Encouragement
I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; it never becomes more but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest.
John 12:24 (Amplified Bible)
The life of a seed so fascinates me! How interesting to note that many of the trees and green vegetation that we see around sprouted out of little tiny seeds or stalks. More so, it is such a wonder to me that for any seed sown on this planet earth, it MUST, first, DIE in order to be able to germinate and grow to become the plant it is designed to be. Indeed this is such a shocking revelation! Why at all must the seed of necessity die? Could a mango seed truly never ever become a tree with juicy ripe mango fruit someday, should the seed somehow refuse to pass through a transitory state of death? Absolutely remarkable, isn’t it?
Let me draw from the life of the seed and introduce you to the life of a dream…your very own dream or aspiration in life, perhaps. I will attempt to affirm the fact that no matter what your position or perception in this life, your social status or religious inclination; whatsoever be your ancestry (royalty or slave) or then financial status, your aspiration in this life will be tested for what it is by some kind of mandatory dying. You do not choose whether to pass through this process or not… it will happen without your asking; and for some, many times over!
Three biblical characters Abraham (aka Abram), Jacob and Joseph especially typify this fact and we will shortly look at them individually. Each will show us that a dream, particularly yours, will die in the ground of the wiles of life to prove itself. You will feel like the odd one out whereas in fact when you started off you were the loftiest among your lot because of the vision of the future you had in your heart. You will indeed be ostracized and sorely criticized for what you carry on the inside of you; so much so that you will come to the point of tears and throw your hands up in helplessness. You may feel too tired to run with the vision because you have run out of resources, ideas and the will to carry it through. You may confidently walk through the glass doors of one of these new credit-friendly financial institutions hopeful for a facility to start or revamp your business and will be turned down point blank. You will be called names for deciding to keep your moral sanctity and not yield to the bulging pressures of the modern, western-oriented, sex-crazy and junk-infused society. You may even look the most likely candidate to secure the top job that pays thrice as much as the previous one you so bitterly complained about and eventually resigned from but you will still not get this one. If you are like my mom, you will along the course of life, have to pull the brakes on your aspiration to educate yourself and raise me up even when you don’t want to – because YOU got pregnant with me anyway! Let’s get on with Abraham.
Abraham
God called Abraham out of his country, kindred and father’s house with this promise:
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:2 & 3
It was such a marvelous promise unprecedented in all its grandiose and for all that it held for him and his descendants thereafter. It was like a kind of rebirth of the entire human race. Abram must have left his country full of smiles, high hopes and a great sense of self importance and pride. And yet you could not fault him; no other human in his world had received a promise so great! Nobody will surpass him in all the earth in blessing: i.e. riches, wealth and honour!
Well 3 more chapters up life’s road, these are the words of Abraham:
“Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” … “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”
Genesis 15:2 & 3
Doesn’t that quite sound like despair to you? It is the aroma of helplessness… something was not sitting quite right down there in his heart-of-hearts! Now, let’s not over-spiritualize Abraham’s status as the father of faith; what we are is clear to God. Abraham was first, flesh and blood like you and I. He knew pain like we do when we’re hurt. I’m certain that at this point Abraham must have been secretly having second thoughts about the whole issue. All the dreams and aspirations which he had built around God’s promise was hanging on a thin thread. His hitherto apparent sense of self must have gone hiding right back under his skin… he no more wore his pride on his sleeves. He must have wondered whether it was not quite time to quit or abandon this whole sojourn and say bye-bye to any such future. He frankly pointed out to God “…what will you give me, seeing I go childless… look, you have given me no offspring” in essence, he said “look, Papa God quit giving all these elusive promises and let’s get down to some real facts… your promise and my present circumstance don’t jive!” The dream was here and now, somewhat… dead!
Well that storm passed and Abraham later in life begot Isaac and sure thought the deal was sealed. He is more mature in his walk with God now and perhaps can even predict what God’s next move will be. However he must have experienced a near heart-failure when God nudges Him in the side one fine afternoon saying: Abraham, take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. (Gen. 22:2). I am picturing myself in Abraham’s predicament. Startled, I would turn to look over my tired shoulder and say: who would say such a grievous thing to an old, weary man… who would ask me for my most cherished dream… my key to the future I’ve been promised? A tear would form from the deepest pit of its bud and slowly spill over down my crumbled cheeks and then upon my gray white beard… I would surely mutter under my breath: enough Lord, enough… torture my soul no more… anything but Isaac! Wasn’t the dream here again… dead?
