Dreams
God Will Not Abandon You
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. August 9th, 2020
Joseph was a dreamer. God spoke to Joseph in the privacy of his dreams. God revealed his plan and purpose for Joseph in dreams, and God revealed his plans for others in dreams as well. When he was seventeen Joseph dreamt that he and his brothers were sheaves in a field. But suddenly his sheaf stood upright. And the other sheaves gathered around him and bowed before his sheaf. Another time God spoke to Joseph in a dream and revealed the son, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him. In both cases his family immediately understood what he was dreaming. He would be raised above his brothers, even his own parents would bow before him.
His brothers didn’t care for his dreams. His father, Jacob, wasn’t pleased with them all the time either. But he too was a dreamer, and dearly loved the son of his old age. He went so far as to make for him a coat of many colors, with long ornate sleeves. Joseph’s brothers didn’t care for that. Joseph would also tattle on his brothers. They didn’t care for that either.
By and large, though, Joseph had it made. His father, Jacob was quite wealthy. He had the love of his father. He knew the blessings of God through wondrous dreams. Joseph knew God’s plans for him. He knew the grace of God in a powerful way. I don’t know if you’ve ever been at that place in your life. When all’s right with the world. God is clearly and dearly known. And everything is in its place. That was the case for dewy eyed and innocent Joseph.
But his brothers were jealous. Even to the point of murder. One day his father Jacob sent Joseph to check in with his brothers. He first went to Shechem, but discovered they had moved to Dothan. There his brothers saw him arriving in the distance. “Here comes this dreamer.” They said, “come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”
His brothers scoff at the dreams of Joseph. Aren’t they flighty and proud things? He thinks he might rule over us. But the dream is so easily extinguished. Reuben tries to scheme his brothers out of the plot. He would save his brother from the pit before he dies from exposure. But after they threw Joseph into the pit, and as they were having lunch, a caravan of Ishmaelite merchants arrive. They decide to sell him to slavery in Egypt instead.
So it seems the dream is ended. How could his brothers and parents bow before him, if he were nothing but a slave in Egypt? The brothers return home with Joseph’s coat, torn to pieces and full of blood. A wild animal, they say, has killed him. Jacob, Israel, is inconsolable.
This account of Joseph is my favorite story in Genesis. Perhaps my favorite story of the Old Testament. It is a story that rewards repeated and close reading. And it has something powerful to tell us about God’s working in our lives. This is only the first part of the story, and next week we will hear the conclusion. This week the focus is on the dream, and how Joseph’s brothers cannot stand the dream. How Joseph’s brothers arise to squash the dream, and sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt.
God had a message for Joseph. I will raise you up. I will work through you, and your dreams. Your family will bow to you. God has a message for us as well. I love you. I love you so much I took on flesh in Christ. I love you so much I died in Christ. I love you so much I would make you my child. I love you so much I will raise you in Christ. And I will never leave you or forsake you. But as Joseph’s brothers could not stand the dream, the world also fights against God’s promise. We may be told in overt or covert ways that what the gospel is silly. That God is not with us. That we are alone. We may be told in overt or covert ways that the gospel is a lie. We may be drawn from the gospel in overt or covert ways. Whether it be distractions in entertainments, or all consuming family strife or all consuming work. The Gospel, the dream, may seem insignificant. It may seem like it has no place in this world. It may be forgotten.
Perhaps Joseph forgot his dreams those first few months in Egypt. What could he possibly thought of them? Perhaps they were nothing more than a fantasy? Perhaps it was a joke? A trick? But what we find as Joseph establishes himself in Egypt is that even in the midst of slavery and struggle God did not abandon him.
Joseph is sold to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s captain of the guard. Everything Joseph sets to do is successful because God was with him. Potiphar makes him overseer of his house, and puts him in charge of all that he has. But Potiphar’s wife has Joseph thrown in prison for spurning her advances. Again, all seems lost. But Joseph needed to be sent to prison in order to interpret dreams. While he is in prison he meets Pharaoh’s former cupbearer. The cupbearer asks him to interpret a dream he had, and Joseph reveals that he will be restored to his position in three days. And when he is restored, Joseph asks that the Cupbearer would plead his case. Well, the Cupbearer is restored. But the Cupbearer forgets. Until Pharaoh needs a dream interpreted… And that is where we will pick up the story next week.
But notice how hard it is to put the dream down. God does not abandon Joseph because he has been enslaved in Egypt. God does not abandon Joseph because he’s been thrown in prison. But God continues to work through, and bless Joseph. The dream continues its work, until it will be fulfilled.
So too in our lives. God will not leave or abandon those he has called as his own. Even when we may feel lost. Even when it may seem that God is not near. The dream cannot be undone that easily. The Gospel is truer than all the lies of this world. In all situations, put your hope in trust in him who has the power to save.