Devotionals

WHEN DREAMS GET DASHED

by Mandy Farmer
02/23/23
Not For Sale
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

An Agonizing Note

I had a charmed life. Pastor's wife, children's minister, mother, home school community leader. My husband and I had been serving the Lord together in pastoral ministry for 22 years and we just took a cruise to the Bahamas.

It was a Sunday afternoon. It was time to take a nap before the evening worship. As I lay down, my lower back began convulsing. I couldn't raise or lower my body without extreme pain–such as labor pains that didn't stop. My husband helped me get to a flat position on the bed. And thus began a journey of months of extreme, unstoppable pain, flat on my back.

 Our Counterpart

Joseph led a charmed life, as well. The favorite son of twelve, obtaining extraordinary gifts from his father. Indignation grew against him from among his brothers. Then Joseph started getting dreams, indicating that one day he would rule over his family. In those days, dreams were of considerable importance. Dreams were serious business. His brothers didn't appreciate this announcement.
One day, Joseph delivered them a meal in the fields. They concocted a plan to get rid of him. They yanked off his multi-colored coat and threw him in a pit, leaving him to die.

I wonder what kinds of thoughts Joseph had as he lay in that pit. Did he sing hymns? I doubt it. Rather, he likely questioned God, "Why was this taking place? What about the dreams he had? Did he cry out to his brothers?

But then, he felt a glimmer of hope. His brothers brought him back up to the surface. But this hope was short-lived. Soon, he recognized they were about to sell him to traders. He would never see his father again. Never see his little brother, Benjamin, or his older brothers. It may have taken some time to come to terms with the plight he found himself in. But he did it. Somewhere along the way, he talked with his God and resolved that even if his family betrayed him, he would not betray his God.

 Harmonic Tones

You have likely left behind some dreams, even what you thought to be God-given dreams.  I feel your pain. Joseph knew the pain, too. But even more, God knows our pain. He has not left us in our misery. He is walking there beside us.

Isn't it hard to let go of our dreams? Dreams that are just coming into sight, suddenly get ripped right out of our hands. In the Psalms, David wondered why God would forsake the righteous. Each of us could say, "I have served you, God. So why are you punishing me? That is what David was asking in Psalm 10. He observed that the wicked seemed to prosper. Why wasn't God causing them these troubles instead of him? I have felt that way and perhaps you have as well.

But when David realized the enemy would get their due soon enough. He also finds that God has not left him. In verse 14, he states, "But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand." He continues in verse 17: "You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed..."

Can you grasp this? God hears you. He listens to our cries, and He will answer. Hang on to that hope, my friend.