Gen. 37:12-28

12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near
Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are
grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your
brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off
from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him
wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”16 He
replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing
their flocks?” “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them
say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near
Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they
plotted to kill him.19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each
other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and
say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his
dreams.”

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not
take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this
cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to
rescue him from them and take him back to his father. 23 So when Joseph came
to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was
wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern
was empty; there was no water in it.25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they
looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels
were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take
them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill
our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites
and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and
blood.” His brothers agreed.28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his
brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty
shekels[a] of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt

Alternative Route

Vs 36 Meanwhile, the Midianites[a] sold
Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s
officials, the captain of the guard.

Gen 39 :2 The LORD was with Joseph so that he
prospered, and he lived in the house of his
Egyptian master.

Lesson: don’t mistake God’s silence for God’s absence.

Just because God doesn’t show up in
Genesis 37 doesn’t mean God
isn’t in Genesis 37.

We learn from Joseph alternative
routes that they come unexpectedly.

How God uses alternative routes in your life

1. He uses detours to develop you.
2. God uses detours is to protect us from danger
3. Alternative routes sometimes end up becoming
   shortcuts

Genesis 50:20

“Joseph says, ‘God brought me
to this position so I could save
the lives of many people.’”