Do you know what Joseph's dream is? Well! From the book of
ancient, called the Bible, has told you and me that Joseph had a
dream that all his brothers would one day bow down before him.
This is bad and good news: It is bad because he had told his
brothers that they would one day bow down before him. It is good
because he had called upon the Lord to help him and allow God to
direct his life for a brighter future. Indeed, God Helps and Cares
for him. Let's follow Joseph to Egypt, the land that God had once
blessed tremendously through Joseph.
Joseph's prideful dream had brought him to slavery in
Egypt
Do you know? Joseph, because of his prideful ness, he went ahead
and shared the dream with his brothers. Oh! Ouch! It's not a good
idea to share. It hurt the brothers very much! And because of this,
Joseph's brothers persecuted him to the point of selling him to the
Egyptian. So, you see that Joseph's prideful ness did not lift him
up just as he might expect. Instead, it had brought him down as far
as to become the Egyptian slave.
Reflection on Joseph's prideful dream
This had alarmed us not to be prideful or selfish of ourselves,
especially, when we are talking or sharing our dream or thought with
other people. Some times, we may act just like Joseph. We would
some times like to feel proud of ourselves regardless of whom
around us that we are pulling down because of our prideful ness.
This doesn't mean that we cannot feel proud of ourselves or feel
proud when we receive great honor for our achievement; it's just
that we should be careful not to share the dream that would make
other people feel smaller than us. This means that we should talk
and share our thoughts and dreams humbly before God and people.
Well! This is the down side of Joseph. And it had brought him many
bad trails just for being proud of himself.
Issue of pride attitudes and God's will for all His
children
I do not know exactly how your situation is right now, but if
you had attitude similarly like Joseph, please be know that it is
bad and against God's will. For God loves us equally. He loves
Joseph, his brothers, you, and me equally. And if I were you, after
learning these severe consequences to Joseph, I would willingly
change my attitude by asking God to help and take care of it now,
just as Joseph had learned from his bad experience. He then asked
God to help and take care of his bad attitudes – by allowing God to
renewing him and installing him with fresh and beneficial attitudes.
Now, it was the time that Joseph asked God to Help him.
Look at Joseph's obedience to and dependency upon God
for His blessing
Next, we will pay close attention to the wonderful news of
Joseph because of his obedience to God and his dependency upon God.
And because of Joseph's strong commitment, God took Care of him
while at the same time teaching him to take responsibility –
preparing him for the up coming much bigger and better
responsibility.
Joseph took charge over the house of Egyptian
commander
Besides his bad attitudes, Joseph had shown us excellent examples
that would encourage us to follow and be blessed tremendously just
as he had. These examples are his great dependency upon God and his
obedience to God. Because of his faithfulness and obedience to God,
God had compassion for him by putting him in high position among the
Egyptian people. Joseph had become interested by the commander of
the Egyptian King, so, the commander had him take charge of his
house. Through Joseph, God had blessed the commander's house
greatly.
Joseph was accused by the commander's wife and had been put in
jail.
However, during this time, Joseph had also faced temptation by
the Commander's wife, bagging him to sleep with her. But Joseph had
refused the woman's request for he had great love and respect for
his master and his God; therefore, he refused by saying that it was
a sin against God and his master, then he ran away from her, from
the room to the court yard, out side of the house. (You can read
about Joseph in Genesis, chapter: 37-42). Joseph's refusal had made
the woman gone mad. She would not let Joseph get off easily, so she
accused Joseph by telling lie's about him to her husband, saying
that Joseph had raped her. The commander believed his wife, and then
put Joseph in jail.
Joseph's obedience to and dependency on God, He had prepared him
for a better life
The important points we have learned here, that by refusing the
woman's request, Joseph had faced a injustice trail, but he had
shown strong obedience to God and dependency upon the mercy of God's
salvation from his enemy. And because of his strong commitment, God
had prepared him for the upcoming brighter future for his life and
his whole family: fulfilling beyond his dream – becoming second
commander to the Egyptian King.
Reflection on Joseph's victory over serious obstacles
by obeying and depending on God
Would you like to resist the temptation similarly to Joseph that
might be receiving an injustice persecution for obeying to God and
depending on His mercy to save you from your enemy! And let God
prepare you for a better future. Well! I know! It is not easy to
commit yourself when facing this. But, if we refuse to fall into
temptation and ask God to help us by allowing Him to prepare our
lives, then we will be sure to receiving abundance blessing beyond
our imagination. It can happen, for it had been proved to Joseph and
many faithful Christians around the world in the past up to now,
including me.
Reflection on: The Mighty Lord bless those who obey
and depend on Him
You know, it is not easy to write songs. I had faced through many
difficulties, especially, when it was required of me to write songs,
which I have never done before. Or write songs with a different
style and tone. But, God is so faithful to me. He always has brought
me through writing each song with high quality – tasteful style and
tone. In summary, I would say that God has blessed me to the point
that I can compose many songs, which I had never dreamed of
composing them before. This is beyond my imagination. It can be done
to you, too. The only requirements are obedience and dependency upon
the Lord, similarly with Joseph. You know!, Joseph's story is
started to getting brighter and brighter. So, please continue with
me on the exciting road into Egypt. There, we would meet Joseph in
jail, and during this time, God had started blessing him from being
the prisoner of the Egyptian to becoming the second commander to the
Egyptian King.
Joseph helped to take charge of the jail, made
friends and interpreted dreams
While Joseph was staying in jail, he had made many friends, and
even the jail commander had shown much interest with Joseph. He had
trusted Joseph so much that he invited Joseph to take charge of the
jail with him. During this time, Pharaoh, The Egyptian King, got
angry with his two officials: the chief cupbearer and the chief
baker. The king put them in jail in the place which Joseph took
charge of. Joseph had made friends with them both. One day, Joseph
saw their faces covered with sadness, and then he asked them what
was the matter with them? They said, "We both had dreams, but there
is no one to interpret them". Joseph responding to them, saying
that the job of interpreting the dream is belonging to God. Then,
asked them to tell him their dreams. The cupbearer told Joseph his
dream. And after listening to his dream, Joseph had interpreted that
the king would give him back his position within three days. The
baker was excited to hear this good interpretation, so he also
shared his dream, hoping for a positive result. But, unfortunately,
Joseph told him that within three days, the king would hang him. And
it had happened just like Joseph had told them. Within three days,
the cupbearer had regained his position, and the baker was hung.
Joseph became second commander to Pharaoh, King of
Egypt
Before the cupbearer's journey out of jail, Joseph had asked the
cupbearer to remember him, and the cupbearer had promised not to
forget Joseph for his freedom. But, the cupbearer failed to keep the
promise while serving his king. But, God did not forget Joseph, so
He made a way to get Joseph out of prison and rewarded him to be the
second commander to Pharaoh. And His way was to cause the Pharaoh to
have a strength dream. This made it difficult for any Pharaoh's
priest to interpret. And only Joseph with God's help can interpret
the king's dream. So, Joseph had interpreted the kings dream and
Pharaoh had put him to oversee his people in the whole country as
the second commander to Pharaoh himself.
Conclusion of Joseph's story
So, you can see that Joseph by obeying God and allowing God to
direct his life, he had not only fulfilled his dream, to have his
brothers bow down before him, but more than this he had become the
right hand of the Egyptian king, and furthermore, he had saved his
family from starvation.
