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Finding Your Divine Destiny October 1, 2007 By Brenda Hayes
God never leaves us unequipped. It’s amazing that we feel so inadequate despite His promise and provision. Sometimes we even become convinced to discard our dream completely or provide some alternate interpretation. Why do we shortchange God and circumvent such a wonderful testimony or life experience? This causes our faith to be weak, ineffective, or non-existent.
The Old Testament is replete with stories of God’s design for an individual life—Jacob, Moses, Abraham, and David. God allows circumstance, test, struggle, and conquest that are for a greater purpose. Let’s review one of these lives.
Consider Joseph Consider Joseph in Genesis 37:2. He was but 17 years old when we first learn of his dream. When he was still a teenager, could he have envisioned being in command of an entire nation? It is impossible that he knew the path his dream would take before its fruition. God began developing in Joseph the ability to recognize a dream He’d given and know its meaning. Before he interpreted the baker or the butler’s dream, God had given him some dreams of his own. It could be considered Interpreting Dreams 101 in God’s school of life!
Joseph experienced rejection most painfully and personally by family, employer, and friends. He is never noted to have wavered or questioned his purpose. He remained steadfast. His spirit remained whole because he continued building relationships each time he found himself in a new form of bondage. He used every opportunity to add to his “life resume”. Despite the setbacks he experienced, the Bible tells us that “the LORD was with Joseph and he prospered” (Genesis 39:2).
God allowed him to practice first in Potiphar’s house, who left “all he had” in Joseph’s hand. When he was unjustly accused (note his integrity and moral character in dealing with Potiphar’s wife) and cast into prison, the Lord was with him there. Joseph managed the entire prison and it is recorded that “the keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper” (Genesis 39:23, NKJV). God provided tangible experience that prepared him to oversee an entire kingdom.
Joseph managed convicts. For most of us, this would not generate any notable feelings of charity, kindness, or compassion. However, Joseph “saw that they were sad” (Genesis 40:6, NKJV). He cared for those around him. He also reflected God’s glory when he said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” He did not try to promote himself in any way. Yet he was confident in God’s ability to provide clarity for each dreamer.
Through this life path, Joseph did not forget his own dream. He pressed through each imprisonment, convinced of his destiny. How can we know this is true? When he gave interpretation to the butler he said, “…remember me when it is well with you and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house… I have done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon” (Genesis 40:14, NKJV).
Joseph remained forgotten in that dungeon for two full years. When Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream, however, Pharaoh recognizes the need for a man “in whom is the Spirit of God” and appoints Joseph to rule all the people. Joseph was fully prepared to assume such a vast position of leadership and influence!
A Fairy Tale Ending? In a fairy tale, this would be the happy end and we could conclude our story here. But Joseph’s greatest testimony may be his commitment to remain true to his complete destiny. Could it be that Joseph was the one that sold to the Egyptians and “all the countries” because he was looking for the day when his family would walk in the door? When his brothers presented themselves before him to purchase grains during the famine, Joseph recognizes them and remembered his dream as a 17-year old boy. He was now at least 37 years old.
Joseph brought his brothers face-to-face with their buried sin. They say to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us” (Genesis 42:21). Since Joseph used an interpreter, they didn’t realize he understood their conversation, but their confession brought healing to Joseph, as evidenced by his tears.
While Joseph seemingly sought to punish his brothers, he could not continue his charade. He wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. What a scene! Joseph comes to terms with his destiny and receives understanding of his past. He tells his brothers, “Do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life… so now it was not you who sent me here but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh” (Genesis 45:5,8).
Our Fairy Tale Ending How is that for a perspective when we view ourselves as having received an injustice? How differently we would view our prisons that we live through!
I have found a common theme regarding the path to destiny for many leaders in Genesis and Exodus. Victor Frankl in Man’s Search for Meaning states that if a man has no reason to live he will cease to live. While many of us continue to exist, I would declare that we are not truly alive. We can only live in Him! Use every opportunity, and continue to declare the goodness and sovereignty of our Lord. He truly cares about every portion of our life. It is our choice to allow the destiny of our life to be woven into the great cause of Christ, this beautiful tapestry of lives bound together that creates His body. I pray that we can individually alter our concept of life and purpose. This requires that we release bitterness and unforgiveness we may harbor toward the ones that dropped us in the pit and sold us to the itinerant traders. Instead, dust off that 20-year dream and continue to look to the future embracing our destiny--God’s unique promise for a full life!
© 2007, Brenda Hayes
--------- Brenda Hayes is a WAHM (Working at Home Mom) to one son and wife to Rev. Rich Hayes. She has discovered the richest of relationships with Jesus Christ through the trial of her faith. To live is to do, to dig in the dirt, to be an advocate, a voice of clarity, to experience essence and thrive. |
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