Denying the Evidence of Shattered Dreams

[rrford]

Dreams. We all have them. They are the whisper of a heart yearning for a better day. They are the thoughts of a wandering mind during boring moments of time. Some, like cat’s feet, slip in unaware and then pounce upon our lives. Others, like the raging storm, consume us and demand our undivided attention.

Some come to pass. Others never do. I suppose there are few feelings of emptiness to compare to a dream unrealized. No doubt one of the greatest feelings of sorrow, other than the death of a loved one, is beholding the evidence of a shattered dream.

We have all had those also. The relationship that didn’t turn out the way we expected. There is church that never broke forth into revival. And then there was the job that ended miserably. And what is one to do when things go wrong? After all, the evidence of a shattered dream is right in front of you. It is the spouse walking out the door; it is the pink slip in the pay envelope; it is the empty altar on a Sunday night; it is being several runs short going into the bottom of the ninth inning.

What does one do then? What does one do when their world has been rocked by the evidence of a shattered dream? I challenge you today to do what a true dreamer does. What is that, you ask? Simply this: a true dreamer denies the evidence of shattered dreams!

Jacob knew what it was to see a dream delayed. For 14 long, tiring, back-breaking years he worked for Rachel, the woman he loved. The cost was little to Jacob because every night he dreamed of the day she would be his bride.

To prove the reward of the power of believing in a dream Rachel gives birth to Joseph, the son Jacob loved above all of the others.

Like father, like son. Just as Jacob was a dreamer, so also was Joseph. And what incredible dreams they were. Sheaves bowing down to his sheaf. The sun, moon and eleven stars giving obeisance to the Dreamer.

Jacob had to have heard the dreams of the Dreamer and the murmuring of his brothers. But he knew what it was to be a dreamer and was not going to be a dream killer. It is a sad fact of life, though, that not everyone loves the Dreamer. Joseph’s brothers become angry and envious. The story is told of how they sell him into slavery. In order to cover up their dastardly deed they take his coat and dip it in blood and show it to Jacob.

Notice Jacob’s response at seeing the coat: Instantly he says a beast has torn him, although he did not see the beast or hear its growls. He passively allows physical evidence to convince him that something spiritual has died. He rent his clothes and puts on sack clothes and ashes, and goes into deep mourning.

He was about to give himself over to death just because he thought the dreamer was dead. All of this, even though there was no real proof. He accepted a false evidence of a shattered dream. When all the time what he should have done was realized that God never lets the dreams die. Instead, he is holding a bloody garment in his hands and using that as proof that the dream is dead.

Jacob became guilty of “wasted mourning.” I call it wasted mourning for several reasons; First of all, nobody could comfort him. He was so distraught over a dream that he thought had died that he refused to consider any other option. He wasted several days mourning for a death he had no proof of.

Then he makes the statement “I’ll go to the grave mourning for my son.” In other words “I am going to spend the rest of my days consumed by what I have lost instead of rejoicing in what I have.”

I think every Dreamer needs to fully understand the following: Just because you cannot see the will and promises of God in action right now does not mean that they are dead. You have to remember that for every God given dream there is a purpose. Joseph found his ultimate purpose in the dreams that God gave him.

Unfortunately, daddy Jacob was so in love with the Dreamer that he never saw the dreams of the Dreamer as having a purpose. God is not going to give you a dream with purpose and then let it die somewhere before it is fulfilled. When they threw Joseph into the pit they thought they were saying goodbye to the Dreamer. When, in fact, what they were really doing was helping to fulfill the purpose of God.

What they did not know, and what Jacob did not know, was that the whole time they were in mourning the dream was alive and well! Sometimes the evidence of failure is right in front of your eyes while the fulfillment of a dream is hidden from view.

The enemy will always use the things that are seen to try and convince you that the unseen promise is dead or dying. How many promises and dreams have been lost because the devil used external circumstances to convince people something had happened that really hadn’t happened?

It would be easy to say “But the dream is really dead! Here is the proof. Sickness! Financial trouble! Spiritual struggles and battles! Ruined Families! Broken hearts!”

Some of you are holding the bloody garment of a hidden promise in your hands. Hear me! That is not the proof that the dream is dead! That is just the garment it is wearing! The dream that was wrapped in the garment of seeming failure is still alive and well!

You need to get the blood off of your hands and allow God to rebirth the dream in you. Some of you need to deny the evidence of shattered dreams and realize the dream still lives. You need to cast aside the evidence of a tattered garment. Dreamer, put off your spirit of mourning and put on a garment of praise. Deny the evidence of a shattered dream and let the dream live!