Our Inspiration of Hope: Why You Should Live With Hope Today
Shared on October 2, 2024
There is always reason to hope! Join Pastor McCrary and watch the first part of this week’s study as he dives into the life of Joseph. Joseph, the master of dreams, was given incredible dreams by God. How does Joseph’s dreams tie to us? There is much we can learn about God from the dreams of Joseph.
Introduction
A new season of bible study is here! In this season of studies I want us to focus on hope. As the writer of Hebrews wrote, “faith is the substance of things hoped for (Heb. 11:1).”
The reason why I want to focus on hope this season is because there is so much going on around us that could cause us to lose hope. The last thing we ever need to do is lose hope! When we lose hope, we leave ourselves wide open to fall in defeat. So, no matter what you’re going through, I want you to know that there is always hope.
So, over the next few weeks, potentially months, we are going to be taking a look at my favorite person in scripture – Joseph. We’ll essentially be doing a character study of Joseph, who to me, when I think about having hope, he is the epitome of hope. So, I hope you enjoy these studies about Joseph and that they inspire you to also be hopeful.
Joseph the “Dreamer”
Joseph was the eleventh son of Jacob (Israel); the oldest of Rachel’s two sons with Benjamin being Jacob’s youngest son (Gen. 29-30; 35:21-26). Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin (Gen. 35:16-19). It is suggested that Joseph was between 5 to 7 years old when his mother died in childbirth. I imagine that her death was something that maybe helped to shape him as he grew up.
Jacob also loved Joseph as scripture tells us that he loved Joseph more than all his brothers (Gen. 37:3). Jacob showed special treatment to Joseph, for example, by making and giving him a special tunic of many colors. I imagine this love also helped to shape Joseph as he grew up. At the same time, Jacob’s favoritism would become a cause of trouble for him – we’ll see that in our next study.
Joseph was also favored by God. Being loved and favored by the Lord would also help to shape who he became. Then again, at the same time, being favored by God led Joseph to being treated a certain way – we will see more of that as we go through this and other studies.
Now, Joseph was given the nickname “the dreamer” by his brothers (Gen. 37:19). They called Joseph that because of the dreams he had. Now, Joseph’s dreams are going to be the key focus point of our study this week, so let’s go ahead and dive into them.
In his first dream, Joseph told his brothers that they were all in a field binding sheaves (Gen. 37:7). While they were standing up their sheaves, Joseph saw his sheaf standing upright while the sheaf of his brothers were bowing to his sheaf. This was a dream that drew the ire of his brother.
With his second dream, Joseph opted to share it with his brothers and Israel (Jacob). In his second dream, Joseph saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars that all bowed to him (Gen. 37:9). Now, this was a dream that caused Jacob to rebuke and question Joseph. Jacob asked him, “Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you (Gen. 37:10)?”
What Joseph’s Dream Tells Us About God
Now, is there anything that we can take away from Joseph’s dreams? Absolutely. Let’s start off with some of the more obvious things we can take away from Joseph’s dreams.
God’s message is clear and concise
Notice that Israel asked Joseph a question but Joseph gave no answer. Why didn’t Joseph give his dad an answer? Well, what was he supposed to say aside from what was obvious? To be frank, Jacob had already answered his own question. The only thing Joseph could say would’ve been something along the lines of, “that was the dream.”
Jacob rebuked the dream because he understood its message but he couldn’t accept its message. This is certainly a problem shown in man even to this day: we are slow to accept God’s message. Many will say that God’s message is confusing and hard to understand. Why is that? Is He speaking another language?
Joseph’s dream shows us that God is actually concise in His message. Jacob’s rebuke shows us what happens when we don’t like God’s message. When we don’t like God’s message, we’ll say there is a problem with His message. The truth is that there isn’t a problem with His message, the problem is simply us
This is a thought that reminds me of what my dad taught and preached about God’s answers to prayers. God, my dad said, will answer: yes, no, and wait – three concise messages. Each answer is an answer that leads to God’s blessing. What we must learn to do is accept God’s directions and move in them.
If we choose to move otherwise, then we create a problem, not God. As Paul wrote, God is not the author of confusion but of peace (1 Cor. 14:33). In our confusion, we often head off in a direction that God did not give and then we wonder why the struggle.
Many of us have this idea in our head that even if we disobey, we can still get to that blessing from God. We can get to that blessing, but it will require us to repent and follow God’s instructions. This is something that we will actually see play out for Joseph’s brothers and even his dad in future studies.
Now, what should we do if we genuinely have questions or struggling to understand God’s message? Some of us think that it’s wrong to ask God questions – is that true? There is nothing wrong with asking God questions. Let’s not confuse asking God questions with questioning God’s works.
You ask God a question and He will certainly help you to understand by making His message clearer and clearer. However, we cannot be like Jacob and rebuke the Lord’s message. We also can’t be like Joseph’s brothers and be upset at God’s message. We must like be like Joseph and simply accept the message we have received from the Lord
God desires to make us great
The second thing that Joseph’s dreams tell us about God you might not consider often for yourself. We may not consider this because of what we might be dealing with and going through. What is the second thing we learn about God through Joseph’s dreams?
Well, what was it that Joseph was dreaming about? Greatness, right? Why was he dreaming about greatness? Science and medical studies would suggest that Joseph was dreaming about greatness because greatness was often on his mind. Is that the case? Was Joseph dreaming of greatness because greatness was always on his mind?
Some like to suggest that Joseph was a prideful and an arrogant person but that would be a severe mischaracterization of what’s revealed through scripture. We are told that Joseph was a 17 year old kid that would go tell his dad when his brothers did something wrong (Gen. 37:2). I think some of us would say he was a goody-two-shoes! That being said, he was far away from someone aspiring to be great.
Joseph’s dreams of greatness came from the Lord. So, a better question to ask would be this: why was God giving Joseph dreams of greatness? Why was God giving Joseph dreams about his family bowing before him?
Of course, we have the privilege to skip ahead a few chapters and see that God was giving Joseph dreams about the future. However, I believe Joseph dreaming about greatness goes beyond what was his future. What do I mean by this? Well, I believe God giving Joseph dreams of greatness further illustrates God’s desire for all of His children.
Let’s remember what the Lord said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:11. The Lord said, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Do you believe that to be true? Alright, let’s keep this thought in mind as we are going to stop this study right here and pick up next week with this thought.