And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house. Acts 7:9, 10
Our Scripture for today is taken from the last speech of Stephen the deacon/evangelist just before he was stoned to death. I believe it is a rather compact but completely encouraging account of what we can expect to accomplish in our lives, despite the difficulties and dangers we face when God is with us.
We will look at a portion of his story each day for a couple of days. We will begin with the first sentence following the phrase that will serve as the background for every devotional, But God was with him.
But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles[.] So we know how the story ends.
Let me take you to the place where I would like to begin the story of Joseph: “Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more” (Genesis 37:5). As if this was not bad enough there was a second half to the dream. Listen: “Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, ‘ “Look, I have dreamed another dream. . . .” ‘ So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, ‘ “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” ‘And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind” (9-11).
Sometimes the dreams that God has for our lives do not make us the most popular people in town. And sometimes, as in the case of Joseph’s brothers, we are hated for it. Even some of our biggest supporters and most faithful allies might not be very comfortable with some of our dreams, as was the case with his father.
The beauty in God giving us a dream is that He knows exactly when to give us the dream. I believe that God gives us our dream(s) when they will make the greatest impression on us. Joseph was young, his entire life was ahead of him. His mother had died when he was a little boy. Because of this and other reasons his father had a special love for him. That special love was a buffer against his brothers’ hatred. Under those circumstances I believe he developed a very strong self confidence. Strong enough not to doubt that his dream would one day come true.
This will be crucial when we see all that happens between the time that he is given the dream and when the dream is finally fulfilled. God must have used every significant circumstance in his young life to help strengthen his mind and keep him hopeful until that day. I believe the most important factor in the preservation of a God-given dream is for us never to forget who gave us the dream.
When we have faith that the God who is with us is able to get us to the finish line in the fulfillment of our dream, nothing will be able to kill our dreams, not even delay them as I used to believe. When Joseph received the dream he was not ready for its fulfillment. God used the actions of his brothers as some of the means to prepare him for the fulfillment of his dream.