The Divine Pause-Part Four

I can't start this week without saying what another great loss we have suffered this week with the death of Tony Snow. I've always wondered through the years why so many kind, integral people seem to die so early, or are taken in such tragic ways. I think of the space shuttle challenger, Lisa Beamer's husband and so many during September 11th, Payne Stewart, and yet it seems each time, with each tragedy, the message that comes out is what a wonderful person they were, and what a deep faith they possessed. Tony Snow was one of those men. He walked his cancer out with grace and a true sense of purpose. May each of us be able to do the same. We say goodbye to a man of great character and pray that we can learn from his life.

In our final moments with Joseph we left him in his seemingly "forgotten" place. Yet no one is ever truly forgotten. God's eyes are always upon us. But yet for two years, the butler didn't remember Joseph. Not until Pharoah had a dream. It was then that Joseph was remembered. And Joseph is released to interpret Pharoah's dream. Isn't it interesting how Joseph's life revolves around dreams. It was a dream that got him in this predicament in the first place. It was a dream that had him hoping to be released. And it is a dream that finally frees him. My, how powerful are our dreams.

So in he goes to Pharaoh to interpret his dream. I can't help but wonder if this isn't often the final and hardest test. Interpreting Pharoah's dream, all the while still having one he has yet to see fulfilled. Ever had to rejoice in someones victory when you're still waiting for your own? Ever watched someone else get a miracle in their marriage, while you're desperately holding on to the belief of your own. Ever watched someone get an advancement when you were the one that should have been advanced years ago.

What would have happened if Joseph would have walked into Pharoah's throne room and said, "You've got to be kidding me. I'm not interpreting squat! I've been waiting on my own dreams to be fulfilled. I've been meeting other people's needs for years when it's suppose to be other people serving me and I ain't interpreting anything else for anybody! (Let's pretend he's from southern Egypt.) The last time I did that I sat in a cell for two more years! Interpret your own dream Mr. Fancy Pants!"

Well, because we started with the end of the story we know what would have happened. If Joseph had not humbly gone before Pharaoh, interpreted that dream with no knowledge of whether it would have had any consequence to him or not, but simply because he was asked to, then he would have had his butt sent right back to the jail cell, his family would have all died, and he would have probably had his head on a platter by evening.

How many dreams have been thwarted in that final place of obedience? How many dreams have died because we simply weren't willing to obey heaven's final request. Instead we thought it was our time and we didn't want any part in being a part of someone else's dream? Because it was about our dream. I can only imagine what the refuse piles look like. Trust me, I know my own.

But Joseph doesn't do this. And in this act of obedience it ends up becoming the catalyst to the fulfillment of the dream God had given him. The pause button on Joseph's life was released. And in releasing that button, not only was Egypt delivered from a famine, but Joseph's father and his brothers, the very ones whose act seemingly got him here are delivered as well.

God knows what needs to be accomplished in us for the releasing of our pause button. How do I know? Because remember where we started? This was God's plan. God had brought Joseph to this place, not his brother's. Their act may have accomplished it but God was the designer. Why? Because God knows what produces greatness. He knows what is ultimately needed in us to bring greatness from us. And I believe that very often the greatness of the dream will coincide with the length of the pause. If Joseph had been called to be Pharoah himself, I have a good idea the pause button might have stayed pressed a little longer. I heard T.D. Jakes say once, "For people with exceptional callings, everything in their lives will be exceptional. Including their storms as well as their victories." May I add, "and their divine pauses."

May I share one final thing? Years later when Joseph's sons were born he named one of them Ephraim. Names were very important back then. Each one had a clear meaning. And Ephraim meant, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." Joseph got it. He got the fact that in his "divine pause" heaven was growing something in him. That this pause had been about something more than just a dream. It had been about the making of a man. A man who was fruitful. A man who could look in the face of his affliction and see something of value, something worth learning, something worth becoming and then become it. Every lesson in the pause Joseph got. Every place he was called to walk he walked, with obedience and grace. And in the end God knew Joseph could be trusted with the dream.

I know pauses aren't fun. Downright frustrating at times. But I've also learned that they are one of God's best opportunities to grow greatness inside of us. Here's to the divine pauses of our lives. May we live them well. And when the pause is released, may we be ready.

These final words are taken from an interview with Tony Snow back in July of 07 when he was still Press Secretary at the White House. I felt they summed up our journey perfectly.

Tony Snow-"We want lives of simple, predictable ease—smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see—but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension—and yet don't. By his love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise."