BEHOLD, THIS DREAMER COMETH
Genesis 37:18-20 "And when they saw Joseph afar off, even before he came near unto them his brothers conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams."
A penny for your thoughts, a nickel for your dreams
Go ahead and sell your birthright for a pot of beans.
Be careful what you wish for, be cautious what you say,
Everything you claim as truth may be around to stay,
But come, you dreamer, come and sit with me,
Spell out your fantasy about how you want your life to be,
Gather around the campfire for our storytime jamboree,
Whilst I smile and nod, remember: big words come free.
Spout your dreams and we'll all be about to listen,
Talk is cheap, so why not let golden silence glisten,
Let it ring out with its mute tolling bell,
Let it shake the air like the unheard screams of hell.
Then, for once, we'll leave you alone
But with that fire shut up inside your bones.
While hell is paved with good intentions,
It's littered with many bad ones too
Of those who didn't want to fight it through,
To see our aspirations come to bloom.
So now we watch you, haunt you, and taunt you,
Now we'll note as "This Dreamer Cometh…"
If you speak forth, we'll mock your courage,
While we mock, we wish to lock
Away those dreams that young men dream,
And we seek to take away and blind
Those visions in the old men's sight
Will you be that dreamer, who sets your heart on God?
Who fights against the flow? Who gambles against the odds?
Who won't let the voices of dissention try to drown out your convictions
Nor those brothers of contention try to throttle your intentions?
Remember this, my friend:
You are a soldier, a warrior, and filled with valor;
Now look at the rest of us:
We're mockers, stalkers, haters, … cowards
We wish that we had the will to persevere,
… to fight for what's right,
…… for what we hold dear
We need you to stand strong; We need you to carry on.
Don't retreat off of your battlefield, my brother!
Don't weary from wielding that sword, my sister!
If there's one thing you need to understand, it's this:
We hate what you do because it reminds us that we failed,
We long to blot out your vision so you can join our blind hell,
…But…
…… but …
……… but if you do survive …
………… if you do come out of this alive …
……… if you conquer your fears …
…… if you can smile after all the tears …
… Then we'll know…
We'll know that it's not impossible,
That we too could've done it long ago,
We need to overcome this grave,
To defy Sheol, to come alive again.
Don't look to the wind, to the waves, to the spray, to the sea,
Don't look at the other scared disciples who are watching thee,
Keep your eyes on the Messiah, on the one who gives life.
Fight on, my brother, and persevere: only then will you preserve our lives…
Our only hope lies in your hopes,
All of our dreams rests on your dream;
Every rainbow comes from rain,
But dreams often come from nightmares.
Live through our nightmare that we force on you
So that we can live through your dream that you give to us...
… Behold, this Dreamer cometh …
Genesis 45:4-5 "And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. (50:19) ... Don't you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for good..."
"This is dedicated to everyone who stays the course and pursues their dream. This is for the bright young man who wants to be a preacher instead of the scientist. The world shakes its head and calls you 'a waste'; I shake my head at them, and call you 'this dreamer'. This is for the woman who makes the courageous step of putting down her career to pursue the God-given calling of being a mother and a home-maker. The world sneers at your 'uselessness' and calls it a 'shame'. I applaud your courage and compassion, and call you 'this dreamer'. We are in the world, not of it. We are not to conform to it because that's not what they need. If the light looks like the darkness, what good is it? The light does no good if it can not shine; salt has no purpose if it loses its taste. The world is suffering in its dark, bland misery; they don't need more darkness, more blandness, more misery. They need that difference, though they may scorn it at first. Let them mock, let them spit, let them sneer, but you wait and see who they come looking for when they run out of their answers. It's then that they will look through their tears and see a light, that beacon blazing through the darkness, and with relief, they will turn to one another and say, "Behold, this dreamer cometh..." -The Psalmist