The Bible is filled with profound truths relatable to our world today. That is why the Bible is rightly referred to as a living manual for a successful life on earth. This manual doesn’t promise or depict a life without challenges but contains a cheat sheet for overcoming life’s hurdles and living a victorious life.
In today’s blog, let’s glean the life of one prominent
man in the Bible named Joseph. His story can be found in the book of
Genesis from chapter 37 to the end of Genesis. In Genesis 37 Joseph
had a dream of a great future for himself. He dreamed that those older than him would eventually bow to him. Now the interesting thing that we always
hold onto from this part of Joseph’s story is to keep our dreams to
ourselves to avoid them being truncated even before they materialize.
While I agree with this line of thought I would
like to make some additions to it. Having a dream is the beginning of a journey,
running with the dream is the big assignment that follows. Many people have had
dreams like Joseph's, they have kept these dreams to themselves to avoid them being truncated
or polluted, yet these dreams never materialize. And then, I wonder—God
who is all-knowing and sees all things even before they happen, knowing beforehand that Joseph would tell the dream prematurely, still chose to reveal to
Joseph what would happen to him ahead. God, knowing Joseph would not keep the
secret, and also knowing the hearts of his brothers were envious, and what would happen
to Joseph if he told the secret, still showed Joseph his future.
The big problem wasn’t what anyone could or would do to
truncate Joseph’s dream but what Joseph himself would do to materialize or truncate
the dream. The question wasn’t about what others would do but what Joseph himself
would or would not do. So, the major focus was “how determined was Joseph in
ensuring that what he had dreamed, was his experience in reality.”
God is not a partial God; He doesn’t bless one and abandon
the other. The door of opportunity opens to all of us at one time or another
and if we dare to dream and run with it with the help of God, we will succeed. Joseph
was sold as a slave, and he was imprisoned, about 20 years of wait was what he
endured but that dream never left him. His circumstances, situation, and challenges
were not big enough to kill the dream he had dreamed. His situation didn't look like his dream, but his dream prevailed over his situation.
Another interesting thing I noticed was that all through Joseph’s
ordeal; from his father’s care to being a slave, a convict who was falsely imprisoned,
what the Bible tells us is that God was with Joseph. In his pain and suffering,
God was with him and he was a successful man (Genesis 39: 2-3). He was a
successful slave and a successful prisoner. I am sure you will wonder why it happened that way. God would
have taken him through an easier route to success. Joseph didn’t have to be a slave, and
then a prisoner to become a prime minister. If your thoughts are in this direction, they are
valid. However, God knew the enormity of His planned greatness for Joseph and He also knew He needed to train him first to be mature enough to handle the capacity of what
God was doing in his life. The issue was not about Joseph telling the
secret. It was about God putting Joseph through a divine preparation course for
the magnitude of the greatness coming.
In God's training hands Joseph learned loyalty, hard work, trustworthiness,
overcoming temptation, and learned to focus. He also learned leadership. In Genesis 39:23, Joseph was already an authority over all the
prisoners. By the time he was heading to the palace to take on the elevated
position, he was ready for the opportunity.
Quite a handful of people have dreams like that of Joseph
that don’t look like they will ever come to pass. Days are counting into weeks,
weeks into months, and months into years, and still, it doesn’t seem as if this
dream will ever be real. The big takeaway from this story of Joseph is: “What is
God teaching me in the process?” God will not entrust big stuff into small
minds. If it has to be you, then you need to be trained. No matter how many people
you tell your dreams to when you are ready for the breakthrough, it will not
delay. But if being able to hold your mouth and keep secrets is the lesson God desires
for you to learn, you will have to learn
it before you show yourself ready for the big break.
So, I finish with this: delay they say is not denial. Your
waiting time is not a wasted time, rather, it is a prepping time. It is God teaching you and revalidating
the values of greatness in you before your portion of greatness comes. It is a
time of learning and so embrace it with grace.