Joseph And His Dreams

Joseph's father Jacob favored him and gave him a coat as a gift; as a result, he was envied by his brothers, who saw the special coat as indicating that Joseph would assume family leadership. His brothers' suspicion grew when Joseph told them of his two dreams (See Genesis 37:11) in which all the brothers bowed down to him.

 

The narrative tells that his brothers plotted against him one day when he was 17, and would have killed him had not the eldest brother Reuben interposed. He persuaded them instead to throw Joseph into a pit and secretly planned to rescue him later. However, while Reuben was absent, the others planned to sell him to a company of Ishmaelite merchants. When the passing Midianites arrived, the brothers dragged Joseph up and sold him to the merchants for 20 pieces of silver. The brothers then dipped Joseph's coat in goat blood and showed it to their father, saying that Joseph had been torn apart by wild beasts.

 

But the story does not end there…

 

In the land of Egypt Joseph was sold as a slave to an Egyptian named Potiphar. Potiphar was wealthy and the captain of the King of Egypt's guard. As time passed, Potiphar was more and more impressed by Joseph's wisdom. He turned over to him the management of his home and property.

From a mere slave, Joseph became an important person in the Land of Egypt.

Joseph had grown into a wise and handsome man and Potiphar's wife became jealous of Joseph's success. She was a very vain woman. She wanted Joseph to admire her beauty. But Joseph would not betray the trust Potiphar had placed in him. In her anger, Potiphar's wife accused Joseph of turning against his master. Joseph could not prove this was untrue, so Potiphar had him thrown into prison.

 

But even in prison Joseph's wisdom left an impression on the prison guards.

 

They came to value Joseph greatly. He was the kind of man people turned to for help and advice. When the King of Egypt's chief butler and baker were thrown into prison, they became Joseph's friends. One night the chief butler and the chief baker each dreamed a dream. They asked Joseph whether he could tell them what the dreams meant.

All Joseph's hardships had made him modest and gentle.

 

He inquired of God of the meanings of these men's dreams and said that the butler in three days he would be released from prison and restored to his high place. But he told the poor baker that in three days he would be hanged. What he told them came to pass. In three days the butler was released and restored to his place in the King's court. But on the same day the baker was hanged.

  

The King of Egypt was called Pharaoh. At this time Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth. But Pharaoh had dreams like other people—dreams which troubled him. He dreamed he stood on the bank of the River Nile. Out of the river came seven fat cows and they began to graze. Then seven lean, wretched cows came out of the river and they swallowed up the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh had a second dream. In this dream he saw a tall stalk of wheat, and on it were seven fat, healthy kernels. Then a thin, wretched stalk of wheat sprang up from the ground. There were seven dry kernels on this thin stalk, and they devoured the seven fat, healthy kernels.

 

Pharaoh was very troubled by these two dreams, and he called in his wisest magicians to tell him what they meant. In those days magicians were important men in Egypt. But none of Pharaoh's magicians knew what the dreams meant. Then the King's butler remembered how Joseph had explained his dream in prison. He told Pharaoh about this and Pharaoh asked that Joseph be brought to him.

Joseph was taken from prison, washed, given clean clothes and brought Pharaoh.

The King told Joseph his dream.

"Can you explain it to me?" he asked.

"God will give me the power to understand it," Joseph answered.

He told Pharaoh that the fat cows and healthy kernels of wheat stood for seven years of good harvests in Egypt, with plenty of food. The lean cows and the lean kernels of wheat were seven years of poor crops and famine, when no food would grow in Egypt. Joseph told Pharaoh this was a warning to Egypt, so there would be time to prepare.

 

Pharaoh and has magicians were amazed at what Joseph had told them. They believed him and asked him what to do. He told them that for seven years food must be set aside and stored. Then, when the seven years of famine came, there would be enough food and the people would not starve. He said Pharaoh must find a man wise enough to take charge of all this. Pharaoh decided Joseph was the wisest man in Egypt, and he appointed him to take charge of the storing of food.

 

Only the King himself had more power now than Joseph.

 

Now in the Land of Canaan where Jacob, Joseph's father, still lived with Joseph's eleven brothers, there was famine and hunger. It was known everywhere that there was food in Egypt, so Jacob sent ten of his sons to Egypt to buy food. But he kept his youngest son, Benjamin, with him, because he loved him so much. He was afraid something might happen to Benjamin on the long journey into Egypt.

