Wednesday 24 August 2016

On the Way to the Palace 7- Joseph's Dreams 3

"9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”
10 This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?”11 But while his brothers were jealous of Joseph, his father wondered what the dreams meant."  Genesis 37:9-11 New Living Translation NLT
11 Joseph’s brothers envied him and were jealous of him, but his father observed the saying and pondered over it- Genesis 37:11 Amplified Version AMPC

To make a surety of what God had said, Joseph had yet another dream about his future. Indeed both the Old (Deuteronomy 19:15) and New(2 Corinthians 13:1;1 Timothy 5:19) Testament advocate the importance of more than one witness for a matter to be established .

Now this second dream although similar to the first was on a larger scale. It was a build up of the former. This latter dream   had to do with heavenly bodies which although Joseph was familiar with ,was out of his control. Joseph woke up from this divine encounter and tried to get his brothers to appreciate what had happened. In addition to telling his brothers, we are told Joseph took a step further and also informed his father, Jacob ( Genesis  37:10).

Jacob was sensitive enough to decode the meaning of his son’s dream.  However unlike the reaction of his brothers, Jacob is said to have had two reactions to the dream. The very first of these was a  sharp rebuke(scolded in the New Living Translation) to Joseph, which was  followed by a thoughtful reflection as we are told he later pondered about the dream( Genesis 37:11). The man on the Way to the Palace must recognize that even fathers may not acknowledge their dreams and  could mistakenly disapprove of them initially.

But perhaps if Jacob had pondered first, he would not have rebuked Joseph but typical of us all ,he spoke before thinking deeply (James 1:19),Even after thinking, he did not have a full understanding of what lay ahead of his son. Unlike God, .our knowledge is limited and we only know and understand in part ( 1 Corinthians 13 9 ) .It is wisdom  therefore for us  not to speak  against what we do not understand, lest we find ourselves in a position where we are fighting against God’s purpose(Acts 5:39 ).

For Joseph, it was through dreams God communicated but with us today, although God may choose to use dreams(Job 33:15, the acid test of all our revelations(dreams, visions, trance etc) should be God’s written Word(2 Timothy 3:16). All revelations should undergo an examination under the light of the Scriptures. We should not allow ourselves to be moved by dreams  blindly and pursue things that are  not right erroneously saying  “we  have a peace about it”. Having a peace about something that is not right is contrary to the scriptures which  says righteousness and peace have met together (Psalms 85:10).Peace that is not  synchronous with righteousness is false peace that may have been achieved by the searing of our consciences following several arguments with the Holy Spirit who is gentle enough to be grieved and be silent (Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 5:19).

On the Way to the Palace, our dreams must not just be good but  must line up with the Word of God and his will for our lives(2 Peter 1:2). God and the word of his grace is sufficient enough to keep and guide us(Acts 20:32) eventually to the Palace.

Yours in His Service,
Grace Tom-Lawyer.

"On the Way to the Palace" is the current series on your Bible Study Programme "FEASTING AT THE TABLE” aka F.A.T which is hosted by Grace Tom-Lawyer every Saturday 11am GMT on Peace &Joy  Online Radio.

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