CHAPTER TWO
WHEN OUR DREAMS ARE SHATTERED
Joseph was 17 years old and chosen of God
but he was not exempt from mistakes. He
dreamed that his 11 brothers would bow down to him and that even his parents
would be dependent upon him. God gave
Joseph the dream. Joseph did not have to
talk about it, but he probably through he would see it fulfilled shortly.
When God shows us that he is going to use
us (and he can do that!), we usually tend to think we are going to see this
happen in the next week or two. Often
what happens is that it is a long time before God gets round to using us as he
has in mind.
It may be a good while indeed before God’s
greater purpose in us will be realised. The
end is not yet. The story is not over.
Genesis 37 verse 2 Joseph was with his
brothers tending the flock but in verse 12 we find that his brothers had
separated from Joseph and were tending the flock in Shechem. I honestly didn’t see this before – just one
of those details that you should look out when reading scripture! What happened in the meantime?
1. Jacob had given Joseph the coat of many
colours – that separated him from the rest
2. Joseph had flaunted the gift God gave him –
the dreams – that isolated him from his brothers. Jacob saw that there was no choice but to
keep Joseph away from them.
I like these 2 words – separated and
isolated.
Joseph wanted more than anything else to
have everybody admire him. And his
father’s decision to give him the coat of many colours put him on the
spot. What he wanted more than anything
else was to have the admiration of his brothers but he went about it in the
wrong way. Most likely this became an
obsession with Joseph. When God shows us
that he will use us, there is almost always a certain appeal to our own
self-esteem. God does not compel us
against our will. He makes us willing to
go. The way he makes us willing is by
motivating us. He offers us something we
are going to like. God does this as a
kindness to accommodate our weakness.
Again I have never thought about this –
Joseph had a choice to wear that coat but in wearing it he was saying
something. He was acknowledging that he
was his father’s favourite and in doing so he was rubbing his brothers noses in
the fact.
Here is the irony. Though God speaks to us at our own level in
order to motivate us, the very self-esteem to which he appeals needs radical
surgery before he can in the end actually use us.
Possibly even back then Joseph began to
wonder – “Was I a fool to think that my God gave me these dreams? Perhaps I
worked them up. Perhaps they are at best
what I want to see happen.” Even if God
does something in an undoubtable way, it does not make us exempt from Satan’s
subtle temptation to suggest, “This wasn’t you.
You did that. God wasn’t in that
at all.”
What was on Joseph’s mind? Basically, Joseph knew God gave him the
dreams. They pandered to his ego, yes,
but the fact remains, God gave them to him.
No doubt Joseph could see that he had made a series of mistakes and yet
another lovely irony Is that God kept giving him the dreams. Even though we abuse the gift that God gives
us, he does not take the gift away. They
are irrevocable. When God gives us a
gift, it is ours, just like when he saves us.
He keeps us and it is a wonderful thing to realise that when we become
children of God, we can never be lost.
Joseph knew God gave him these dreams.
But why wasn’t something happening?
The last thing on Joseph’s mind at this
stage was God’s greater glory or the preservation of his covenant people. The hasty conclusion most of us come to when
God shows us something is that he is doing it for our own sakes. We are so enamored of ourselves. If God shows us something, it often plays
right into our egoistic desires and we seldom look any further.
Before we can be of any value, something
must happen to us. What is that? It is whatever it takes to bring us to the
place where we see that God gives us a gift for his glory, for his greater
purpose and for his church.
God is interested in the church, the
kingdom and his wider witness in the world.
He does not tell us all this at first.
He leads us one step at a time.
There comes a time when self-interest must be swallowed up by God’s
greater glory.
While Joseph was separated from his
brothers they were doing the work.
Perhaps old Jacob had become so convinced of Joseph’s dreams that he
thought by separating the 11 brothers from Joseph, it would make it easier for
the dreams to come true.
We know the bible tells us that his father
“observed the saying” Genesis 37 verse 11 and perhaps Jacob upon reflection
said to himself “Maybe there is something to this.” Jacob kept the saying in mind. These dreams would
not upset him too much. After all, if
the dreams were true, he himself would feel quite vindicated. He could have had some guilt feelings of his
own for singling out Joseph and giving him the coat of many colours. If God had given Joseph the dreams, Jacob
could feel much better. Whenever we are
selective with our children, we are going to feel guilty. It is guilt that often makes a parent want to
relive his life or her life through the child.