The ten brothers of Joseph came into Egypt and appeared before him. They said they wanted to buy food. Joseph knew them at once, but he was not angry at them. He remembered how vain he had been with his coat of many colors. Now his heart filled with love for his brothers, and he sold them the food they needed, but he could hardly talk to them without weeping.

 

There is yet more to be told about this story in order to get the complete ending, but the questions that are to be posed are this:

 

• Do you have a dream?
• What is keeping you from fulfilling the dream God has given you?

The Word of God must be the foundation of everything we do in order to stand strong and not falter in the pursuit of our dreams, which God has made known to us. Without God and without being saturated with the Word of God throughout every area of our lives we have no base—solid ground to keep us on the path that God would lead us on.

 

The following are 10 points to keep in mind when following through to reach the dream(s) which God has purposed in you:

 

1. Know your dream is from God
2. Step out
3. Expect obstacles
4. Watch for detours
5. Don't hide your faith
6. Faith without works is dead
7. Slow and steady is sometimes best
8. Don't quit
9. Make prayer a way of life
10. Stand on solid ground 

Don't just try to fulfill the dream(s) God is leading you in or run ahead, but wait on Him to direct your path and follow where He is leading you. Learn to have faith that you will reach your goal, and you'll get there. You might not reach your goal as quickly as you'd like, but as you follow God's lead the dream will come. If something comes slowly it builds a foundation in your life. Nobody can take it from you and you know how you got there. Overnight success may be exciting, but it won't last and you may not be able to hold onto it. But when you get there, you'll know it.

 

Keep in prayer and in the Word, because doing so keeps you focused. It refuels you as you work toward the dream(s) God has given you, keeping the lines of communication open for His guidance in your life as well. Also, look for opportunities to glorify God with your dream, and don't keep what He's done and is doing for you a secret.

 

Once you have a vision of where God is leading, it's time to step out—most people won't do that. Instead they hide their dream or they get scared and only go as far as they can control. God is the God of the impossible. He doesn't give you dream(s) you can do on your own. You've got to go beyond your limitations into God's territory. Take a step that brings you out of your own power and into God's—where all things are possible.

 

Yet Joseph felt his brothers must be punished a little. So he made them leave Simeon as a prisoner in Egypt. And he told them not to come back unless they brought their youngest brother, Benjamin, with them. When they returned to their father without Simeon, Jacob's heart was truly broken. This was the second son he had lost. He was an old man and this new loss was almost more than he could bear.

When the food was finally gone, he told the brothers they must go back to Egypt and buy more. But they said it would be useless unless they took Benjamin. The great master of Egypt's stores of food had warned them. At first Jacob refused. But at last their hunger was such that he gave in and Benjamin went to Egypt with his brothers.

When Joseph saw Benjamin, his little brother, he had to turn away to hide his tears. Yet he felt his brothers must be punished a little more. So, after he sold them food, he hid his favorite silver cup in Benjamin's bag. Then he sent soldiers after the brothers. When they brought the brothers back to Joseph, he told them that as Benjamin had taken his silver cup, he must stay in Egypt.

 

He would be Joseph's slave.

 

The brothers pleaded with Joseph to take any one of them instead. They told him that Jacob, their old father, would die if they came back without Benjamin. At this Joseph could hide himself from them no longer. He burst into tears and told them who he was. He told them how he loved them. He took them into his great house and gave them gifts of clothes and silver. He told them they should return to the Land of Canaan and bring Jacob and all his family to live in Egypt. He promised they would be given a wonderful place to live.

 

How great was Jacob's joy when the eleven brothers returned to Canaan!

 

When they told him that his beloved son, Joseph, was alive, he could not believe his good fortune. Then the whole family took their tents and their camels and their herds of cattle and traveled down to Egypt. Joseph embraced his father, Jacob, and gave him many beautiful gifts. He also gave him land on which to live. For many years after that, the Jews, the people of Jacob, or the Children of Israel as they also were called, lived contentedly in Egypt.

 

So ends the story of Joseph and his dreams… won't you follow in the steps of Joseph and reach the dream(s) God is leading you in for your own life?