Christian Living

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Larry Lilly’s Letter Monday April 27, 2009

Since hearing the utterly magnificent voice of Susan Boyle, my thinking, musing if you will, has been fixed on "dreaming." Not the sleep kind, but the impossible kind, that enables people to move mountains, empires and above all, human hearts to cling to a higher hope.

Long before I heard Susan belt out her song, I reveled in the dream and the fulfillment of Joseph's dream, yep that Joseph, the one who had the multi-colored coat.

Joseph's dream was a dream of leadership, a leadership of messianic proportion, and in the culture in which he lived, a near impossible one. From the time the dreamed formed in his mind and heart approximately 93 years passed. To have your dreams come true after a lapse of 93 years is as near the 12th of never as you are going to get!!

The story is found in Genesis 37 through chapter 50 and what a saga it is. During this time Joseph is presented as the favorite of his father, a real no no. Joseph, failing to understand that your dream does not thrill people when it involves you ascending to higher planes than they, told everyone that one day he would lead and not only lead, but lead the entire family, including Dad and Mom. Talk about a family pitching a hissy fit, just browse through the above mentioned chapters and you will read one worthy of 5 stars.

An outline of Joseph's life and suffering reveals that he was loved by his father, rejected by his brothers, betrayed by his brothers, sold to his enemies, put in prison, betrayed while in prison, spent his adult life on supervised release, bloomed where he was planted and ultimately realized his dream.

Throughout the above trials Joseph maintained a godly attitude thus avoiding despair, vengeance and bitterness. Joseph accomplished this amazing inner victory by understanding that dreams do not always come true overnight; they often take a lifetime to come to full fruition. And he grasped the fact that overall, God is in charge of the events of our life. This comes glaringly to light in Joseph's statement to his father and brothers in Genesis 50:20:

"But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."

The verse contains a world of wisdom to aid us as we struggle along life's path, trying to understand the mysterious ways in which God is working in our life, for His glory, the good of others, even those who mistreat us, and for our personal growth in Christ.

Dreams usually are mapped out along a lengthy, often tortuous path, but God is leading all the way and we must simply walk along the rough path with faith in our hearts that, yes, He is leading. This is explained a little in Job 23:10.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit

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