Joseph had God dreams.
Like REAL God dreams.
Two of them to be exact. And his dreams pissed some people off enough that he was sold into slavery, lied about, and thrown into prison for years. (Joseph’s full story can be found in Genesis 37-50)
Why was Joseph able to endure? Because he trusted the God dream.
When a dream comes from God, it’s stands with you. It reminds you it’s there. It creeps up on you while you are driving your car, taking a shower, or tying your shoes. It never leaves you.
Now…
You CAN pretend you don’t hear it. You CAN tell yourself it’s not real. You CAN run from it.
It is totally and completely your choice. Embrace the dream or don’t. Lean into God or don’t. Be afraid but keep moving forward anyway… or don’t.
There isn’t a lot of dialog in Joseph’s story giving us insight to how he was feeling.
We don’t get to hear what He was thinking or saying (or possibly screaming) when he was hated by his family members, stuck in the bottom of a pit, being sold into slavery, being accused of rape, thrown into prison, or forgotten in the jail cell. But what DOES speak is what Joseph did. He didn’t embrace his misfortune (yes, a serious understatement, I know). I’m sure he wasn’t excited about any of it. BUT Joseph continued to rise to the occasion – in his character, integrity, and resilience. I believe the only way he was able to do this was that he trusted that the dreams that God gave him were legit. Now, I probably would have had a serious attitude and honestly probably would have tried to kill someone – let’s be real – everyone that was doing me wrong if I were in Joseph’s shoes. But here he is with the fortitude to stay in whatever situation he found himself in and whether right or wrong he stuck with the promises of God. When God shows you His dreams, they become promises of what is it come. And my man Joseph knew that.
Joseph made a choice. Even though he had no control over the events that conspired to destroy him (and whether you believe it or not, when bad things happen to you it IS an assigned mission of your destruction), he did have control over how he chose to go through them. He chose to work hard where he was placed. He chose to lead well where he could. He chose to help others if given the opportunity. And eventually that led him to the second highest position in all of Egypt. God took him through a process that looked cruel, and messy, and limited, to get him to where the dream was.
I want the dream God showed me ten years ago.
I am currently choosing to trust the God dream again.
No matter what it looks like along the way, I’m in it to win it.
Fridays Are For Writing 