by Philip Pfanstiel
- Dreams? What is up with them? It? They?
- Why did Joseph’s brothers hate him even more after he told them his crazy dreams?
- Why did God choose to use dreams in the bible?
- Are all dreams from God?
- What is the difference between a dream and a vision?
- How many songs are there about dreams? How many songs do you have on your playlists about dreams?
- How many songs about being practical? Name one song on your device about being reasonable?
- Why are we at one hand fascinated by dreamers while we do everything in our power to be reasonable and dismiss those starry-eyed romantics that question our carefully constructed sand castles?
Okay, so that’s a lot of stuff to cover. So I’m going to do the ONE thing a dreamer could never dream of doing. I’m gonna quit. Or at least for now on the middle questions. But like dreams I’ll be back when you least expect it.
* * * * * * *
I went on a missions trip to Turkey in college and I had one of my few nightmares. In the nightmare I woke up and I was already back in Tulsa. I remember how distraught I was in the dream. When I woke up and was still in Turkey (with two more weeks of ministry) I was beyond relieved and paid extra attention to finishing the trip on full throttle.
I don’t have many nightmares but most of them have to do with regret. Not finishing the course. Not walking things through. Giving up while time is still on the clock.
Maybe that’s a reason people hate dreamers (or in a more politically correct and insulting way – dismiss them entirely); dreamers don’t quit. All the reasonable people (I’m guessing since I aint one of them) already have (quit).
I was thinking about the song “Dream On” by Aerosmith a few weeks ago. Not having heard it for a while I thought that it was kind of random. Then the next day I was getting my hairs (did I needlessly emphasize the plural just now?) cut and the song “Dream On” started playing. Now if this were my iPhone or computer I’d chalk it up to Big Brother spying on us and think nothing of it (wait … what!? Our technologies are spying on us?!). But this was a total coincidence … or was it?
Another song I’ve been rummaging through is “God’s Own Fool” by Michael Card.
Clarification: I don’t think dreamers are unreasonable or fools. We just seem that way. I don’t like it but I’m getting good with people underestimating me. Sure dreamers can sometime (often times) do, say, ask or think some way out there stuff but there is a “deeper magic” going on in the mind and heart of a dreamer. And if we can silence the doubts for a moment and consider these stranger things we might find the epiphanies or cyphers that will get us all running through the streets naked yelling “Eureka Springs! They found me.” And that’s when they find us and take us back to the ward of diminished and silenced outliers.
But we don’t stay there. No, being cast out is one of the best places for a dreamer to be. Be it Moses, John the Baptist or Jesus in the wilderness, Joseph, John or Paul in prison, David or Jacob fleeing for their life – dreamers do their best dreaming when they’ve been cast out. Yeah. I’m so excited. Woop … ie. Sign me up?
TBH – I think we all know what I’m writing is true. Because we are ALL designed and purposed to be dreamers. But many of us have traded in our dreams for the drab “reality” of being thought reasonable. I suspect many people are so devoted to fantasy / science fiction / hobbies because they KNOW that there is something more and can’t accept THIS as all there is. There’s got to be more to this life … right?
There is a strange story in I Kings 13 (verses 11-25) were a young prophet is used powerfully by God and resists all enticements. However on his way home an older prophet lies to him and causes him to disobey the Word of the Lord with disastrous consequences.
The element of the story I want to focus on is the desire to be accepted. Approved of. Loved. The young prophet walked a long and dangerous road. But the real threat was AFTER the victory and was delivered by the acceptance the older prophet offered. What am I saying? The fear of man. Being accepted. Finding friendship. Finding people that seem to understand us.
As Admiral Ackbar says so eloquently, “It’s a Trap!”
A trap way too many followers of Jesus fall into. Life has a way of kicking the snot out of us and while we’re recovering from being thrown into the well by our brothers, we survive only to be sold into slavery, then lied about and betrayed, imprisoned and forgotten.
But don’t believe it. Chewbacca, Leah and Luke and others are on their way to rescue us from carbonite and to off Jabba the Hut in the process.
Oh, wait, wrong imprisonment story. I blame Ackbar.
I’ve thought a lot about Joseph throughout my life. He was a dreamer but far from being a liability, his ability to think outside the box coupled with the hard-earned wisdom he acquired along the way, he became the savior of his family, Egypt and arguably much of the world. His ideas for food storage (they’ve found archeological evidence for his granaries that will blow your mind), and distribution are STILL super innovative.
I’ve been going over this story with my kids and at a recent devo I was struck by Joseph’s ultimate vindication. Jacob has died and his brothers come to Joseph and beg for their lives. It sounds great “what you meant for evil, God has used for good.” (Genesis 50:15-21)
The thing is his brothers were right. This was Joseph’s moment of revenge. Jacob had been buried in peace. Now Joseph had all the power, the right and now the opportunity to exact his revenge. I feel for those brothers who instead of enjoying the prosperity of Egypt, family reunions and the final years of Jacob’s life are instead living the nightmare of what will Joseph do to us when our dad dies?
I’m sure this thought had crossed Joseph’s mind when he was going through his trials but the beauty of a dreamer is we’re always looking ahead. “Keep moving forward.” “Okay, that sucked. But in that pile of horse manure there has got to be a pony somewhere!”
BTW Would we even know about Joseph or even his family … indeed the entire redemptive work of God through the Hebrew people if Joseph had killed his brothers? Even if he had let their families live and ONLY killed the brothers what would this act of retribution have done to the entire plan of God? His ultimate test was one most reasonable person would have flunked.
Joseph proved the power of a dreamer again at the very end of his life when he gives instructions for his burial when the Israelites return to Canaan (Gen 50: 24-25). How many generations of Israelites were given hope in the midst of their bondage by the fact that Joseph’s final dream was to be buried in the Promised Land?
Unreasonable. Foolish. But oh so incredibly powerful!
What dreamers (and those who may be enticed to return to your first love – and yes I will keep dreaming) might do well to realize is that the opposition to dreams can, if we will allow them, be the very crucible that brings about the fulfillment of the dream. Joseph would never have saved Egypt and his family IF his brothers hadn’t sold him into slavery. David would have been an inconsequential, petty king long since forgotten if it weren’t for Saul’s persecution of him. Same could be said of so many men and woman in the Bible. The crap (resistance) we endure is the fertilizer that cannot help but bring to life the kernel of hope that is in every dream.
Final thought; I hate the verse “Hope deferred makes the heart sick…” (Proverbs 13:12a) Never has a verse been more true and yet more depressing. But as is often the case for the longest time I didn’t zoom out and see the big picture.
The very next part of this verse is the reversal Joseph, David, Jesus and maybe even you and I are holding onto, maybe at times, by our fingernails. “But a promise fulfilled is a tree of life.”
The promise is that the life we lost in the garden will be returned to us – all we need do is strengthen our hearts, endure the crap and dream on.