Cris Sequeira

How God fulfills your dreams

Introduction

When you were young, while sleeping, have you ever had a dream about something that happened to you later in life?

That doesn’t happen to many people, does it? It has never happened to me, for example. All my life, my dreams have mostly been nonsensical, and I always ignored them.

However, there is a character in the Bible who had dreams that did become reality later in his life.

That character is Joseph, one of the thirteen children of Jacob.

Joseph had a very eventful life, so much so that his story occupies more than a fifth of the book of Genesis.

There are many great and important lessons that we can learn about dreams—in both the literal as well as the metaphorical sense—from his story. Let’s look at a few of them.

Spoiled offspring

His story starts in Genesis 37:1, 2:

(1) Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. This is the history of Jacob. (2) Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.

As soon as Joseph is introduced in the narrative, the Bible tells us something about his character. It shows, I think, that Joseph had both a strength and a weakness.

Joseph was what we call a snitch. If his older brothers did something bad or wrong, then he would run and tell his father Jacob about it. His brothers obviously didn’t like being exposed, so they hated Joseph for it.

However, siblings snitching on each other is a normal thing that children do all the time. My sister, for example, snitched on me very often when we were kids, because I was a very naughty boy and a troublemaker, so I know what Joseph’s brothers felt like.

Many children snitch on their siblings because they enjoy seeing them get into trouble, but that wasn’t my sister’s case. Every time she snitched on me, it was because what I had done, was doing, or planned to do, was dangerous or wrong. She was, and still is, very obedient to my parents, and she has very a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong. Judging from everything that the Bible says about Joseph, I think that he probably was like that too. He had a strong sense of justice.

Joseph probably had good reason to snitch on his siblings anyway. Jacob’s other children were mostly horrible people. You can go and read it for yourself in the book of Genesis. Read about the horrible things that Rueben, Judah, Simeon, and Levi did, for example. Jacob really messed up his son’s education.

So, Joseph’s strength was that he had a strong sense of justice. His weakness, however, is that his father spoiled him, so he was also a bit self-righteous, and lacked some basic social skills. Those he still needed to develop in order for him to become ready to be in the position that God wanted to place him in.

The futility of silencing guilt

We can confirm that these were Joseph’s strengths and weaknesses when we look at what Joseph did next.

Let’s jump a bit forward and read verses 5 to 10:

(5) Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. (6) So he said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: (7) There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf.” (8) And his brothers said to him, “Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. (9) Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.” (10) So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?”

Joseph had two dreams that had a very obvious interpretation to everyone in his family, except maybe to him. This is ironic, because later in his life, he correctly interpreted the dreams of three other people, and by doing so, his own dreams were fulfilled.

The mistake that Joseph made is a very common one for young and inexperienced people to make. He didn’t think about how his words would come across to others before he spoke them. He didn’t think that his brothers would hate him even more when they heard about his dreams. Joseph had not learned yet that not every thing that can be said, should be said, even if the thought is true and correct.

On the other hand, maybe we can also say that God inspired Joseph to speak about his dreams, and Joseph just followed God’s direction. I say this because, I think that these dreams served maybe more than one purpose. Maybe they were also a warning to his brothers about what was going to happen in the future. Unfortunately, they ignored that warning though.

There is a certain irony in this as well: Joseph’s dreams became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It was because Joseph shared those dreams with his brothers, that they became so angry, to the point of selling him into slavery, as we will later see. Then from that position as a slave, God eventually elevated Joseph to great power and his dreams were fulfilled.

I want to be very clear about one thing though: What Joseph’s brothers did to him, was their choice. It’s true that God had a plan for Joseph’s life. That’s what his dreams indicated. However, God could have accomplished that plan in an infinite number of ways. Fulfilling that plan did not have to involve Joseph being sold into slavery. Joseph didn’t make his brothers sell him into slavery. God didn’t make his brothers sell him into slavery. They chose to sell Joseph into slavery because of their envy towards their brother’s position as their father’s favorite son, and because of their unsanctified hearts.

Another component of this, is that Joseph’s good character was a silent rebuke to them. They knew that Joseph was in the right and that they were in the wrong. They felt guilty for that. However, instead of humbly submitting themselves to God, they tried to get rid of the source of their guilt.

That’s what happens to almost everyone who distances him or herself from God. It’s not because God does anything to hurt them or to push them away. No. It’s because they feel the guilt when their sinful nature is brought to their attention. Guilt, if it comes together with true remorse and conviction over sin, is not a bad thing. It’s a feeling that we can make use of to motivate ourselves to humbly approach God, ask for forgiveness, be cleansed from sin, and thereby clear our conscience. However, a lot of people love their sin so much, that they don’t feel any remorse or conviction, so they choose to distance themselves from God, in order to silence that uncomfortable sense of guilt.

