The Secret Place
... Primary Chronicle
The Cup of Dreams (the Joseph anointing) …the
chronicle.
…copyright 2003 …Glenda Wilson
As a dreamer, whether
awake or asleep I find that, I see the dream or
vision in almost everything that I see. In my mind,
this illustration began as something simple and
somewhat cutesy. However, with God, nothing is ever
simple. Many times we cannot see, what we cannot
see, because we are so busy looking at what we can
see. I have come to learn that God always has a
deeper than surface purpose in what He gives me. I
could feel the Joseph anointing in the cup. This
piece sat for a while. I was thinking it was
finished. Then one day I was prompted to bring it
back out. Suddenly it no longer seemed to feel
right. I (God) decided to place bread in the
illustration. I thought well –that makes sense, you
usually have pastries at a tea party. I had no idea
the revelation that I was about to receive about the
life of Joseph.
Joseph was a dreamer;
his life was marked with faithfulness and favor.
Joseph was also a type and shadow of Jesus. Both
were marked for destiny, though for many years the
surroundings, the circumstances, and the journey
never seemed to be an indicator. In their youthful
humanity, neither realized the depth of ridicule,
rejection, abuse, and accusations that they would
encounter on the road less traveled.
The signs at almost
every intersection of Joseph’s journey always seemed
to read “Disaster and “Worse Disaster”. I am certain
he felt being sold into captivity in Egypt was a
huge mistake. I am convinced he thought, “Now God,
did you doze off and lift your hand of favor from my
life?”
Captivity was not what
young Joseph saw in his cup of dreams –he saw ruling
and reigning. In John 16:12 Jesus said, I have yet
many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now. If he told us what the dream would entail, we
would never embrace the dream.
In essence, a faithful
Joseph did rule and reign over the circumstances,
but the circumstances along the way were not the
ones he had pictured. God’s right place does not
always look like the place we would have chosen.
Egypt was nowhere on the road map that Joseph had
planned. (Prov 16:9 NIV) In his heart, a man plans
his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
In our immaturity, we
seem to see what we want to see in the dream that
God gives us. We see it as being about us. It is
ironic that Joseph’s first dream was about grain,
but in his nearsightedness, his focus was on the
sheaves bowing down to him. The second was about the
sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing down. His dreams
were dual purposed and more far-reaching than he
could ever have grasped.
(Gen 37:7 NIV)
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."
(Gen
37:9 NIV) 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."
He related the eleven
stars to his brothers, his immediate kindred –not
realizing that the eleven also related to another
savior who had eleven star disciples. Nor did he
realize the sun and moon represented the creation
that would worship the Son who would save the world
instead of a nation. The ruler that would one day
sit at the right hand of the Father until His
enemies were made His footstool.
Somewhere on the road from the pit to the prison to
the palace, Joseph’s insight and perspective
changed. His ability to interpret dreams became
sharper. As he matured, he experienced a paradigm
shift in his spirit; --from looking at what the
dream could do for him to what the dream could do
for the kingdom. He went from looking at being “sold
out” to captivity to being “sold out” to the big
picture –God’s purpose for the dream.
Joseph’s history or
journey is not one that we would like to model; but
we all really like his destiny. I am sure that
Joseph did not know that he would be considered a
type and shadow of a man in the future –the man
Christ Jesus –the faithful, yet suffering servant
that would ultimately rule and reign with God. Jesus
paralleled his broken body to bread –He (God) broke
it and blessed it and it now goes out to the nations
of the world.
Yes, Joseph’s
anointing was to rule and reign, but only so, that
he would be able to accomplish God’s purpose of
sending bread to the nations. |
