A Snippet of A Promise

A snippet of a promise serves as fuel to keep pursuing God in times of turbulence, and disarray. Life can hand you lemons, but the holy spirit guides, and shows you how to prepare the lemonade. Joseph was shown how his story would end in a dream.

He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” (Genesis 37:6,7,9)

These dreams were lemons. These were the glimpses of a promise that God was making to Joseph.

Why did God give him these dreams? God knew that Joseph was going to face defeating circumstances that would challenge his faith; allowing him to persevere in the abundance of pain, and strife. God wanted him to hold on to the snippet of his promise.

He wanted him to understand that just because adversity comes knocking on the door, the dream, the promise is still alive, his God is still constant.

Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

Have you had some defeating moments, friend? Where you started out with all the zeal, and excitement in active pursuit of your calling, and you hit a stumbling block that caused you to go limp? Joseph had moments where he felt the blessing of the promise, instead of its weight.

Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe. (Genesis 37:3)

Being set apart, favored, and chosen sounds ideal, and in retrospect a blessing; but the weight is heavy. Joseph was ostracized by his brothers because of the call on his life. Even his father, Jacob, questioned the integrity of his dreams.

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 37:10-11)

How hurtful is it to express a dream, only to have it ransacked by the people around you? These were his brothers, this was his father, but they did not have the vision to see into Joseph’s future.

Someone reading this needs to repeat after me: “My purpose is not determined by the acceptance of those around me.” Let’s say that one more time: “My purpose is not determined by the acceptance of those around me.”Joseph had to hold on to the snippet of a promise, after his brothers sold him into slavery.

“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. (Genesis 37:19-20,23-24,28)

The taunting, the lying, the manipulative handles, are all tactics of the enemy. The evil one wants you to forget the snippet of a promise, that God surrendered to you before the storm began to brew.

Even though the climate is dry, and the cistern is empty, God is full. He is full of hope, he is full of provision, and destiny for your life.

Hold on to truth in the midst of evil, and confusion. Resist the temptation to forget the promise, and proceed like Joseph.

Let’s pray:

Lord I bless your holy name

I ask that you pour into the dry parts of my inner man

Help me to discover the dream that you have for my life

If I’ve forgotten it, please replay it in my heart

Show me to the way everlasting

Let all that I am praise the Lord

In the triumphant name of Jesus Christ

I pray

Amen