Twice Dreamt Equals Absolute

Every day on every Pais team around the world we do team devotions, and I love that! Last week, I got to lead my team in studying Genesis 41, where Pharaoh has a dream and needs the interpretation. That is when Joseph is summoned from the prison to the palace and that is his life-changing, momentous breakthrough that leads to the fulfillment of the dreams he had in his youth. 

At 30 years old, Joseph is not quite rotting in jail. He has been given a position of authority within the prison, but still, I can't imagine it was a nice place to exist, and actually, from Psalm 105 we know it wasn't. 13 years beforehand, he had had a dream. Well, actually, he had had two dreams, which he knew were one and the same, and at this point he is still waiting for them to come to pass, surely wondering if he would ever see them realized, surely wondering if he would ever have the honour and position he felt God had promised him in his dreams. Life in jail could probably bring a bit of discouragement, day after day after day, year after year after year with what seemed like no forward movement or manifestation of what God had spoken to him. 

But then the day comes when everything changes. It's interesting to me how much can change in a day. In one day, the Israelites left behind 400 years of captivity and walked into freedom. In one day, forgotten-about David was called from the sheepfold to be anointed king over Israel. In one day, Mary went from being very much not pregnant to quietly carrying the Saviour of the world within her. In one day, Lazarus went from being four days in the grave to alive and well, walking out of the smelly tomb he had been lifelessly carried into. In one day...in just one day...things can shift. In just one day God can change our circumstances. In just one day. 

So there's encouragement for you--and really, I'm writing this for myself because there's something I've been waiting on for a long time and sometimes I see no forward movement. Sometimes I see no progress (and other times I do, but I'm so quick to forget!). But God is GOD--He can do whatever He likes; nothing is too big for Him and He certainly can change our circumstances in just one day. Do you believe it?

But, that's not my point (Good though, wasn't it?). My point is that, when Joseph is called from the prison, he stands boldly before Pharaoh (after shaving and changing his clothes, praise the Lord), knowing what God has already told him twice over (that he would come to greatness and all his family would bow down before him) but knowing he hasn't seen the fulfillment of it yet. He had had two dreams about this, he was certain it would happen, but at this point, 13 years later, it still hasn't happened. Do you think he ever experienced doubt? Do you think he ever gave up that hope? Do you think discouragement ever got the best of him? 

I would guess that at one time or another he really struggled holding onto this dream. But you'd never know it. From the way he stands before Pharaoh and adamantly declares what Pharaoh's dream means, that God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do and that the fact that Pharaoh had the dream twice meant that God was absolutely going to do it, you'd think he'd been to the future and come back to tell the world about it. Obviously that didn't happen. He himself is still waiting on his own two-dream-one-promise revelation to come to pass but he has so much faith in God, so much knowledge of the workings of the Holy One, so much insight into the character of God (that He does what He says and He says what He does) that Joseph is able to say: 'God gave you this dream twice to show you what He's going to do and He's seriously going to do it, no question.' And that tells me, after all this time and all these trials, he still must have had the faith for his own dreams. Despite how long he's had to wait. Despite his circumstances and where he found himself in life. Despite what his past or his present told him. He still had faith. 

Joseph trusted God, even though he hadn't seen his own dreams come to pass. In fact, he trusted God so much that he could stand before the most powerful king on the planet and boldly declare the certainty of the word of God while still not having realized his own promise. And he could do that only because he knew God. Because he had spent time with God. Because God tells His secrets to his friends and Joseph had made sure that he was, in fact, a friend and confidante of God. I want to be like that. I want God to speak to me in dreams (more!). I want God to consider me His friend and tell me His secrets. I want to know and trust God so well that, like Joseph, I can stand before anyone and everyone and confidently and powerfully declare the living and active word of God. Yeah, I want to know God like that.