GOD GIVEN DREAMS
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever. “Listen to this dream,” he said. “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before mine!” His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!” This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?” But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant.
Genesis 37:5-11 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
Here is an interesting story of a dysfunctional family. Jacob has 12 sons with four different women who were his wives and their maidservants. There is a lot of friction between the brothers fueled even more because Jacob shows favoritism to one above the others. Jacob had made it clear that Rachel was his favorite wife. She gave him two sons—Joseph and Benjamin. Jacob gave special attention to Joseph—Rachel’s first-born son. Joseph was not the first-born son of Jacob—he had several sons that were older than Joseph, but he showed special favor to Joseph. He even gave Joseph a special coat to symbolize he was special. Joseph responded to his father’s special favor by telling on his brothers when they did something wrong. He was the family tattle-tell. This lets me know that Joseph was probably a spoiled brat who was despised by his brothers. If I were God, I’d probably give Joseph a bad case of zits to try to humble him a little. But instead, God gives Joseph two dreams. Each dream is about Joseph ruling over his family as they all bow down to him. And Joseph decides it is a good idea to tell his brothers and father about the dreams. The dreams become the final straw to his brothers. As the story proceeds his brothers plot to kill him and then decide to sell him to some slave traders headed to Egypt. They even take his robe and dip it in goat’s blood and tell their father they found it in the wild. Dad is convinced Joseph is dead. The brothers are convinced they are done with Joseph. But the story does not end here. It is the same application for us. First, I believe in a God Who gives us dreams. God created each of us with a destiny and plan. It is a good plan. When we are willing to listen, He will give us dreams that will motivate us through the tough times. Joseph will have at least 15 years of struggle—from being a slave, to being lied about and thrown in prison. It will be a long time before the dreams he had become a reality. I think these dreams were given to carry him through the tough times. God wants to give us dreams as well. When we take time to listen to Him, He will spark dreams. We listen to God through prayer and the Word. When we allow our minds to be cleansed by the Word and take time to communicate with God in prayer, we will begin to have dreams of God’s destiny in our lives. There is another lesson from our story. We should be careful who we share our dreams with. I’m not sure it was God’s plan for Joseph to share his dreams with his brothers. They did not want the best for him. Our dreams should only be shared with those who love us and want the best for us. Don’t throw your pearls before pigs.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit, I ask You to speak to me about the plans God has for me. Help me to have the right dreams and share them with the right people.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”