He Knows the Plans He Has For Us: A Pictograph Interpretation

Joseph's Dreams by James Tissot
Brooklyn Museum

Where the Lesson Began

In January 2011, our church held a women's conference called "Dreams." The focus was on dreams, including God's plans and purposes for you. Three questions were asked during our small-group activity, which included nearly 20 women in two groups:

• How many of you are sure of God's plan and purpose for your life, specifically? 
• How many of you have an idea of what God's plan and purpose for your life is? 
• How many of you have no idea what the plan is?  

I imagined that most people would be at different stages of discovering the plans and purposes for their lives. I expected that most people would raise their hands for the second question, assuming they might have an idea but hadn't quite grasped the details or how to work it out. I was surprised that no one raised their hand for the first question. Two people raised their hands for the second question, and everyone else raised their hands for the third.

I am not a mathematician by any means, but this suggests that about 80% of the people there, who were predominantly Christian, had no idea what God's purpose was for their lives. I began to wonder whether this statistic held true across the board.

These results meant that many wandered aimlessly, perhaps even mundanely, just trying to get through it or survive. This lack of direction leaves us skimming the surface of life, busy and hoping it all works out, with no real route or destination in mind. In the end, our eternal thoughts amount to nothing more than a vague, elusive notion of heaven.

In this study, I hope my presentation for the small groups I hosted will encourage some to seek the Lord and discover the hidden potential given to each of us. We were created to do more than exist. There is a goal in mind, and it isn't just about surviving life on the planet. A highly specific plan with deep, meaningful purpose exists, and we can realize it only in our gracious God and Savior. It is an eternal plan. This lesson is written to address the varying stages of dream discovery. It will also include some Hebrew word study. 

It's Intentional

God has given each of us a unique and precious purpose in life that will ultimately glorify Him. God knows the plan, even if we don't, and it is a good plan with a future and hope. 

Most of us are very familiar with this verse:

For I know the plans I have for you" (A) —[this is] the LORD's declaration—"plans for [your] welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 

— Jeremiah 29:11 (HCSB) 

The Hebrew word for plans in the above verse is "machshavah," מחשבה, and it is defined as a thought, plan, purpose, or intention according to Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon. The root of this word is "chashav" (חשב), meaning to compute, compose, meditate, and reason. If we read again in light of these definitions, Jeremiah 29:11 reads like this:

For I know the purposes and intentions (machshavah מחשבה), I have composed and reasoned (choshev חשב—root) for you. Intentions and purposes (machshavah מחשבה) of Shalom שלום (bonus word): satisfaction and fulfillment, wholeness and well-being, to give you a future and a hope.

God isn't glibly just trying to find something for us to do. He isn't surprised that we are here and wondering, "What shall I do with this one?" Nor was God thoughtless in what He planned. The definitions above indicate that He meditated thoughtfully and reasoned this out. He composed our purpose in the grand scheme of things more eloquently than a musician creating masterpiece compositions. From His perspective, our life and mission are highly intentional and uniquely His.

He planned this in Christ before time began. We were not an afterthought. He knew we would be here, and He planned on it. We are here for a purpose!

... who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. 

— 2 Timothy 1:9 

Lord my God, you have done great things. Your wonderful works and Your plans (Machshavah) for us; none can compare with You. If I were to report and speak [of them], they are more than can be told. 

— Psalm 40:5 (HCSB) 

Hebrew Word Study for Machshavah מחשבה

In studying the Hebrew word picture for machshavah מחשבה, we will first look at its root chashav חשב, then add the prefix "mem מ" and the suffix "hey ה" at the end. Its word picture confirms the meaning of the above verse. 

Chet ח 

"Chet ח" is the first letter of this Hebrew root word for "plan" and pictures a fence. It is symbolic of boundaries that protect. Our life plan is only genuinely realized within the protection of a committed covenant relationship with our Father through His Son, Jesus.

