Learn a lesson from Joseph’s journey of destiny
Lesson from Joseph’s unwise openness
Joseph’s problem became more compounded because of his gift – the gift of dream interpretation. This is a good thing; every person has a gift that has been deposited in them. However, Joseph revealing his dream to his brothers became an addition to the source of his early problem at a young age.
At a point in this story, we found out that Joseph does not keep secret, he tells whatever he sees to people around him. He brought a bad report about children of his father’s concubines to their father Jacob. This attitude of Joseph telling everything he sees will never go well his brothers judging by the action his brothers took against him later.
As we all know that Joseph’s brothers hated him, formally because of the preferential love and treatment given him by Jacob their father. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he had two dreams that he told to his brothers, that revelation made his brothers hate him the more, and they plotted to kill him. The Scripture states,
“Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 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.” His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said. 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.” (Gen. 37: 4-9, 18-20)
If you were in the position of Joseph’s brothers, how would you feel towards someone who dreamt that you would be his/her servant? How would you feel based on the following reasons that caused the negative reaction of Joseph’s brother against him?
We need to learn a lesson from Joseph’s disclosure of his dream of greatness to his brothers. A mistake he made probably because he was young or ignorant of what was revealed to him or ignorant of what might be the outcome of such action or he was talkative, or he was just being truthful. He told it to his brothers without knowing the mind of his brothers toward him. Because of his openness, his brothers hated him, even more for being the beloved of their father. You cannot be too open to disclose what pertains to you anyhow, because you do not know who seeks for your good or downfall. You must be circumspect of people that surround you.
As Christians, we need to be divinely guided (spiritually) before we open our mouth to utter anything to anyone. In the world, there are haters of progress, there are dream killers, there are goal killers, there are discouragers and there are even close relations that do not like other siblings to excel above them. The intention of Joseph’s brother was to kill his dream and destroy his destiny. The scripture states
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John10:10).
The result of parental favoritism, the reporting of his father’s concubine’s children and the disclosing of his dream; by default, Joseph was placed in a spotlight of intense jealousy by his brothers. Hence, the decision to get rid of him to terminate the reality of his dream.
The Scripture states that Joseph’s brothers conspired evil against him when they saw him far away when he visited them,
“Look, this dreamer is coming!Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” (Gen. 37:18-20)
If Joseph had told his dream to his father before telling it to his brothers, probably his father would have advised him not to tell them. This is one reason I will advise the youth of today not to despise the wise counseling of their parents. Your parents will not lead you astray; seek their counseling when it gets to the point where you do not know what to do; decision that is not divinely guided can send someone into unprecedented captivity even unto death.
Eventually, Joseph was stripped and sold into slavery. They got rid of him by selling him to a caravan of the Ishmaelites and later sold as a slave to Potiphar, an officer in the courtyard of Pharaoh. The difficulties facing Joseph in the journey of his destiny seems not to have and end, more challenges and difficulties kept emanating.
As Christians, keep what pertains to your secret to you only. Not all that is in the offing needs be revealed to another person. God’s secret for your life is to be kept to yourself. You must not trust anyone. Those that you call to be your confidants may be those that will thwart your plan/dream or reveal your secret or plan to your enemy. Remember? Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ.
Samson quoted a proverb to the philistines after Timnah, his wife-to-be, revealed the answer to the riddle he posed to the philistines, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle!” (Jud. 14:18b). The philistines would not have known the answer to the riddles if Samson had not told it to his wife-to-be; and if his wife-to-be had not leaked the answer to the philistines. Who can be closer to a man than his woman? Read the story in Judges chapter 14
As a Christian, you need to be wise when it comes to telling people about the plan of God for your life or the secret to your success. Let people see the manifestation of God’s goodness in your life; let people contemplate on your success; keep doing what you must do and keep the blueprint for your success. Does this mean you cannot share your idea with anyone? Not at all, however, be careful whom to share your secret with.
To worsen the whole situation, Samson never learned a lesson from his first mistake. The secret of Samson which he revealed to Delilah later caused his own untimely tragic death (Jud. 16). The scripture says,
“He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction” (Pro. 13:3).
Beware, let your utterances be divinely guided and let your secret be kept to you only. You need to behave wisely: Regardless of your status, behave wisely (1Sam. 18:5, 14, 30).
Prayers
- Pray that the Holy Spirit will sanctify your heart and mouth to do what is right always.
- Pray that your mouth will not implicate or put you in trouble
- Pray that the Holy Spirit will guard your heart into all righteousness.
- Pray for grace to be secrecy and to keep what pertains to you to yourself
- Pray for the fruit of the Spirit of self-control to guide your thought, utterances, and action.
- Pray for the Spirit to discern and be cautious of people that surrounds you
- Pray that God will help you to guard your mouth to protect and prevent you from destruction.