Journeys to Mercy, episode 97

1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,400
If you love a prodigal, you can discover, help, and hope for your wilderness journey

2
00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:13,360
right here at When You Love a Prodigal podcast, and also help and hope for your own life journey.

3
00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:20,860
As we continued our series on mercy last week, were you able to recognize

4
00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:23,600
moments of God's mercy to you?

5
00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:28,560
Were you able to give mercy to your prodigal?

6
00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:36,600
Today we're going to look at two familiar stories in the Bible and see the journeys of mercy for Jonah and Joseph.

7
00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:44,000
Jonah's journey to mercy actually has interesting parts to it.

8
00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,600
You probably know the story, but here's a quick summary.

9
00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:57,080
Nineveh was the largest city of its time in the ancient world, known for its evil living, drunkenness, and

10
00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:05,640
violence. God was even horrified and called on his trustworthy prophet Jonah to proclaim the coming

11
00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,680
destruction of the city, a city that Jonah hated.

12
00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:19,240
But Jonah, we learn later, knew that God was a merciful God, and he was sure if he preached and the people of

13
00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:24,200
Nineveh repented, God would spare them, and Jonah did not want that.

14
00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,000
So he found a ship and headed to Tarshish.

15
00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:32,680
And of course, God knew exactly where he was, and he stirred up a big storm.

16
00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:39,560
The terrified sailors on the boat discovered that Jonah was the cause of the storm.

17
00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:46,120
He was fleeing from God and begged him to ask God to stop the storm.

18
00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:52,840
The only solution was to throw Jonah overboard, which they did, but they didn't.

19
00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,560
Which they did, but they didn't want to.

20
00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:01,080
They felt mercy for Jonah, even though he was causing them terror.

21
00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:11,320
And as, this is amazing to me, as they threw him into the raging ocean, they asked God to have mercy on Jonah.

22
00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:13,720
And he did.

23
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:22,440
As Jonah sank to the bottom of the sea, God had mercy on him in the form of a giant fish

24
00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:23,400
who swallowed him.

25
00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:26,760
Doesn't sound real wonderful, does it?

26
00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:37,640
In his three days and nights in the fish, Jonah repented, and God again had mercy on him.

27
00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:42,680
As we see in this prayer in Jonah 2, from the message Bible.

28
00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:47,160
In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.

29
00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:49,240
He answered me.

30
00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,440
From the belly of the grave, I cried, help.

31
00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,320
You heard my prayer.

32
00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:05,240
You threw me into the ocean depths, into a watery grave with ocean waves, ocean breakers crashing over me.

33
00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,560
I said, I've been thrown away, thrown out, out of your sight.

34
00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:14,200
I'll never again lay eyes on your holy temple.

35
00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,920
The ocean gripped me by the throat.

36
00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:19,960
The ancient abyss grabbed me and held tight.

37
00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:26,760
My head was tangled with seaweed at the bottom of the sea where the mountains take root.

38
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:34,840
I was as far down as a body can go, and the gates were slamming shut behind me forever.

39
00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:41,560
But God, you, you pulled me up from that grave alive.

40
00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:43,160
Oh, God, my God.

41
00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:52,520
When my life was slipping away, I remembered God, and my prayer got through to you, made it all the way to your holy temple.

42
00:03:53,480 --> 00:04:01,720
So that fish vomited up, Jonah, onto dry land, and God said, again, go to Nineveh.

43
00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:04,600
And this time Jonah obeyed.

44
00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,000
Now, what was Nineveh's response, do you think?

45
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,800
Jonah gets there, and he wasted no time delivering the bad news.

46
00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,400
You are evil, and God will destroy you in 40 days.

47
00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:27,880
Amazingly, the people, all those evil people, all of them, the nobles and even the king, believed him.

48
00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:29,640
They repented.

49
00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,200
They turned from their wicked ways.

50
00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:33,160
They fasted.

51
00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:35,400
They put on sackcloth and ashes.

52
00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,680
In hopes that God would have mercy on them.

53
00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:41,320
And he did.

54
00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:47,320
God saw what they had done, that they had turned away from their evil lives.

55
00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:49,480
He did change his mind.

56
00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:53,720
What he said he would do, he did not do.

57
00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:56,360
God had mercy on them.

58
00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:59,720
Now, Jonah was right, wasn't he?

59
00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,200
He said, I knew this was going to happen.

60
00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:03,560
They were going to kill me.

