Dreams

One other story I want to share from my time on the sea tribe islands. On this trip it became clear that the Father is still working through dreams, especially in remote areas of the world where there are not enough workers to share the Good News with people and many have yet to hear. One afternoon on the second island it was incredibly hot. A few of us were sitting around in the shade with the Ibu (mother) of the house trying to stay cool. One of our students had had a funny dream the night before about me and our guide boxing on the back dock where we were sleeping. This student decided to tell the story of her dream to the Ibu and the Ibu thought that it was pretty funny.

Then we asked her if she ever had any dreams. The Ibu shared how she had had a dream that the head guy of the tour organization came to her house. He's only been to that island a handful of times, but the day after she had that dream he showed up on the island and at her house for a visit.

Then I shared a story I had heard many times growing up of a man who interprets dreams. The story begins with the dream interpretor, named Joseph, having a dream that his eleven brothers would all bow down to him. This makes the brothers very angry as they insist that that would never happen, so angry that they plot to kill him. They throw him in a pit and are ready to end his life when they get an idea. They see some men passing by and decide that instead of killing their brother they will sell him and earn some money while they are at it.

Joseph ends up being sold to a powerful man in a distant land. His new master recognizes his honesty and hard work and quickly gives him more responsibility over his estate. The master's wife, however, has an eye to try and seduce the dream interpretor and ends up destroying his reputation and trust with his master. When the master finds his wife and his trusted servant together, he throws Joseph in jail. While in jail, Joseph meets two men who had both worked for the king and who had both had dreams while in jail. The dream interpretor listens intently to these men's dreams and then shares with them what he thinks the dreams mean. As it turns out his interpretation is exactly correct and the events he predicted end up coming true.

The king finds out about this man who interprets dreams and calls Joseph to see him, for the king had also had a dream that was puzzling him. As the king carefully explains his dream, the dream interpretor knows exactly what it means. The dream contains both good and bad news. The good news is that the land the king rules is going to go through 7 years of plenty. However, those 7 years will be followed by 7 years of drought. The dream interpretor advises the king to collect all the excess from the years of plenty and store them to be used for the years of drought. The king finds this to be such a brilliant plan that he puts Joseph in charge of it. So this man who had recently been put in prison now finds himself in a powerful, high ranking position working for the king.

Seven years go by and just as the dream interpretor foretold, there are 7 years of plenty. But those are followed by 7 years of drought. However, because of Joseph's plan this land has more than enough food to feed everyone and no one is hungry. Back where Joseph's family lives, though, this is not the case. His brothers find themselves starving and without food. They decide that their only hope is to travel to this distant place where they hear there is food in abundance.

So they set out on the long journey and arrive to find they are generously given food to take back to their home. Joseph spots his brothers as they arrive and looks on as their sacks are filled with grain. As they get ready to leave Joseph has an expensive cup secretly put in one of the brother's sacks. When the brothers start to leave they are stopped and searched. At that moment Joseph steps out and catches them with the precious cup.

Out of desperation the brothers fall down on their knees and beg for forgiveness for being caught with such a special thing that does not belong to them. Joseph then reveals himself to his brothers and they are glad to see that their long lost brother is still alive. Joseph reminds them of his dream from years ago. He had dreamed that one day his brothers would bow down to him and this day his dream had come true. The brothers express how sorry they are for selling him to be a servant and as a result for all that Joseph had to go through. Joseph's response to them is surprising. He says, "what you meant for evil, God meant for good."

As I ended the story, the Ibu sat in silence for a few moments. Then she made a realization. "That's kind of like my life." A few months earlier her husband had been put in prison for some illegal activity that he was involved in. As a result their family has been struggling financially as well as struggling without their father around. The Ibu took these words to heart: "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." In the midst of all that was going on in her family at that time, she realized that perhaps God does actually have a plan to use those things for good. And I walked away with a fresh realization that the Father is still working through dreams.