Beginning in Genesis 37, the Bible begins the account of Joseph sharing two very profound dreams that he had with his brothers.
As the story details, there was already resentment there. It was evident that they did not like Joseph due to the favor that he had with their father.
But as the story goes on, such deep resentment and vehement hatred could not have just been from two little dreams and the love of the father.
But the fact that it upset them at such a high level tells me that those two dreams could not have possibly been the first dreams that Joseph had had.
It's highly likely that there were others. And it was the other ones that set the stage for them to take the two that became the catalyst for all of the trouble that took place serious.
I believe that every gift that we carry is with us from the moment that we're born in seed form.
Joseph didn't just wake up one day and have two little dreams.
NO SIR.
I believe that Joseph had been dreaming and seeing dreams come to pass all along.
They lived in a family of dreamers. Joseph's father Jacob was a dreamer.
And when there is a culture for placing a high value on dreams in a family, there is also a recognition for their importance.
There is a reason that they felt threatened hearing his dreams.
They taunted him in Genesis 37:19 saying:
"Look! Here comes the dreamer!"
Joseph was recognized as a consistent dreamer.
It was a part of how he was identified within his family.
As time goes on, we know that Joseph was betrayed and sold into slavery by his brothers.
We also follow a very long, detailed journey of Joseph's imprisonment, and how he was treated unjustly.
However, at the end of it all, we discover God's plan.
He was intimately involved with a very detailed, intentional plan to preserve Abraham's lineage, and a nation in the process of being birthed.
It was imperative to God that all 12 tribes make it to Egypt to survive the famine....
Which leads me to the reason for writing this to begin with.
Because of the condition of the family, coupled with the condition of Jospeh's brother's hearts, when they heard him share his dreams, they filtered them through the current condition of their understanding.
The family was in competition.
The family was in conflict and war with one another.
As a result, they were conditioned to look out for themselves.
They could not see beyond their own desires.
They saw Joseph's dream as a threat.
They could not see it as anything different.
But the truth was....... The dream that God gave Joseph was an answer.
The dream was never about Joseph.
It was about a NATION.
God was looking to save a nation through Joseph.
What they perceived ("they" also including Joseph) as a dream reflecting hierarchy and privilege, was really far too simplified in the intention of God's heart.
The dream that God gave Joseph was a glimpse of a plan that God had in place to preserve the very people that were taking action to kill the plan.
Had Joseph's brother's been successful in killing Joseph, they would have been successful in killing themselves, and also successful in stopping the lineage promised to Abraham.
They saw a dream instead of a purpose.
God gave the dream to Joseph because he was the only one equipped to steward the process that it would take to get to a position of authority to fend for his people.
The filter of their heart that had been conditioned to compete could not see that it was God's goodness that had gone before them to prepare provision for a time that they did not know would happen.
Their eagerness to get rid of Joseph would have been their own ruin if God had allowed it to happen.
Just like Joseph's brothers, many still find it difficult to process the dreams of others.
When we carry insecurity in our heart, it produces competition of a selfish nature, jealousy, and "every evil work" as mentioned in James 3.
It takes someone perfected in love, and sure of God's plans for them to be able to hear and SEE the dreams of another being fulfilled, or even spoken of, and not perceive them incorrectly.
It doesn't just take maturity, it takes TRUST.
And when you TRUST God's love for you, it creates space for you to be encouraged by someone else's dreams, even if it appears that their dreams make you subordinate in some way.
Humility processes differently.
Surety of God's plan processes differently.
Trust becomes a filter by which we process not just our own successes and failures, but others!
We are all one body.
We are joined together.
My success is your success, and vice versa.
No plan that is given to anyone in his body is about just that one person.
God is far too wise and calculating. (in the best way)
He has tied all of our experiences together.
ALL of our dreams serve one another in some way.
And it takes a connection with His spirit to be able to perceive his involvement, and rejoice in what he is doing.
I encourage you to look deeper.
I encourage you to encourage one another.
Celebrate each other's dreams and success.
When we do so, we are celebrating our own.
We are connected.
To forget this is to be blind.
And blindness almost always leads to a ditch.
Sabotaging your brother or sister IS to sabotage yourself.
Get on God's team.
You're a team mate and may not even know it.