One day old Jacob, deciding to make Joseph
do something useful said, “Go to your brothers in Shechem and make sure they
are all right.” This may have been the
first thing Joseph had to do in a long time.
Imagine that – Joseph being exempt from
manual labour! How did he play that
one? How did he get to that point? I am sure this is another reason why his
brothers hated him – his father treated him with kid gloves and they didn’t
like it in one sense. On the other hand
I am sure they were glad to not have him around as he reminded them of their
father’s love, a love that was greater than his for them.
Do I feel guilty about the way I use my
time? Do I want to give God 100%? I have to learn to be careful though – God
will take me seriously and the preparation that he will have for me will make
up for the way I have wasted my time.
C H Spurgeon said that if he had 25 years
left to live he would spend 20 of them in preparation.
Joseph wanted to be successful but he was
not ready. You could not have told him
that. When a person is not being
chastened, it is easy for him to think that he is quite ready.
Little did Joseph know and little did his
father know that it would be the last time they would see each other for a long
time. Joseph’s days of comfort, ease and
convenience were numbered. This selfish,
insensitive teenager was also God’s instrument for his generation. Joseph went to the spot where his brothers
could normally be found. He expected
them to be in Shechem but he learned that they were in Dothan, so he went
there.
They saw him before he saw them. Joseph had on his famous coat – they could
see him a mile away. You would have
thought he would have been embarrassed to wear it, especially around his
brothers but their feelings did not put him off one bit. They saw him afar off and the moment they saw
him, they knew what they wanted to do – they conspired to kill him.
Genesis 37 verse 20 “Come now therefore,
and let us slay him and cast him into some pit and we will say, Some evil beast
hath devoured him and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” It was his dreams that bothered them. Somehow they also feared there was something
right about them. If they were able to
get rid of Joseph it was a way of challenging God. “we shall see what will become of his dreams”. They continued this defiance by saying to one
another “Behold, this dreamer cometh” verse 19.
When God’s purpose is at work, you can
expect others to be jealous. That
sentence stopped me dead in my tracks – it is not something I have ever really
given much thought to. My perception has
always been to question whether I was actually doing what God wanted me to be
doing – that somehow I had got things wrong.
Maybe God did not want me to be teaching children, playing the organ,
leading a meeting – that perhaps others realised I shouldn’t be doing it either
and so sought to remove me from the situation in their own way. I have honestly never thought about jealousy
on the part of others.
We have seen that Joseph was insensitive
and not without sin, and now we see the wickedness of his brothers. But in all of this, God’s higher purpose was
set in motion. Often we have no idea
what God has in mind for us, but his purposes will be fulfilled. Thank goodness we don’t know! It has often been said that God will only
reveal so much of his plan to us in order to keep us seeking him for more
revelation and I have believed that.
Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more
– Romans 5 verse 20. God’s eternal
purpose is at work whether we consciously feel it or not. Sometimes when we do not feel something we
wonder if God is working. But the fact
that we do not feel something proves nothing.
God works silently behind the scenes.
And that is so true – just think of the Christmas story – who would have
thought that Elizabeth, an old woman would give birth to John the Baptist or
Mary the young woman who had never slept with a man would give birth to
Jesus. There had been 400 “silent” years
up to this point in Israel’s history but God was still working all things out
for his purpose and glory.
Thus, at the bottom of their motivation was
“we shall see what will become of his dreams” Genesis 37 verse 20. These brothers also knew that their father
had become impressed with the dreams, so they wanted all the more to discredit
the work that was going on. However, one
of the brothers was conscience-stricken.
Reuben said “Let us not kill him.
Shed no blood but cast him into the pit that is in the wilderness and
lay no hand upon him.” Genesis 37 verses 21 and 22. Reuben had the idea of going back later on to
get Joseph, although he did not have the courage at the time to say what he
really wanted to do. Joseph did not know
what was going on. We are told that they
took him and cast him into an empty pit, and there was no water or food in it.
What was going on in Joseph’s mind
now? His dreams were shattered. As far as the eye could see, as far as any
human projection could be made, there was no hope. He may have hastily concluded that his dreams
were delusions. In a pit, there was
nothing to do but pray to his God.
And you know that is exactly what I should
be doing in those times when I do not understand fully what God is planning for
me. An amazing thought but do I actually
do it?
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