Sheen

"Sheen ש" is the second letter, and it pictures teeth. It carries the concept of chewing, breaking down, and putting back together. Joseph's story is an excellent example of this. Joseph had to be broken down and then put back together before fulfilling his dream. 

Bet ב

"Bet ב," the last letter of this root, is a picture of a house. The ancient pictograph is a blueprint. God's plans for us are like a blueprint for our life. Building a house is a very deliberate process that requires planning. This word picture shows us that God's plans are deliberate, intentional, and well thought out. They are also realized only in a relationship with Him. 

Receiving and Conceiving His Plan

The "mem מ" (prefix) at the beginning of the word and "hey ה" (suffix) at the end come with an interesting concept as well. When "mem מ" is a prefix, it is thought to look like a uterus and a picture of water, like a baby in the womb. When "hey ה" is at the end of the word, it makes the word feminine and conveys the idea of transforming a concept (conception) into reality (baby), according to Rabbi Daniel Lapin.

I think God is showing us in this word picture that He wants us to conceive His plans for us within the womb of our hearts, so we might give birth to them and bear fruit in the earth for Him. I can't help but think of Mary when the angel visits her and tells her she will have a son. She receives the plan and purpose that is spoken to her when she says:  

“Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” 

— Luke 1:38

She then gives birth to the Savior of the world. Purposes must be revealed, conceived, and incubated before they come to birth. 

Having a sense of purpose is an innate need we all have. The following quote is from a book titled Buried Treasure by Rabbi Daniel Lapin.

"built right into us is a human need to dedicate everything we do to a higher purpose"

The Bible tells us:

Where there is no revelation (vision in some translations), the people cast off restraint ... 

— Psalm 29:18 

Without realizing our purpose, we can become aimless or careless. Our purposes in Him won't always meet worldly standards and may bring few accolades. But knowing we are doing what God has called and empowered us to do will be most gratifying.

When Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well, His disciples returned with food, intending to satisfy His hunger. 

His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 

— John 4:31-34

Sarah's Dream Fulfillment by James Tissot
Brooklyn Museum

Seeking the One True Source

God has a determined, thoughtful will and a unique plan for us. Discovering that plan can be exhilarating, especially if we have spent years wandering aimlessly in the wilderness of mere existence. Sometimes, this enthusiasm leads us to make our discovery the mission and goal of our lives and to force it to happen in our own ways, leaving God out of the process. Here, our motives for seeking the plan are revealed.

Sometimes we search for our dreams to feel significant or successful. We all need and want to feel that our lives have purpose and meaning. And we all want to be known and seen as unique, talented, or gifted. But if this becomes our goal, things can quickly unravel, and we might find our sense of purpose shipwrecked and fragmented, or even feel we missed the boat altogether and decide there was no purpose.

Sarah is an excellent example of this. When she was promised a son, she grew impatient waiting for God to fulfill the plan and purpose. She arranged to have a child through her maidservant, Hagar. This sidestep created quite a mess in the story. Even so, God still has a plan. James reveals that when we ask God for these things and don't receive them, it's because our motives aren't pure.

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 

— John 4:3

There is so much more to lust than sensuality. Lusts are internal cravings that drive us to satisfy ourselves in ways that don't satisfy. In fact, they leave us more hungry. We can lust for notoriety, fame, power, status, and the applause of man. In his book "Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts," Dr. Richard Booker writes about the problem of our priorities:

"Many believers never enter God's rest because they seek things from Jesus rather than Jesus Himself. They seek blessings rather than the one who blesses. Jesus doesn't give us blessings; He Himself is our blessing. He is all that we could ever need, want, or hope for, in His person." 

So we try to find satisfaction in our accomplishments. We seek the dream and what it can give us rather than God Himself. We are lost at sea. We cannot seek purpose to convince ourselves or to prove to others that our lives have meaning. This is a common temptation when we have felt so little and useless for so long.

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you. 

— Matthew 6:33 

Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 

— Luke 17:33 

We must die to our fleshly reasons to become somebody through a dream or purpose.

