Genesis 37:2-11 -- Joseph's Dream

Was Joseph a well-meaning if misunderstood young man or a bold braggart who enjoyed taunting his brothers?

Genesis 37:10-11 (MSG)
“When he told it to his father and brothers, his father reprimanded him: "What's with all this dreaming? Am I and your mother and your brothers all supposed to bow down to you?  Now his brothers were really jealous; but his father brooded over the whole business."

Other than the dream similarities between these stories in Genesis and the dreams Joseph, Mary’s husband, experienced, I am hard pressed to see a connection with the Christmas story and Advent.  I was afraid to say that out loud, thinking someone might take away my blogging rights, but as you can tell, it is mid-morning and I still have nothing I feel God nudging me to write.

I usually go my own way when this happens, but during this season that just doesn't seem right.  Perhaps DREAMS is the message, the connection.  When we pray for God’s intervention in our lives, our prayers take on a dream like quality.  We are to pray believing our prayers will be answered, but at times our prayers seem so big they are as dreams.

Only a God like the great big God we serve can turn our dreams into answered prayers.  The young Joseph from Genesis had been blessed with dreams that foretold of his future, but just maybe he was to keep them to himself for a time.  An older Joseph, who served as an earthly father for Jesus, encountered dreams as well, but these dreams needed to be spoken and acted upon.  Joseph’s dreams were meant to protect his charge, Jesus.  He could not ignore them, but had to act upon them immediately.

Is there a dream you have been given, one that needs you to act upon or pray about?  If you are called to act – then do so without delay.  But, if you sense the need to pray about it, or just keep it to yourself for a time, then do so.  God will nudge you when action is required on your part.

Read Genesis 37:2-11 here

Listen to Genesis 37:2-11 here