61
00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:05,320
I knew this was going to happen.

62
00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:07,000
That's why I ran to Tarshish.

63
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,680
I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, Lord.

64
00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:19,560
Not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment

65
00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:22,360
into a program of forgiveness.

66
00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,000
So, God, if you won't kill them, just kill me.

67
00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:29,320
I'm better off dead.

68
00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:31,000
And God said,

69
00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,000
Jonah, what do you have to be angry about?

70
00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:38,120
Jonah took off.

71
00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:41,240
I have a picture of him slamming the door behind him.

72
00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:43,800
Bet you've had that happen, haven't you?

73
00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:46,840
He ran outside the city to sulk.

74
00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:49,640
God, you ready for this?

75
00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:56,280
God, in his mercy, had a plant grow up to shade him, which comforted Jonah.

76
00:05:56,280 --> 00:06:03,640
Until the next day, when a worm killed the plant, and he was angry and said again, I am better off dead.

77
00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:06,760
And God said, what's this?

78
00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:14,200
How is it that you can change your feelings from pleasure to anger overnight about a mere shade tree

79
00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,200
that you did nothing to get?

80
00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:18,760
You neither planted nor watered it.

81
00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:21,240
It grew up one night and died the next night.

82
00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,600
So why can't I like what I'm doing?

83
00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:31,960
Why can't I likewise change what I feel about Nineveh from anger to pleasure?

84
00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:43,000
In this big city of more than 120,000 childlike people or maybe children in the city

85
00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:49,480
who didn't yet know right from wrong to say nothing of all the innocent animals.

86
00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:53,400
It just ends there.

87
00:06:53,400 --> 00:06:54,360
It just ends.

88
00:06:54,360 --> 00:07:02,280
So we don't really know if Jonah truly learned his lesson that he could also be a merciful person,

89
00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:09,240
even as God was to him time after time, but also as God was to the people of Nineveh

90
00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:14,840
as they turned from their evil ways and chose to follow God.

91
00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:17,240
But do you see it?

92
00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:23,160
Do you see that over and over and over God gives mercy?

93
00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:32,680
When we get angry, throw fits, complain, God remembers that we are dust and has mercy on us.

94
00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:39,160
When our prodigals get angry, throw fits, do stupid or evil things,

95
00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:44,040
God remembers that they are dust and has mercy on them.

96
00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:52,920
And he encourages us to be the channels, the messengers of that mercy to our very own loved ones.

97
00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:56,040
So that's Jonah.

98
00:07:56,040 --> 00:08:03,400
His journey to mercy was one of obedience, but maybe his heart wasn't really changed.

99
00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,760
But let's look at Joseph's journey to mercy.

100
00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:10,440
Another story that you probably know.

101
00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,200
Here it is in a nutshell.

102
00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:21,880
Joseph was his father's favorite, protected, praised, gifted by his dad with the magnificent

103
00:08:21,880 --> 00:08:23,240
coat of many colors.

104
00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:28,920
And he was a dreamer and he was usually the star of his dreams.

105
00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:36,360
And he made sure his brothers knew that he had dreamed that someday they would all bow down to him,

106
00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:39,800
which did not go over well with them.

107
00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:48,120
So when Joseph's father, when his father Jacob, sent him out to the brothers who were tending

108
00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:51,320
their flocks, they saw their chance.

109
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:58,040
They intended to just kill him, but instead they sold him as a slave to a passing caravan.

110
00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:03,720
They bloodied his coat and told their father, a wild animal must have killed Joseph.

111
00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:09,960
Joseph was sold by the caravan of who had bought him.

112
00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:17,320
And he was sold to Potiphar, who was an Egyptian leader, who quickly discovered that Joseph

113
00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:23,400
had leadership and management skills, had integrity and a love for his God.

114
00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:28,600
And soon Joseph was in charge of everything that Potiphar had.

115
00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:33,880
But Joseph still had a lot to learn.

116
00:09:34,760 --> 00:09:39,320
And apparently he was quite handsome as well as smart and capable.

117
00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,920
And Potiphar's wife took a liking to him.

118
00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:49,960
And when he wouldn't respond to her advances, she accused him of attacking her and off he

119
00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:51,080
went to prison.

120
00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,800
While in prison, he continued to have a lot of fun.

121
00:09:55,800 --> 00:10:01,720
While in prison, he continued to have dreams and he interpreted others' dreams.

