Hello, Friends of Freedom. I hope your Thanksgiving was everything you desired and more. This week I want to examine the patriarch Joseph in scripture and his prevalent role in leading a secular nation as a man of faith. His historical account is found in Genesis 39-41.
He was a man of dreams and dream interpretation. It is most likely he served under two Pharaohs ( Sesostris III and Amenemhet III), having lived in Egypt for over 70 years.
He was sold into slavery by the betrayal of his brothers, who were jealous of him and his dreams. Hence, when he came to visit them per his father Jacob’s request, they commented, “Behold the dreamer cometh.”
The reason I am mentioning this event is that it shows the role of spiritual guidance (faith) can have in literally saving the entire nation (much of the world) during a most severe famine.
Pharaoh had a dream that perplexed him, and it was confirmed by having the same dream two times, once with cattle and once with grain. He was deeply troubled knowing that the dream had significant meaning for him and his reign.
The point I am making is that the nation was on a collision course with destruction, and there were no political leaders with answers to the cataclysmic event that was going to happen. But God, in His sovereignty, had prepared an answer. The famine would be preceded by seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of certain death and starvation.
Joseph had the wisdom to address the problem and founded granaries to store the grain during the seven years of abundance, thereby saving not only the nation of Egypt but the nation of Israel as well.
God still gives dreams in answer to problems today, and he guides us through dreams as well.
Job 33:15-18 says, He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears and terrifies them with warnings. He makes them turn from wrong; he keeps them from pride. He protects them from the grave. from crossing over the river of death.”
Another political figure, Pontius Pilate, during the crucifixion of Christ, was warned by a dream his wife had. She encouraged him to have nothing to do with Christ’s crucifixion. Hence, he washed his hands the day of the trial to show his innocence from the deed.
While I have not been able to find in historical writings detailing any nighttime dreams the founding fathers had, I am convinced they dreamed of a better world and sought to create a nation that would allow people to dream and live out their dreams in a free society unravished by government control of their lives. From the Puritans, who saw America as the New Jerusalem and a Shining City on a Hill, to our civil rights declarations, America is synonymous with a Dream!
The American dream, if you will, is ensconced in the ideas found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
The actual term itself, “American Dream,” was hinted at throughout our history, and James Truslow Adams, the author of The Epic America, 1931, used the phrase American Dream to show how people were moving away from it.
The dream of America in the hearts of our founding fathers was the answer to the world’s demise and destruction as they saw it through the lens of studying all the known historical governments of recorded history.
They felt called to steward this dream in documents that would stand as long as those who have the courage to apply the lessons learned from history and continue to enforce the ideas of liberty and justice for all.
Dreams are without prejudice. They include the highest and best for everyone.
In closing, I pray we can keep the American dream alive by realizing sometimes God gives dreams to save mankind from sure destruction, and may we have the humility to accept them in whatever vessel he chooses to deliver them.
Until Next Week…
Allen
