"Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed"
Genesis 37:6
Last week we started looking at these words - words spoken by a young man, Joseph, to his family. Already jealous of their father's preferential treatment to their younger brother, after hearing of Joseph's dreams, his elder brothers took matters into their own hands, kidnapping him and selling him as a slave.
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Although God overruled these events for the welfare of Joseph's family when a terrible famine struck, we wondered how wise Joseph had been in sharing his dreams to those who already hated him.
Can we overshare God's revelations to us we asked? Might we provoke anger and danger to ourselves? What if our sharing of these things has some secret pride on our part?
But then we considered the honour and glory it gives to God when dreams such as Joseph had actually came to pass.
We asked another question - are we keeping quiet about a revelation from God to us which we should be sharing with God's people - His church - to give Him glory and encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ?
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Today we continue these thoughts considering the 'testing' of sharing:
We read in Psalm 105:19 that 'the word of the LORD tried (tested) him (Joseph)'. Not long after telling his family of his dreams Joseph was kidnapped, almost murdered, but instead sold into slavery by his brothers. As he pleaded with his brothers not to sell him, his anguish vividly remembered by them still 20 years later, he couldn't be further from the reality of his dreams.
Where was the worship of his family which he dreamt of? He was now homeless, penniless, bereft of family and friends, without any rights - a slave! How humbling for him. How trying and confusing for him.
But God was with him and blessed him.
How this encourages us. Have we had a word from God? Did it seem 'far-fetched' and have events made it now seem even less likely? God is still with you, dear friend, and perhaps as with Joseph, God is using this to test you and make you grow in grace and trust in Him.
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Joseph was very young when he had the dreams - inexperienced in life and spiritual things. God was going to use these dreams to sustain him through his hardships with the hope of what was before him, as well as showing him that it was all of God's grace.
God restrained Joseph's brothers from outright killing him and now God blessed him in his slavery until he was made head of Potiphar's house, everything being left under his management. Perhaps he wondered if he was now to somehow see the reality of his dreams, but then a further test came, he was tempted, falsely accused when he resisted, and thrown into prison.
Year after year he must have now wondered if he had imagined his dreams.
Don't we experience this when we think back over times that have been special to us, times when we believe God has spoken to us - and then we later wonder if we have imagined it?
But God was still with Joseph, and He is still with you.
Because God blessed Joseph, he found favour in the eyes of the prison keeper, eventually becoming the servant of the captain of the guard, all other prisoners being under his charge.
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And yet, how far off the reality of his dreams still was. He tried to get another prisoner who was released from prison to put in a good word for him, to get him out, but he forgot.
When the reality of his dreams came to pass it had been worked out by God, done by Him, Joseph suddenly and without any warning made Prime Minister of Egypt through being able to interpret the Pharaoh's dreams - a gift given to Joseph by God.
And then in Genesis 42: 6-9 we read,
'And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth...and Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them'.
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God was faithful to Joseph.
That which he had revealed to him in dreams happened, although many, many years later and after many, many difficulties. Did Joseph ever look back and cringe at his eagerness to share his dreams to his family? Did he bemoan the day he shared them with his cruel brothers and wish he had held his tongue - look at the trouble it had brought him - and he couldn't see then that it was for any purpose?
Has sharing of your personal knowledge and revelations from God brought you trouble after trouble? Does the devil and your old nature berate you for not keeping your mouth shut. Do you get tempted to think you overshared and could have got by with only giving the minimal details or fabricated the truth somewhat?
Dear reader, the Bible tells us that those who 'honour' God will be likewise 'honoured' by God, but that those who despise God will be in return 'lightly esteemed' (1 Samuel 2:30). Jesus also tells us that those who are 'ashamed' of Him and His words, 'of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come' (Luke 9:26).
A true child of God cannot die rejecting Jesus and being ashamed of Him because he has been saved from hell and eternal death. There will be a time when he will be brought to realise how his behaviour is rejecting, lightly esteeming and being ashamed of Jesus, but what extra guilt he will then have. What repentance there will need to be. What times of blessing and sweet walking in union with Jesus he will have missed in this life.
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- Being wise and harmless in our sharing - questions to ask ourselves
Jesus cautioned his disciples when he sent them off to witness and preach in His name because we are 'as sheep in the midst of wolves' . We are therefore called to be 'wise as serpents, and harmless as doves' (Matthew 10:16).
As we conclude our thoughts on Joseph, perhaps he overshared his wonderful dreams to his brothers who already held his father's preferential treatment against him. It was as fuel to the fire of hatred and jealousy burning in their hearts against him, which motivated their cruel thoughts of murder and banishment from their lives - as they thought, forever. But God over ruled it for all their good and for His greater glory.
So, we too should be wise how we speak to those around us of what God has done for us and spoken to us of.
We are to be faithful, not denying Him, not being ashamed of Him, but we are to do it from a place of love, in kindness, not provoking, not throwing our 'pearls' - our precious revelations, our love tokens, our kisses from Jesus - 'before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you' (Matthew 7:6).
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(Some of the Bible commentators suggests this means not to desecrate those most precious and holy things Jesus has revealed to you by presenting them to those behaving like unreasonable animals, giving the example of Paul withholding preaching to the howling mob at Ephesus and the lewd fellows at Thessalonica).
The next time we are about to share something precious from the Lord and we wonder if it is oversharing, let us ask ourselves:
- Have I prayed about saying this? Let us be as Nehemiah who shot up a prayer to heaven before sharing his heart's desires with a heathen king.
- What is the Holy Spirit saying to us? Do we feel an urge within us that we must speak or we will be denying our Lord, perhaps a longing to speak for the comfort and spiritual well being of the person in front of us, or do we feel a sense of restraint, something cautioning us?
- Is the person(s) in front of us already enraged and incensed against us? Would we be provoking them, or as throwing our most precious pearls to pigs?
May the Lord continually give us wisdom, prompting us by His Spirit which lives within us to know when to speak and when to keep silent, when to share, and when it is oversharing.
And may He help us to continue to trust Him, that those things which He has told us or shown us are real, not getting proud of ourselves, but giving Him the glory.
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