122
00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,240
And he was very respected by the jailer.

123
00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:15,240
And those years in prison, as he waited to be set free, if he ever would be, drew him

124
00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:19,560
close to God and grew humility in him.

125
00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,200
He began to get the picture of how arrogant he had been.

126
00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:31,560
When a severe famine threatened the whole area, Pharaoh himself called for Joseph, who

127
00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:36,920
predicted that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of drought.

128
00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,160
So Joseph had a plan.

129
00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,640
And suddenly he was Pharaoh's second in command.

130
00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:49,480
The famine included the land of Canaan, where Jacob and his sons lived.

131
00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:55,000
Their father had told them to go to Egypt and buy grain for their families so that they

132
00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:56,200
didn't perish.

133
00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,080
They came before Joseph to ask for grain.

134
00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:05,400
They did not recognize him, but he recognized them.

135
00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:12,840
Though emotions filled him with, I'm sure, remembrance of what had happened and what

136
00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:17,640
his brothers had done to him, he had instead a sense of pride.

137
00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:23,560
He had instead a sense of compassion, but he still tested them to see where they were

138
00:11:23,560 --> 00:11:24,060
now.

139
00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:30,120
They returned to Canaan with the grain that they got from Joseph.

140
00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:31,320
There's a story there.

141
00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:32,120
You should read it.

142
00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,880
It's in Genesis, several chapters in the 40s.

143
00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,760
They returned to Canaan eventually because they needed more grain.

144
00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:43,400
And we'll pick up the story there.

145
00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:50,520
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him.

146
00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:56,520
So all the Egyptians that served him, that he was boss over, were around.

147
00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,320
And he cried out, send everyone away from me.

148
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,960
So no one stayed except Joseph and his brothers.

149
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:10,360
And then Joseph made known who he was to his brothers.

150
00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:15,880
And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

151
00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:19,480
Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph.

152
00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:21,880
Is my father still alive?

153
00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:24,920
Brothers, brothers couldn't answer him.

154
00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:31,000
They were so dismayed that they were in his presence and they were sure he would kill

155
00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:31,500
them.

156
00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:35,000
But Joseph said to his brothers, come close to me.

157
00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:36,600
And they came.

158
00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:42,440
And he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

159
00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:48,600
And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here,

160
00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:52,680
but God sent me before you to preserve life.

161
00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:56,680
So it was not really you who sent me here, but God.

162
00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:03,960
He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

163
00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:09,160
Hurry and go to my father and say to him, thus says your son Joseph.

164
00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,680
God has made me lord of all Egypt.

165
00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:13,800
Calm down.

166
00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:14,760
Do not delay.

167
00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:21,320
And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, who was they were from the same mother,

168
00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:26,920
see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you.

169
00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,200
Hurry and bring my father down here.

170
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:34,200
Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept.

171
00:13:34,680 --> 00:13:36,440
And Benjamin did the same.

172
00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:39,880
And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them.

173
00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:44,040
And after that, his brothers talked with him.

174
00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:48,840
It's that's just a beautiful story of mercy.

175
00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:56,600
So Jacob and all his children and their families moved to Egypt and Jacob's reunion with Joseph

176
00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:58,840
was filled with joy and tears.

177
00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:05,400
Years later, when Jacob died, Joseph's brothers were sure that now that their dad was gone,

178
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,200
that Joseph would get even with them.

179
00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:11,720
But Joseph did not choose revenge.

180
00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:13,800
He chose mercy.

181
00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:16,200
He said, don't be afraid.

182
00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:18,360
Do I act for God?

183
00:14:18,840 --> 00:14:25,480
Don't you see you planned evil against me, but God used those same plans for my good.

184
00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:29,880
And as you see all around you right now, life for many people.

185
00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,600
You have nothing to fear.

186
00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,640
I'll take care of you and your children.

187
00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:39,880
Gratefully, God does the same for us.

188
00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:42,360
He doesn't seek revenge.

189
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:44,600
He does not condemn.

190
00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:46,600
He chooses mercy.

191
00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:48,360
He forgives.

192
00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:54,120
And he asked that we remember Joseph and give mercy to our loved ones.

193
00:14:54,120 --> 00:15:03,240
So I imagine that you might find it hard to believe that you should show mercy after all

194
00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:09,080
that your prodigal has done and how many times you would have to show mercy.

195
00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,680
Next week, we'll talk a little more about that.

196
00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:24,040
God bless you.