IS THIS

ALL YOU ARE BASING YOUR

HOPES

ON?

 

By the age of seventeen most young people have a good idea of what they want to become when they grow up.

For young Joseph, it was no different.  

Through a vivid dream he had at seventeen, Joseph believed he was destined for a life of greatness.

Joseph saw himself becoming so successful to the point where even his father and eleven brothers were going to pay homage to him.

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Lofty dreams for a seventeen year old.

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Shortly after Joseph’s dream, the harshness of reality began to unfold in his life.

The same brothers who Joseph believed would one day pay him homage, kidnapped him and threw him in a dry well with the intention to kill him.

They later changed their minds and instead decided to sell the ‘dreamer’ into slavery.

While in slavery, the young man finds a glimmer of hope in the house of his slave master named Potiphar. 

Potiphar sees positive attributes in his young slave so he appoints him head over his household affairs.

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Things were beginning to look a little better for Joseph. 

Maybe his dream of future greatness was finally back on track, he thought to himself.

As Joseph was working very hard to prove himself worthy of the trust reposed in him by his master, he suddenly finds himself accused of the most horrendous crime imaginable for a slave.

Joseph was accused of attempted rape by no mean person than the wife of his master.

Just when he thought his life was finally getting better now this?  

A slave in a foreign land accused of rape?  How do you get out of this predicament?

How did the young man who believed he was destined for greatness suddenly find himself in such a hole from which there was no tool imaginable with which he was going to dig himself out?

Was the dream he had at the age of seventeen nothing but a figment of his immature imagination which he so dearly held unto believing it would one day become reality?

His dream could not be more at odds with the reality of his life.

For any casual observer, it was game over for Joseph.

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He finds himself once again locked up and languishing in prison while  he served a very long sentence for the crime he was accused of committing.

While in prison, Joseph finds an opportunity for redemption when he accurately interprets the dreams of two high ranking officials of the king who were serving time in the same prison.

Joseph pleads with the officials to remember him when they leave the prison and help secure his release.

When the officials left prison they forgot entirely about Joseph.

Joseph suffers in prison for two more years after the officials left the prison.

For Joseph, there was no way out of his predicament. 

 

Holding unto his dream of many years was nothing short of madness.

In his state of desolation, Joseph suddenly finds himself called out of prison to interpret a dream for the king of the land.  

He accurately interprets the dream and the grateful king promotes him from prisoner to prime minister of the entire nation.

 

As prime minister,  Joseph’s father and brothers eventually pay homage to him just as he had dreamed of at seventeen.

 

Similar to what Joseph experienced on his journey towards the fulfilment of his dreams, another young man by the name of David had the story of his life closely mimic that of Joseph.

As a shepherd boy at the tender age of fourteen, David receives an unexpected call from tending the flock at the pastures due to an unplanned visit by an old cleric to his family home.

David arrives home to find out what the visit of the old cleric was about only to find himself anointed with oil as the next king of his land.

Shortly after the unusual event with the cleric, David is instrumental in helping his nation defeat their arch enemy in battle.

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At this point David is thinking everything will fall in line for him to rule his people just as the cleric had predicted.

 

Wrong!

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Everything fell apart for David from that point onward.

His mentor and father-in-law  turned against him and sought  to take the life of David.

People David helped in the past turned against him when he asked for help.  

David became homeless.  

He resorted to living in caves, running around as a fugitive with no place to call home.

Things got so bad for David to the point where he had to seek refuge in the land of the enemies of his own country.

While in exile, he became the leader of those who were in a similar state of distress as he was.  

He became the leader of all the men who were in debt, distressed, and troubled.

The man who was anointed king at the tender age of fourteen suddenly found himself instead of ruling a nation,  becoming the leader of the hopeless among men.

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What a far cry from what he thought would take place when the oil was poured on his tender head many years ago.

After sixteen years of running around hopelessly, David finds himself crowned king by the people of his country.

Sixteen years of tribulation which made the possibility of him becoming king as prophesied a near impossibility suddenly came to an end when he was finally crowned king of his people.

 

Just as Joseph and David experienced, the road to taking your promise is a three-step process shown below.

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