If you combine an unsanctified heart, with envy and guilt, then you have a recipe for disaster. A man or a woman in that condition becomes a ready tool for Satan to do great evil with, and to bring untold destruction and misery upon the people around them. This is why, I think, that there are so many passages in the Bible urging us not to envy other people, and not to compare ourselves to them.

I want to give you just a brief example: In Genesis 4 you can read how Cain murdered his brother Abel. He did it because his heart was unsanctified; he did it because he was envious of his brother’s offering to God being accepted when his wasn’t; and he did it because Abel’s good character was also a silent rebuke to him. He felt guilty, but without remorse or conviction, so he wanted to get rid of the source of his guilt. That’s why he killed his own brother in cold blood.

I find this extremely ironic, because at that time in history, these stories were passed down orally. So, I think that it’s not impossible that Jacob taught his children about how Cain murdered Abel. Yet, they completely ignored that lesson.

Imagine how it must have felt for Joseph’s brothers to keep this a secret for more than twenty years. They thought that they were going to get rid of the source of their guilt, but in reality, they just piled an even heavier burden of guilt on top of themselves. It must have crushed their souls. Indeed, even after the truth came to light, they still had to live with the shame of what they did to Joseph for the rest of their lives.

It’s truly dangerous to entertain envy in our hearts.

Boulevard of broken dreams

Let’s jump forward and read verses 23 to 27:

(23) So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. (24) Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. (25) And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. (26) So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? (27) Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

Imagine how traumatizing this experience must have been for Joseph. He approaches his brothers, and they grab him violently. They yell at him and insult him, as they drag him towards a pit that they then throw him down into. They then pull him out, making him perhaps think for a moment that they were just teaching him a cruel lesson, but then he hears some strange men talking about how much they are willing to pay to buy him. His brothers hold him in place, tie his hands with tight ropes that cut into his skin, give the ropes to the merchants while Joseph screams and begs for them to release him, and then take in exchange a mere twenty pieces of a cold metal. As the caravan moves out of sight, Joseph continues screaming, but it’s pointless. His brothers turn their heads away, and he’s now left alone with a dangerous group of men who are dragging him to a foreign land, where he will be made to do the back-breaking work of a slave.

There are dreams like the visions that Joseph had, and then there are dreams like the goals that we have for life.

Whatever Joseph’s dreams for his life were, that day, those dreams died a terrifying and hopeless death.

Anyone who had been betrayed by his own family in this way, would have felt tempted to give in to despair and abandon whatever faith they have. In fact, this is often what happens to people when tragedy befalls them. They blame God for it and turn their backs on Him.

We will see in a moment, however, that Joseph did not do that. Even if he felt despair for a short while, he then pulled himself back together, and chose to hold onto his faith in God.

So, naturally, we have to ask: Why and how did Joseph remain faithful?

I would like to suggest to you, that maybe it was partly because of the dreams that God had given him.

I want to repeat that: I think that Joseph didn’t get discouraged and abandon his faith because of the dreams that God gave him.

Let me explain what I mean.

The tradition of having interesting dreams runs in the family. Joseph’s father, Jacob, once had a dream of his own. This happened long before he was married and had children, and it’s recorded in Genesis 28. We’re not going to go there. I will just summarize the story to you.

Jacob had just fled his home; he was out in the desert; he was cold; he was hungry; he was exhausted; he felt very guilty and remorseful for how he had deceived his father and his brother; and he felt that God would abandon him.

That night, however, he had a dream about a stairway connecting heaven to earth, demonstrating to him that God had not abandoned him. It gave him the courage to stay faithful to God, even in his difficult circumstances.

This is the story of Jacob’s dream, and I am 100% sure that he told his son Joseph that story as he grew up.

So, as Joseph, was being dragged around the desert by the rude merchants, feeling betrayed, abandoned, and hopeless, it may be that his father’s story came to his remembrance. When that happened, Joseph remembered his own dreams that God gave him, and he felt encouraged in the thought that God would help him to live through this experience. Joseph then made a vow to be faithful to God, no matter what.

I think that this story should encourage us too.

If your circumstances in life turned out to be different from what you expected; if you struggle to survive; if you carry a heavy burden of responsibility; if you’re limited by disease; if you find yourself without family or friends; if some kind of tragedy befell you that placed you in what seems to be a hopeless situation; then know that no matter how bleak your circumstances may be, God has not abandoned you; He will carry you through your struggles; and today, through this story that we’re studying, He is sending you a word of encouragement.

How God fulfills our dreams

Let’s move forward with the story.

