Heart Tracks - The Unenvisioned Place

One night Joseph had a dream, and promptly reported the details to his brothers, causing them to hate him even more. 'Listen to this dream,' he announced, 'We were out in the field tying up bundles of grain. My bundle stood up, and then your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before it.'........."So when the traders came by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver, and the Ishmaelite traders took him along to Egypt." Genesis 37:5-7, 28...."Until the time came to fulfill His Word, the Lord tested Joseph's character." Psalm 105:19

The talk of "having a vision" is heard a lot in the church these days. Visions from Him are biblical. It's where they come from and how we interpret them that so often aren't. So many of the visions I've heard those in the church speak, be they pastors and leaders or those in the general fellowship, seem to have as the main beneficiary, themselves. It's not that there isn't peripheral good to be found in the vision, just that the overall focus is on the "visionary" themselves. Recognition, success, applause, seem very much in the forefront. Personal glory, not His is the result. I speak from experience. I've had those kinds of "visions."

I have come to the place of seeing that the true test of whether a vision is from Him or not is; does it include a personal cross? Does it's fulfillment lead to our own Calvary? For the vision to live, we have to die. Joseph had a vision from God. So did David, and Daniel, and Isaiah, Hosea, down to Paul, Peter, John, and to us today. All of them came to unenvisioned places in realizing the fulfillment of the vision. Joseph had no idea his dream would entail slavery, prison, and a years long separation from his father and family. David knew he would be king. He didn't know he would be living on the run as an outlaw/outcast for many years, and that before he lived in the palace, he would also live in a cave. So it was for all those given true visions, dreams from His heart. They all came to unenvisioned places on the road to realizing the fullness of the vision. The question for them and for us is; what will we do when we come to that unenvisioned place?

This is a question for all of us. We all have cherished hopes and dreams. We all feel we have been given special promises by the Father. Promises concerning marriages, children, families and relationships. We all have longings and desires that we've prayed about, are sure we've had answers from Him about. We believe these promises, these hopes and dreams will be fulfilled, that they'll come to pass. What happens when, on the journey to their realization, we come to our own jail cell, cave, lions den, cross? We have our eyes on the victory parade. What happens when we find ourselves carrying our own cross up the hill to our own Calvary, our own death? Even the death of the dream, the hope, the vision? The unenvisioned place in the vision.

Oswald Chambers said, "Unless we can look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging the character of God, we do not yet know Him." This is where the truth of the vision is tested. This is where all the self-glory dies. All that is left is Him, His character, and you and your trust in His character. The vision may die. So may marriages, ministries, relationships, jobs, and all the hopes and dreams that accompanied them. He does not die. Into the broken dreams of the disciples He came with His resurrection life. The flawed vision they had before was replaced by the perfection that is Christ. Whatever we may feel has died in our lives, He has not. He lives, and so, we live. And if the vision we have is truly from Him, it will live on, though it may take a far different path than what we first believed. An unenvisioned path that leads to the envisioned place that has always been in His heart for us. For you.

Are you in the unenvisioned place? Are you facing the darkest and blackest of realities? You never thought to be here. Neither did Joseph, or David, or any of the heroes of faith. That place may overwhelm you. It doesn't overwhelm Him. He won't leave you there. He will get you to the place He has for you. It may not be the place you envisioned, or by the way you had planned. Hold on. He'll get you there. He'll get you home. His vision, the only one that really matters, will be fulfilled...in and for you. In and for all those who are His.

Blessings,
Pastor O