able to see it. And here's the last thing that that I wanna share with you. Look in Genesis 39 verse 21. This is the essence and the beauty of the God of the meanwhile. Whatever circumstances you may find yourself in, crappy as they may be, hold on to the fact that you serve the God of the meanwhile.

And in the midst of your difficult, uncomfortable, painful, heartbreaking situation. Know that meanwhile, God is working. And how can you know that? Genesis thirty nine twenty nine thirty nine twenty one. But the Lord was with Joseph in prison and showed him his what?

Faithful love. The Hebrew word there is Hasid. And whenever you see that phrase in English, faithful love, I don't know about you, but it reminds me of, like, when we were doing quarantine church and Chris Bates talked about Hasid, god's faithful love. No other god in the pantheon of little g gods claims that as an attribute of his character, that his love is faithful. It has endurance, and it will last way longer than you will.

So today, if you find yourself in some circumstance that seem difficult troubling, maybe even you've been like the other brothers that have tried to like figure out your own way out of this in the best is, I don't know, let's murder him and blame it on a wild end. Like, that's really the best that your ideas can come up within your own wisdom, your own effort, your own energy, your own strength. I mean, just be honest with yourself Have you done sorting out problems all on your own? But the God of the meanwhile is consistently at work. And if you will but turn to him, he longs to show you and demonstrate demonstrate him to to you.

You. Oh, I feel so unprepared for what's about to unfold in my life. Meanwhile, God is at work, preparing

do You're You're to

gonna add that this picture of, like, the that. World against you, brothers after you, like, everybody against you, people who should be for you. Just reminded me that we need to remind

to

do that. We're

And he's not. And we forget that because we don't see

that. Him. He's not sitting going right next to us, but he is the one who is fighting for us when we can't see it. Yeah. And I just think it's such a good picture to remember.

Like, he is for you, and we can assume the best about him. We assume the worst about people and things and life and circumstances and news. Yeah. And we can assume the best about God. There's no one else we can really do that with, even our family.

Yeah. True. But we can assume the best about him Yeah. And what he's doing.

Lord. Help us. Help us.

Just help us. Help us. Help us, Lord. Stand with me. I'll pray for you.

Just before I bid you a good week, I'm gonna invite Lanisha and the Martins to step over here by the horseshoe. And if there's anything that you need prayer for, as soon as we're done with service here, just find Lee and Colleen, Lanisha, they would love to agree with you in prayer like, Lord, help me to see your faithful love in this situation. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for today. Thank you for giving us one more day in Jackson Hole, Idaho Falls, or Blackfoot, or Star Valley, or wherever it is that you've come from today. Lord, thank you that you are the God that is always working in the meanwhile.

You are the God of your faithful enduring love. We ask for an encounter of that love this week as we go throughout our week. I command a blessing over each and every person that is here today. Reveal your love to them because we love you so much, dad. We pray these things.

In Jesus name, the strong son of god. Everybody said, amen. I love you so much. I want you to have a great week and as always, Lindsey and Aaron, remember, you got this.