Jacob
Jacob the Supplanter took the birthright which had been his dream all along from Esau and runs off with it to go to his mother’s family across the wilderness. His reasons are two-fold that he may pick up the pieces of what is left of his life and then find himself a wife. It should herein be noteworthy that Jacob has the blessing of Abraham upon his head; meaning that even though he probably would be on the journey across the wilderness penniless (he left with nothing – ref. Gen. 28) hungry, thirsty (wilderness?) and lonely God will be with him because of His oath to his grandfather. The story even gets more interesting when at a quiet, lonely spot he finds a rock to lay his head on for the night and:
…he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
(Genesis 28:12-15)
Oh how so refreshing! God was going be with him 24/7! Well he finds Laban his uncle; lives with his household and gets attracted to the latter’s daughter Rachel. One of the reasons he journeyed that far was almost being fulfilled. The night of the wedding is here… he has worked 7 years for this night (no money for the dowry, perhaps). Jacob with a longing love is waiting for his dream wife in the bedroom and as the custom was they would bring in the woman with a thick veil over her face. Next morning: the deceiver has become the deceived! Laban gave him Leah instead. Well he would have to work 7 more years for Laban for love’s sake. When Rachel eventually comes to be his wife it marks the beginning of some more interesting developments. Leah’s story is: she conceived again very much to Rachel’s displeasure because the latter is barren. She threatens to commit suicide… yes the blessed man’s wife! “Give me children or else I die!” Later Laban will plot again and succeed in ripping Jacob of some goodies. He is frustrated “send me on my way” he says to his uncle. (ref. Gen. 27-31) Enough is enough! Your question and mine, I guess, is: is this the look of a man blessed of God – even the blessing of Abraham? Is the vision still alive? Why is Elohim standing by without showing He is with Jacob? When a dream shall live… it will die first!
Joseph
Joseph is the youngest son yet of his father Jacob. His father would love him specially because he is the son of his old age and he makes him a coat of many colours. Interestingly God chooses the most loved for a great destiny. Jacob has two sets of dreams:
… "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."
… 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 37:5-9)
After such great dreams a not-so-great story follows! Joseph went through all the torrid places in life that you can think of. His envious brothers sold him out to be a slave and returned to his father with his coat of many colours smeared with the blood of a goat as evidence of Joseph being mauled by some ferocious beast. By their declaration and as far as Jacob his father was concerned his son was dead! The dream was DEAD! Out there Joseph is sold to the house of Potipher in Egypt where he is made a servant. Will The Dreamer – to whom the Sun, Moon and Stars bow – ever rise to become what he is destined for? Is it not a hard thing to imagine a slave become a ruler? Is your uneducated house-help not the most unlikeliest to become a Minister of State someday?
Well somehow Joseph excels and becomes Chief Servant in his master’s service. Here we start to feel that perhaps something can happen for Joseph. The fact that his master liked him could be a good omen. Then comes Potipher’s wife. The rest of the story is well known (ref. Gen. 37-47). I daresay brethren, that for every Josephic dream of yours, it will encounter Potipher’s Wife up the road to fulfillment. Forgotten, prison became Joseph’s lot… and it will be your lot too – in so much as you are a man, blessed of the Lord!
The Verdict
My friends, from the examples above we can clearly see that every truly great dream, vision, aspiration or hope will be grossly tested. It will of necessity undergo a tortuous process of trying times, moments of great persecution, turbulent hours of tribulation, loneliness and great desperation. You shall have to die to self and anything that looks like you in the vision that you see. In the midst of the mire clay of death you shall trudge… for in the muddy, marshy enclaves of death is the very life of your great destiny.
Your walk with God will be repeatedly speckled with experiences of times when it feels like either you lost God or He lost you. You shall soon find out that you are not the originator of your own dreams. As a matter of fact, The One who gave them will make sure that you have been detached enough from the pride of owning that dream until you see yourself as only a conduit; an instrument and vessel through which He will carry out the dream.
Then and only then shall you begin to see the multiplication, expansion and advancement of the dream. Then He will bring along fellow hires and workmen who will begin to identify with the vision and run with you. Oh I assure you, most solemnly I tell you: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain; it never becomes more but lives by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest.
God never shamed Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. They fulfilled the dream and so shall you! He did not bring them all the way to destroy them. He brought them through the mill in order to crush them into fine grains of corn. They passed through the fire to be refined into pure gold. Concerning such great men of faith the scriptures say “… the elders obtained a good report!” (Heb. 11:2) I’m sure you want to obtain a good report. Well it won’t come cheap. Do you want some harvest? Get ready to sow to death and you shall reap the higher life you seek.
Funny, but your prayers henceforth should sound like “Kill me o God that I might live… kill my dreams many times more that I may find them in death… batter me with a hammer of your choice while I lay humbly upon the anvil you placed me… may my soul sing this phrase all day long: Shall I live?...I must die!”
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