Proper Focus Is Everything

Delight yourself also in the LORD, 

And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 

Commit your way to the LORD, 

Trust also in Him, 

And He shall bring it to pass. 

— Psalm 37:4

The above verses indicate that the focus that precedes our dreams is the Lord. When we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts and make them happen. We so often wear ourselves out trying to make something happen because, a lot of the time, our esteem depends upon it. The main ingredient of any goal or vision is to please Him.

The above verse tells us that when we delight ourselves in Him, we naturally desire to please Him in return, and then He can position us to receive His passion and plan for us as our motives are purified. The goal of our dreams is to glorify God, not ourselves. If this isn't at the core of all our plans and dreams, they won't amount to much from an eternal perspective.

Commit your works to the LORD, 

and your thoughts (God's well-thought-out plans—machshavah מחשבה) will be established. 

 — Proverbs 16:3

When we commit to Him, he will establish our thoughts on the God-given plans and purposes He ordained for us before the world began.

... who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. 

— 2 Timothy 1:9

Our calling is "holy." Holy means to set apart for His plan alone. It is not to serve our private agendas.

The Joseph narrative showcases this principle. In the Hebrew word for "plan," "machshavah" pictograph, the letter "sheen" indicates that in a God-given dream, there is the idea of tearing down and putting it back together. We will see how purifying our motives often requires tearing down and putting them back together.

by Lawrence Alma Tadema

A Look at the Life of Joseph

Genesis 37-47 tells the story of young Joseph, who dreamed of sheaves of grain and, on another occasion, of the sun, the moon, and the stars bowing down to him. He told his brothers about the dreams, and they understood that the dreams implied they would one day bow down to him. 

I have often wondered why Joseph chose to tell his brothers about these dreams. I can't imagine he didn't know they already disliked that he was the favored son. 

It was probably an exciting dream, a prospect for Joseph to rule over his family. It sounded important, noble, prestigious, and powerful. Who could keep that to themselves? 

Jacob sent Joseph on a mission shortly after this event to check up on his brothers. Could it be that Joseph felt this was the beginning of God's plan for him to come to pass? He was about to rule over his brothers, and checking up on them was just the beginning. 

As we all know, things turned out the opposite of the vision God had given him. Instead of ruling over them, his brothers threw him into a pit, and he was sold as a slave. A slave is the antithesis of a master or lord, which he thought himself to be. 

For many years, Joseph served in jail and in the Egyptian palace, being wrongfully accused of things he didn't do and imprisoned for them. The Bible doesn't tell us whether Joseph ever wondered about the dream and how it would happen when circumstances looked so contrary. How could he rule over his family if he might never see them again? This is how we sometimes feel when life seems contrary to God's plans, promises, and purposes.

The Turning Point

God eventually turns the ship around, and Joseph becomes what God intended him to be. Joseph may have initially embraced the dream to feel good about himself or his life, but God had a higher purpose in mind: the salvation of his brothers. He came full circle. We all have to come full circle. God might use that place of weakness or stumbling to serve a more excellent plan, as Joseph discovered when he said the following. 

... God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 

— Genesis 45:7

I believe his story's success has to do with how, in everything he suffered, he learned to focus on the Lord, and it was then that the deeper, more fundamental purpose became clear. 

At this moment, Joseph discovers the true purpose of his dream. It's important to realize that our goal isn't about us. It's about God and the salvation of others. God's plan and purpose in our lives will always be about the edification or salvation of others. That is His passion. Sometimes, as seen in Joseph's life, it's a grueling process for God to bring us to that place. But Joseph clung to God through it all. In a moment of temptation, he chose to please God rather than himself. 

There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” 

— Genesis 39:9

Joseph now has his priorities straight. His goal in life is to please God, even if it means going to prison for something he didn't do and enduring consequences that may have made fulfilling his dream unlikely, if not impossible. Joseph had to be broken down and put back together before his purpose and ministry could be spiritually effective. The painful experience in Egypt stripped Joseph of any impure motives. In the end, Joseph ruled over his brothers, as the dream depicted. But now he ruled in love, compassion, humility, and an understanding of the dream's true purpose. The objective was that the twelve of them would be the beginning of a nation responsible for bringing the Savior into the world.

