VISION OF LIFE’S ASSIGNMENT (1)

“Look, I have DREAMED still ANOTHER DREM. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me” – Genesis 37:9

Through the medium of Dreams, God planted in the heart of Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son, a clear VISION of LIFE’S ASSIGNMENT: “So they hated him even more for his DREAMS and for his words. Then he dreamed still ANOTHER DREAM and told it to his brothers, and said, Look, I have DREAMED still ANOTHER DREAM. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me” (Gen.37: 8-9). God gave Joseph dreams about his future which made him so excited, he began to share them with his envious brothers and their parents. Through two powerful dreams, Joseph received a clear vision for his life, a vision that he would be elevated into leadership and royalty.

In the first dream, Joseph saw himself and his brothers’ binding sheaves in the field. Their sheaves circled around his own and bowed low to the ground (vv.5-6). In his second dream, Joseph saw the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him (vv.8-9). While these dreams were symbolic, they did not require expert interpretation. Joseph’s brothers were already interpreting the dreams to suggest that one day he would be some kind of leader, that the “sun, moon and stars” would bow down to (v.9). His dreams which clearly signified future leadership, only added to the resentment among the brothers. Rather than rallying round him with encouragement, they decided to get rid of him.

Despite the hatred and envy, his was not a vision to be easily discarded, cheaply exchanged or carelessly sacrificed for any other goal in life. Joseph saw the finger of God in all his trials, and the Lord honoured his faith and patience by granting him favour with everyone he met along the path of life. Joseph – the slave – was a prosperous man in the house of Potiphar, his Egyptian master, because God was with him (Gen.39:2,3). Neither the dark descent into Egypt, nor the hard temptation and false accusation by Potiphar’s wife, nor the season of solitude in prison, could silence Joseph’s vision. Through the dreadful pit, Potiphar’s house, and the prison, Joseph held on fast to “the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Heb. 3:6). Ultimately, he was ushered into Pharaoh’s Palace, as Prime Minister of Egypt.

Although God made a covenant with Abraham, renewed with Isaac and Jacob, it was in Joseph that the promise to bless the nations through his seed was most directly fulfilled. Ultimately, people the world over were sustained by the food system that Joseph designed and managed (Gen.41:57). His brothers intended evil by selling him out into slavery, but Joseph saw the bigger picture that “God meant it for good.” He understood the divine mission and articulated his life’s purpose in line with God’s perfect Will: “To save many people alive” (Gen.50:20).