Apart from the dreams that God gave to Joseph, and as I suggested before, maybe the young man had dreams for his life, in the sense that he had certain goals or ambitions.

If we feel no hope of achieving our dreams, then we may feel tempted to assume that God allowed that, just as He allowed Joseph’s dreams to be taken away from him.

Let’s see if that’s what actually happened.

Let’s jump to chapter 39, and let’s read verses 1 to 6:

(1) Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. (2) The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. (3) And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. (4) So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. (5) So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. (6) Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate.

Joseph marched into Egypt with his head lifted up. Not only did he stick to his religion, completely surrounded by pagans, but he even made an effort to do the work of a slave to the best of his ability.

The natural consequence of this is that (1), God blessed his efforts and multiplied the results, and (2) Joseph drew the attention and the respect of the people around him.

I have to be honest with you about something: I am not preaching this to you. I’m preaching it to myself. I struggle with all the character defects that I mentioned, and I often feel discouraged about the circumstances of my life. That is why I so often think about Joseph’s story, particularly his experience working as a slave, and especially when I have a bad day at work and feel like complaining about it.

What always amazes me, is that nowhere in this book is Joseph recorded ever making a single complaint about his circumstances. He didn’t complain about his work; he didn’t complain about being forced to learn a new language; he didn’t complain that it was too difficult to keep his faith in a pagan nation; and most relevant to the topic of today’s sermon: He never complained that he had lost the freedom to pursue his own dreams.

Of course, we know the rest of the story. We know that Joseph eventually became what is basically the prime minister of Egypt. So, he ended up becoming wealthy and influential in society, and that was God’s plan for him. Was that what Joseph wanted? I doubt it. It was a heavy burden of responsibility. A lot of people would want the wealth and the influence that come with it though. Many people dream of becoming famous and rich. That’s probably the most common dream that there is.

However, if you read the Bible from cover to cover carefully, you will see that the majority of the people who have ever lived, even the ones who God called to do a special work for Him, never became as wealthy or as influential as Joseph was. This teaches us that there is no guarantee that God will ever place us in such a position, no matter how faithful to Him we are.

Indeed, this applies not only to wealth and influence. Those two just happen to be the things that most people desire to have. No. This principle applies to almost anything that we can possibly desire: a certain degree of education, all manner of material things that we desire, and even a long and healthy life. The book of Job, for example, exists exactly to make this point clear: God did not promise to give us any of the things that we want from this life in exchange for our faithfulness. The only promise that He has given us is that of eternal life.

Joseph was content to work as a shepherd, as a slave, as a butler, as a prison warden, and as a prime minister. It didn’t matter to him what he did, so as long as he was doing the best work that he could in the position that God had placed him. This is why God could bless him so abundantly without spoiling his character, but more importantly, this is why Joseph never felt discouraged and always had a close relationship with God.

In other words, Joseph made it his dream to fulfill God’s dreams for him, and by doing that, God could fulfill his dreams indeed.

None of us know how to live our lives. None of us truly know what’s best for us, and this includes our dreams. None of us know what our dreams should be. None of us know what goals we should attempt to accomplish. Some of us may have a slightly better guess than the others, but only God has sufficient knowledge to know for sure what the best place and position for us to be in is. Our sins and the sins of others may take us on a detour to get there, like what happened with Joseph, but if we remain faithful to God, then He will change our hearts, so that our dreams for our lives align with His dreams for our lives.

This is how God fulfills our dreams.

An example in character and type

Let’s finish by jumping to chapter 41, and let’s read verses 37 to 41:

(37) So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. (38) And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” (39) Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. (40) You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” (41) And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

What mattered to Joseph the most, was not fulfilling his dreams for his life. What mattered to him the most was to faithfully represent God’s character to the people around him, which he succeeded at. His brothers reluctantly acknowledged it. Potiphar acknowledged it. Even Pharaoh acknowledged it. That is what truly made him a man of success.

The good news is that, if our greatest dream is to faithfully represent God’s character to others, then that is a dream that God will fulfill for us, guaranteed. It is a dream that He can fulfill for all of us, great or small, rich or poor, educated or not.

Beyond that, however, Joseph was faithful to God to such a high degree, that not only did he become an evangelist to those around him, but God even made his life’s story an illustration of the life, ministry, and glory of Jesus Christ.

I will quickly give you a short list of some of the parallels that exist between the life of Joseph and that of Jesus, that are known by most people:

These are just a few parallels. I’m sure that there are more.

Our lives cannot become illustrations of the life of the Messiah anymore, because Jesus has come already, but we can become illustrations of His loving character to others, living epistles of Christ, “known and read by all men” (2 Corinthians 3:2).

That is what I hope and pray that we all can learn to do.

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