Good little Joseph
I’m wondering if there are lessons to learn from what Joseph did. Being given a vision and sharing it are two separate things. Did God intend Joseph to share his dreams considering they would not in any way be understood at the time? Did God originally intend for Joseph’s dreams to be fulfilled the hard way or did Joseph’s actions show he needed to be taught humility before being given honour? No doubt as to Joseph’s character afterward but his brothers are always assumed to be the only villains here…
I’d say there is a time to speak and a time to keep quiet. God’s words to us are sometimes just that. Pride can make us think our revelation of God is a cut above someone elses. Maybe we’d like to put our own timing on the fulfillment. Sometimes we need to have patience and wait for God to work.
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on November 14th, 2008 at 8:20 am
John, That’s an interesting thought. I guess we won’t know for sure whether Joseph shared his dreams in pride or not. But I think your overall ideas seem right. There are times when God may show us something and it isn’t the best time to share it with others. Maybe David would be a good example. He knew that he was supposed to be king but he waited until Saul died and was extremely respectful to Saul throughout his life (despite the fact that Saul was trying to kill him!).
But sometimes God wants us to tell others the hard messages too. As we learned in the Samuel series, Samuel had to tell Eli that God was going to destroy his family. That had to be rough. It probably depends on the motives of your heart . . .
Hannah
on November 14th, 2008 at 8:42 am
There is definitely a feeling of superiority that Joseph emits in this chapter. How do we know the dream was a revelation from God though? Its clear that from scripture that not all dreams are from God. Just read about the false prophets in Jeremiah.
I understand though that there are no statutes concerning when and how we are to release a God revelation to the world, so I guess if our natural instinct goes against Gods will, he will give us a specific command to be quiet. Such as Esther not revealing her ethnicity, or of the lame men who Jesus healed and was told not to tell anyone what happened.
For us though the way God communicates to us today though is not usually through dreams or prophets. The primary way that God communicates to us is through scripture. So what do we make of this revelation? should we keep it to ourselves or preach it? The specific command here is to spread the news to the far corners of the earth. (Mark 16).
I agree with Hannah though that often our deeds are sinful acts because of our motives. Samuaal said that man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at a mans heart. Paul condemned teachers who were sharing the Gospel, not out of Love but for selfish gain. This is a challenge for me. How many times have I done a Godly Christian act or helped in a church ministry without any hint of a thought that it might bring glory to me and not to God? Never. I’m really know better then the Pharisees or the Muslims today striving to work for their salvation, there by bringing glory to themselves. But by the grace of God I am saved.
on November 14th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I don’t know, I personally think that the Essential 100 devotional readings are too hard on Joseph. I think you can read a lot of negative things into his actions, but the Bible doesn’t explicitly comment on his actions negatively.
Surely, we all have mixed good and bad motives with all of our actions, but the author of these passages seems to glide right past any chance to point out Joseph’s mistakes. But then again, many characters in the Bible make mistakes without the Bible explicitly pointing it out. I guess it shows God’s mercy to us. He overlooks so much!
In the end, it is good to remember that the true hero in all the Biblical stories is God alone, and even the most heroic humans in the Bible have their failings (except for Jesus!).