What can we learn from the life of a dreamer? On the Thursday edition of Live the Promise Susie welcomes Mark Buchanan back to the program to unpack the life and legacy of Joseph.

The first thing we learn about Joseph is that he’s tattling on his brothers, he’s spoiled by his father Jacob, and sharing his dreams about “personal conquest.” Mark points out that his brothers waste no time in taking revenge.

“Here comes the favored one traipsing across the field in his glittery jacket… They throw him into a well. Judah, who’s an interesting character, comes up and … suggests they sell him. From the moment he’s thrown into the well, we get a downward journey for Joseph. This dream is not going well.”

Mark points out that at the start of the narrative, we as the readers don’t like Joseph. “By the end of it, we want to be like him.”

Mark and Susie unpack the lessons from Joseph’s life:

• Let God have His way in your life.

“Realize the great cost of having the dream. There’s pain associated with the dream, and at the end the dream isn’t so much about the greatness of Joseph and people bowing down. It’s the story of the final fulfillment of the promise of the blessing to Abraham.”

• Jealousy is a gateway sin – it allows other sins of anger, entitlement and sloth to invade your heart. Joseph’s brothers showed this, and it took years for that sin to be rooted out of their hearts. By the time they came to Egypt, their character had changed and grown.

• Joseph’s response to his trials molded his character.

“Joseph walked in his virtue when it didn’t seem like God had been with him and for him. The issue is – will you love God, walk with God, obey God, even when you’re in a season of life when you can’t see Him?”

• Sometimes our trials and sufferings are God’s way of “sending us on ahead” before others.

• Mark points out a final truth that Joseph claims at the end of the narrative.

“It doesn’t matter who throws him into what pit. There’s Someone lifting him out.”

Key Scriptures: Romans 8:28; Genesis 37-50

Featured Songs: On Our Side by Lincoln Brewster; Your Grace Finds Me by Matt Redman; Let It Be Known by Worship Central

Highlight : Watching Joseph mature

Lessons from a dreamer