Joseph and Living the Dream Continued...
...after the angel spoke to Joseph in a dream (Matt. 20-23)...
Joseph woke up and began to carry out what he was directed to do. Five
quick directives; profound implications, just like the names we have
been given have unfolding layers, or the prophetic words many of us have
been fortunate enough to receive. We think we understand when we hear
them, but they are multi-layered with deeper meaning and unexpected
pathways. In the case of Joseph, as is with each of us, there is a
watershed moment of decision. Joseph has to contemplate giving up what
is a predictable existence, to be part of some untold, yet marvelous
story. The angel was inviting Joseph to be “all in” in his own story.
God had a dream for Joseph bigger than anything he could conceive.
Even walking it out day by day probably didn’t bring a whole lot of
revelation or clarity. But wondrous things happened at critical times,
to give him the knowledge or the affirmation that he was “living the
dream”.
Did he always feel it or know it? Did he always see the
big picture? Our response is the same as Joseph’s: just hear and do.
Listen and follow. Choices matter. One life matters. Just say yes.
Every once in a while Joseph was dumbstruck with wonder. Like the time
he had to travel to Bethlehem with his pregnant wife to fulfill a legal
obligation, which apparently had no exceptions for women in the late
stages of pregnancy. Who knows how worried and frustrated Joseph
became, trying to find shelter for his laboring wife, in a town bursting
at the seams with inconvenienced and weary travelers, most of whom were
there by forced decree.
And in the midst of all the worry, in
perhaps one of the lowest moments of his life, when as a husband he
can’t provide what is needed, the baby is born in a shelter for animals.
How can this be part of “living the dream”?
However, shortly
thereafter, shepherds appear and reinforce the fact that Joseph is still
moving in the center of something larger than life. He needed the
miracle of that visitation, and so did Mary. And isn’t it just like
that with us? God comes swooping in unexpectedly and unbidden with a
taste of the eternal so that the unbearable transforms with wonder? The
veil between realities is rent, and glory superimposes itself on our
mundane perspective, leaving us to marvel at the wonder of His presence
and giving us enough affirmation to continue on in awe.
Four
times, at life defining junctures, an angel appeared to give Joseph
direction; four times in a dream. It’s like the angel is saying, “Just
live the dream, Joseph. Be willing to go beyond your understanding.”
The second time the angel appeared was when Herod wanted to find and
kill the baby, which by now was Joseph’s beloved son. When I merely
read the passage in the Bible, it seems so sanitized. If I put myself
in the story however, I can imagine the tension and fear. What insecure
and power hungry madman orders soldiers, who are trained warriors and
fighting men, to hunt down and slaughter children? What happens inside
men who have no choice but to comply with orders or be executed
themselves? How do you deal with the psychological horror of knowing
the king has issued an edict for your child’s death and other children,
dear to other fathers, are dying in his place?
But the angelic
dream instructs Joseph on the next course of the journey. Go to Egypt
until. Until can be a long road, but if you have an “until” word, you
have the assurance that further instruction will come at the next
critical juncture. Once again, you just carry on in the direction,
using the provision and wisdom gleaned in the last place as you process
life each and every day.
“Until” speaks of the more that is
coming; you just don’t know when. “Until” means this phase will end
sometime, and something new will open up, so you settle patiently in the
now, keep hope alive and order life accordingly. It’s not just a
waiting phase, though. It’s a growing phase. Everything is growing.
In this case, Joseph was growing, his skills were growing. His business
was growing. His family was growing. His relationships were growing.
His character was growing. And he was going to be able to take all that
learning and development with him into the next phase of life, when the
season of “until” was fulfilled.
Sure enough, when Herod died, an
angel of the Lord appeared again. He directed Joseph back to the land of
his heritage and inheritance. Joseph’s strategic placement was
reinstated for the day that was dawning. Another dream confirmed his
suspicions that it was still dangerous to go to Judea, so he settled in
Nazareth, fulfilling the scripture that his son would be called a
Nazarene.
I am encouraged by this story of a seemingly ordinary man
who was living the dream; protecting the seed of a new day. I love it
that the Amplified Bible says that Joseph’s son would prevent people
“from failing and missing the true end and scope of life, which is God.”
I’m encouraged that an angel kept Joseph from failing and missing
the true end and scope of his own life, four times. I’m encouraged
that when I hear and follow, I am living the dream and I really don’t
have to worry that I will miss it. God’s dream is so important to Him
that He breaks into my life along the way to confirm it with wonder. He
assures me time and time again, that what I am engaged in is larger
than anything I ever thought possible, because I evaluated myself and my
gifting from a myopic point of view.
In this story I see many parallels for creativity. (Which will be continued tomorrow)....
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