In Genesis 37 we read:
And Joseph dreamed a dream, and told his brethren, who hated him so much the more.
For he said unto them, Hear, I pray you this dream which I have dreamed.
Behold now, we were binding sheaves in the midst of the field: and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright, and behold, your sheaves compassed round about, and did reverence to my sheaf.
Then his brethren said to him, What, shalt thou reign over us, and rule us? or shalt thou have altogether dominion over us? And they hated him so much the more, for his dreams, and for his words.
Again he dreamed another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have had one dream more, and behold, the Sun and the Moon and eleven stars did reverence to me.
Then he told it unto his father and to his brethren, and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this thy dream, which thou hast dreamed? shall I, and thy mother, and thy brethren come indeed and fall on the ground before thee?
God showed Joseph what the future would bring and what would happen. Evidently, these dreams showed a bright future for Joseph, one in which he would reign over other people; leadership and honor were in the horizon for him. I'm sure Joseph did not expect what happened immediately after God spoke to him.
In verse 20, one of the brothers say:
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, A wicked beast hath devoured him: then we shall see, what will come of his dreams.
Unlike what he would have expected, fulfillment did not come after the dream. What came after was exactly the opposite of that dream; he was not converted into a leader but into a slave as we see in verse 28.
Then the Midianites’ merchant men passed by, and they drew forth, and lift Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: who brought Joseph into Egypt.
Who would have thought that after such a glorious dream one would end up as a slave? Psalm 105:18 says:
They held his feet in the stocks, and he was laid in irons... (GNV)
Not only that, after being enslaved, Joseph faced death penalty because of a false accusation made by Potiphar's wife. It is very important to point out the fact that in all of this no sin is attributed to Joseph; he was suffering injustice and it was not because of the result of bad actions.
Actually Joseph is an example of chastity and purity since he was tempted many times but he did not commit any sin as it is said in Genesis 39:10. Being pure and honest did not save him from jail and he paid for a crime that he did not commit:
And Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, in the place, where the king’s prisoners lay bound: and there he was in prison. (Genesis 39:20)
This is exactly the opposite of Joseph's dream. Not only he was a slave anymore, now he was an imprisoned slave. No one would ever think that this is the place where the dream was going to come to reality. According to our natural mind no one could ever think of becoming a great revered leader being imprisoned accused of rape. But God's ways are not ours, thank God for it.
It is extremely important to mention that Joseph had his dream when he was 17 years old as it is said in the Scriptures; he was sold as a slave immediately after. From this we know that he was sold as a slave being a teenager. Let us remember that he was extremely attached to his father, so we must know that he was suffering way too much, much more than we can imagine.
But the question arises, why did he go through all this? Is it because he was not a good servant of God? Was it because God was punishing him for being so loved by his father Israel? Was God punishing him for being proud? We find the answer to these questions in Psalm 105:19:
They held his feet in the stocks, and he was laid in irons, until his appointed time came, and the counsel of the Lord had tried him.
The answer is clear: God put Joseph's faith into trial. Geneva Study Bible's note on this verse says: So long he suffered adversity as God had appointed, and till He had tried sufficiently his patience. This verse is crystal clear: God was not punishing Joseph, God was not scourging him; God was testing him until the time that God prepared for the completion of the prophecy. For how long did Joseph have to wait? The answer is in the Bible. Genesis 41:46 says:
And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh King of Egypt: and Joseph departing from the presence of Pharaoh, went throughout all the land of Egypt.
From this we get that Joseph had to bear 13 years of slavery and imprisonment after the dream he had when he was 17. These are 13 years of humiliation, of being accused, shackled, beaten, mistreated and tarnished. Each one of these things were in God's plan for Joseph; these things were Joseph's test of faith and he clearly understood this, for he said to his brothers:
Now then you sent not me hither, but God, who hath made me a father unto Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
Joseph acknowledged that God had a plan for his life that included he being put in a pit by his brother, sold as a slave, put into prison and then making him a ruler in Egypt. We do not know whether Joseph asked God WHY it had to be this way, what we do know is that Joseph understood that God was making a way for him through his tragedies.
Many of us today are suffering a great trial of faith. Maybe, like Joseph, we have been waiting for something glorious to come to reality and nothing happens. Let us remember that Joseph saw everything getting worse for 13 years. But God is all powerful and He can make a way out in a day and this is all we have to remember. God is powerful enough to fix a lifetime of suffering in a matter of seconds. Like Joseph, lets wait patiently for God's deliverance to come.
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