The Birth Of A Dream

Despite his age, the elderly man could still move with enough agility to remain undetected throughout his tents at night. An occasional bleat from a goat or murmur from the new lambs let him know they were aware of his movings, but recognized he posed no threat. He made his way to the bed of the youngster who was responsible for his wakefulness this particular night and looked down at the adolescent face he dearly loved. The moonlight cast enough light that Jacob could see how much Joseph resembled Rachel, his late wife. Across the tent lay, Benjamin, the younger of Rachel’s sons. Even now, after all these years, Jacob’s heart swelled with both pride and grief over the loss of his beloved wife, who had produced these two wondrous gifts in the autumn of his life. As Jacob looked at Joseph, he saw the adolescent fuzz on his cheek and recognized the child of his old age would soon be a man with a coarse beard and a muscular build of a shepherd  like his many other sons. But that is where the similarity stopped. For Joseph was different. A special boy with special ideas, always animated and engaging, making Jacob laugh with his pranks and antics. His charismatic personality was almost irresistible to all, except Joseph’s own older brothers. They often complained to Jacob about Joseph and his ability to charm his way out of more difficult tasks and Jacob knew they resented how much he favored Joseph. But Jacob, himself, had been the center of his own mother Rebekah’s attention while his brother Esau had been favored by their father Isaac. Despite these painful  dynamics, he and Esau had come out on the other side with a restored relationship. This gave Jacob a confidential hope that Joseph and his older brothers would work out their differences. 

It would probably help if Joseph would work harder at keeping his dreams to himself for now. Jacob smiled as he wondered what Rachel would say about the conversation Jacob and Joseph had shared earlier that day. In his usual dramatic style, Joseph had told his father that he had a dream where the sun and the moon, along with eleven other stars had bowed down before him. Jacob had pressed Joseph for an interpretation, inquiring did Joseph think, “that your Mother and I, along with your brothers, will actually bow down before you?” (Gen 37:10) Though Jacob didn’t necessarily care for Joseph’s haughty tone, Jacob was careful not to prematurely dismiss the value of the dream. Hadn’t The Lord God spoken to Jacob on more than one occasion through dreams? Jacob sighed as the hour was late and the fatigue of the day called through his aching hip to seek his rest. He looked down at Joseph, and wondered what dreams might visit his young son’s adventurous mind tonight as he lay curled up. Jacob reached for the beloved colored cloak that He had commissioned as a gift for Joseph, and covered the sleeping lad. He prayed that God would cover Joseph with the strength he would need for the life God was calling him too, the very life Joseph was dreaming about.

It’s not hard to picture a Dad or a Mom hovering over their children as they sleep. If you are a parent, you have made this excursion many times. In sickness and health, good times and bad, days of victory and defeat, and just sometimes plain old days where you couldn’t resist the one more time check. If you are not a parent, be assured that your own folks may have stood over you more than you recognize. However, if they did not, be assured that God, your heavenly Father, kept vigil and is still watching over you and what concerns you. His care is more competent and far more reaching than any earthly parent can provide. When I think of Jacob and Joseph, I think of the legacy and the role that dreams and vision played in their amazing account. 

It started with Abraham (Genesis 11:27-12:9). Jacob’s grandfather who left his own palatial home in the Ur of the Chaldees to obey and follow the call of God. Giving him a vision of the night sky God promised Abraham he would, “certainly bless [him, that the Lord God] will multiply [his] descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.” (Gen 22:17) His descendants would create a strong nation that would be famous for being an instrument to bless all other nations. 

It’s important to remember that all of the ingredients necessary to fulfill this vision were not on hand and Abraham didn’t even have one son—not one. The legacy of Abraham was lived out in the life of Abraham’s son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob, who was the father of Joseph. Jacob had received a promise through a dream that God would make his descendants as numerous as the dust and would stretch out in all directions
(Gen 28:14). Joseph was part of the fulfillment of that dream, and where God had also promised protection to Jacob and his line of descendants. 

What encourages me about this history is that despite all these folks and their heaps of trouble and strife (and believe me when I say they had heaps), God kept working with them. He kept moving them forward, revealing visions and dreams of a bright and prosperous future and supplying all the opportunities for the dreams to become reality. God was, and always is, behind the scenes orchestrating events and transitions that reveal themselves later.

They can be solutions to problems folks didn’t even know they have or had at the time. Joseph was a young boy, spoiled by most people’s measure. He was certainly indulged in ways that were perhaps not in his best interest. However the power behind Joseph’s dreams would carry him to places he nor his father could never imagine. In Joseph’s life, God used dreams to prompt, inspire and prepare Joseph for the very purpose God had for him. I love that God did not give a small dream to a small boy, but rather gave him the dream of grandeur that a small boy like Joseph could grow into. This reminds me that God dreams bigger for me than I can dream for myself. God-size dreams take us further than we would plan to go. They exact a certain type of richness out of the soil of our souls that we don’t even know is buried there. And often deliver us to places and destinies that we could never map out left to our own navigation. God’s dreamer heart is His supernatural way of yet again, demonstrating His sovereignty over time and circumstances. It reveals that He does have specific plans for individuals that are best suited to the talents and temperament that they have been imparted with. The  Lords’ dreams for Joseph remind us that He has wonderful surprises in store for those who love and trust in Him.

Currently, many folks have shared with me, life seems like a bad dream. We all wrestle to awaken ourselves from the restless nightmarish slumber of a virus that has transcended over our minds like a fog. It is good to be reminded that God never sleeps or slumbers, and that He is not limited by our visions or dreams. I take such comfort that God has, and is, always behind the scenes working, giving visions to daytime minds and planting dreams in the nighttime hearts of believers. 

Dreams to take us to the next place that we need to serve Him and bless ourselves and others. Right now, some doctor or scientist may have the dream of a vaccine haunting his or her sleep. Placed there by God to help a globe cope and overcome the enemy of disease that has moved in and tried to take over our existence. This has happened before and God doesn’t have a limit on the number of miracles He can perform. He is not bound by man’s knowledge or opportunities and sees a future  I can only anticipate or dread, depending on my volume of faith. God’s dreams don’t have to make sense today, they are based on tomorrow’s knowledge which I lack, and He is in abundance of. God sized dreams require God sized feats that require God sized power. It’s His design to birth them in the mind and heart. When I rest in Him, I can dream His dreams and faithfully accept that both myself and others may not understand their meaning but they will come to fruition in His own time. Today I recognize that my ability to dream is only limited by my lack of vision, not my lack of sleep