Wednesday 17 August 2016

On the Way to the Palace 6- Joseph's Dreams 2



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. Genesis 37:5-6 NLT New Living Translation 
                                                   
The jealousy fuelled by the coat of many colours was  again compounded by Joseph’s seemingly grandiose dreams. He had two dreams which he recounted to his brothers. Rather than blame him for telling his brothers, it may be more profitable for us to note that his confession was preceded by belief. Several people may claim to believe, but the authenticity of a man’s belief is reflected by his words. It is noteworthy  that Joseph believed enough in his dream to have actually mentioned it to more than one person. The man on the way to the Palace is one who believes what God has spoken concerning him.

Joseph was not careless but was meticulous and had the details of  dreams he dreamt. He thought well enough of them  to remember clearly  and if he had a diary, I am really tempted to say he must have written them  down.

In this first dream, the grain(sheaves) of Joseph’s brothers gathered round his and bowed down to it. His brothers rightly offered the correct interpretation to this dream but sneered at the fact of the possibility of their younger brother ruling over them(Genesis 37:8). This was something that they could not fathom as they  chose to follow the natural order of things as their yardstick for elevation .They failed to realise that the dreams were not self-generated and that Joseph had been chosen by God. This choice was what made Joseph different from his brothers.

Perhaps it was not difficult for them to relate to the fact that their father loved Joseph more than them all(after all, he was the son of the favourite wife) but with these dreams, God also seemed to be favouring Joseph and this was a cause of jealousy. Although they envied him, judging the end point of glory, they did not know the path that he was going to have to  take, The man on the way to the Palace is chosen and with this comes a cross that he must carry daily.

The man on the way to the Palace is one that has been chosen and not necessarily by the natural order of things. This could cause others to envy him.

We also have been chosen by God (Ephesians 1:4) and the path to which he has called us is one that would ensure that we eventually become  as  priests and kings (Revelation 1:6)like his son.(Romans 8:29;2 Corinthians 3:18). Although this is glorious, it is not without rigorous training and discipline which for the present may not be attractive (Hebrews 12:1 ) but the whole journey  will be worth it( Romans 8:18 ) .


Yours in His Service,

Grace Tom-Lawyer.

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