Scripture: Genesis 37:1-11 (CEB)
Jacob lived in the land of Canaan where his father was an immigrant. 2 This is the account of Jacob’s descendants. Joseph was 17 years old and tended the flock with his brothers. While he was helping the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, Joseph told their father unflattering things about them. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was born when Jacob was old. Jacob had made for him a long[a] robe. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him and couldn’t even talk nicely to him.
5 Joseph had a dream and told it to his brothers, which made them hate him even more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had. 7 When we were binding stalks of grain in the field, my stalk got up and stood upright, while your stalks gathered around it and bowed down to my stalk.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Will you really be our king and rule over us?” So they hated him even more because of the dreams he told them.
9 Then Joseph had another dream and described it to his brothers: “I’ve just dreamed again, and this time the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he described it to his father and brothers, his father scolded him and said to him, “What kind of dreams have you dreamed? Am I and your mother and your brothers supposed to come and bow down to the ground in front of you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father took careful note of the matter.
What does this passage mean to me/us?
Contributed by Jo Boggs
“Joseph had a dream…Then he had another dream.” Genesis 37:5a, 9a
When I was reborn in Christ and asked that He use my eyes as vessels for His will, I viewed the world much differently and understood what I saw more clearly. To live in His light and to receive His signs of wonder and warning is to accept life as the powerful gift He always intended. I found it impossible to remain silent but lost sight of humility because I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that I was chosen. Chosen. Hand-picked and saved. Clean slate forgiven and ordered to continue to grow forward.
I pursue with prayer to accept, and sometimes, suffer the lessons God bestows upon me. In doing so, I allow Him to remove such character defects as envy, greed, gluttony, and the desire for vengeance to those who have harmed me. But I find that I can become self-righteous and judgmental when I make progress in any of these arenas. I also used to think learning more about the Bible and memorizing verses, the where and when’s of all, was the only knowledge I was to fill myself with. I was always quick to “turn up the volume” the more enlightened I thought I was. I would let the “delivery” of such truths escape me in my aim to send a message from my passion, forgetting that it is only by His grace that I achieve the mark and that His grace is a cast of His Spirit and the only honor I can claim.
The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. Dehumanized before having nails pelted into his hands and feet. Mocked with a crown of thorns pierced around his head, and onto a cross, hung. Hung where each breath had to be pulled upward as if lifting something heavier than what He was sent here to do for us. Yes, God gives me this vision every time I need to dismount my high horse. I battle my ego constantly, knowing that I have been chosen. It takes remembering that I wouldn’t agree to die for the world’s sins, nor let a son or daughter do it either.
The love of God is so infinite. I am not now, nor ever will be, lacking the need to learn more of His love or more of His thirst. To be noticed as nothing, but claimed as something in His eyes, is more than what I could be to anyone in this life. There is no better vision of love and no point of reference to divine love as God giving His ONLY son, to die for someone like me. Love. It is not the knowledge of Him, but my love for His love. I am filled with the Spirit to speak with humility, while my desire becomes that another will love Him.
Prayer
Father, that it pleases you to offer me with such generosity the vision of Christ’s love for me and to receive my gratitude for being chosen. Forgive me for my ego and arrogance. Father, that it pleases you to maintain my compassionate heart and the spirit of humility and that no matter the warrior you made me, I am never above anyone who needs mercy and kindness. Remind me that my passion for Christ must surrender to His passion for all. May his blood cover me. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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