The first chapter of Genesis written on an egg in Hebrew

The First Example of Dream Fulfillment

The first example of dream fulfillment in Scripture, and how it plays out, begins in Genesis chapter one. God has a vision and a purpose for places and things that may seem purposeless. He executes these plans deliberately and intentionally, as He should with us. 

“You are worthy, O Lord, 

To receive glory and honor and power; 

For You created all things, 

And by Your will they exist and were created.” 

— Revelation 4:11

 "Will" in this passage is the Greek word theléma, meaning:

... what one wishes or determines shall be done, to choose, to have in mind, intend, determine, purpose, the carrying out of that purpose into act, follows deliberation and inclination, includes the idea of delight and pleasure.

This verse tells us that, according to this definition, God, as our example, enacted His purpose and plan for creation by deliberately carrying out His intentions. What He did brought Him delight and pleasure, and He will be with us as we walk out the divine will of our Father in Heaven. From the following definition, we might ask ourselves these questions to help us narrow down what that plan might be:  

• What do we wish for in the sense of life mission?
• What stirs in us a determination?
• What causes and interests involving spiritual passions do we deliberate about?
• Are there causes that roll around in our hearts?
• What are we inclined to do?
• What spiritual accomplishment would bring delight and pleasure from a spiritual perspective?

In this study, I would like to examine another Hebrew word for dream or vision that involves visualizing the plan. 

We looked at this verse in the first lesson:

Where there is no vision, the people perish (cast off restraint, become aimless) ... 

— Proverbs 29:18

Without focus, our lives can become fragmented and disjointed.

“Aim at nothing, and you will hit it every time.” 

— unknown author 

The Hebrew word for vision in the verses mentioned above is: "chazah חזון"; "sight" (mentally), i.e., "dream," "revelation," or "oracle." A dream is established by being able to see it. We can't act on something we can't perceive happening.  

Hebrew Word Pictograph for Vision

"Chet ח," the first letter of the Hebrew word for "vision חזון," is a picture of a fence and speaks of boundaries and protecting what is inside. A vision is something that God has placed within us and protected until it is safe and ready for fulfillment. A purpose already lives inside us, waiting to be revealed as we submit ourselves in humility before him.

... who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

— 2 Timothy 1:9

"Zayin ז," the second letter of this word, represents a tool for cutting or inscribing. The Hebrew word for "remember" begins with "zayin ז." We can think of remembering as something inscribed in our minds.  

Another intriguing Hebrew word, beginning with the letter "zayin ז," relates to vision. It is "zereach זרח." This word appears in Psalm 112, and it would translate something like this.

"He scatters rays זרח of light in the darkness"

 — Psalm 112:4

The revelation of our dreams is like His rays of light scattering through the darkness of a purposeless life when we were without God and the hope of eternity. He reveals the inscribed plans and purposes that have been there all along. 

"Vav ו," the third letter, is a picture of a nail and means to connect and establish. The dream and plan are established as we focus our attention through our memory by visualizing the plan God has placed within us. 

"Noon נ" is a picture of a fish and pictures the concept of perpetual or eternal life. The dream becomes established when it connects to the eternal plan and its intended purpose. The primary purpose of a fulfilled dream is to share God's goodness and the eternal life we have been freely given.

"Freely you have received; freely give" 

— Matthew 10:8

Once we discover God's purpose or plan, we must stay focused on the mission He has given us. The busyness of life, and sometimes desires for other things, can be quite distracting. Our lives are so hectic today and often lack a clearly defined biblical purpose, which is why we need to do what God commanded the prophet to do. 

“Write (inscribe the vision)
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.

— Habakkuk 2:2

This instruction has helped me immensely to stay focused and not be discouraged. I sometimes wonder whether Joseph had to remind himself of the dream often, given the opposition he faced. Most importantly, stay focused on the person who has that goal and dream.

... let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. 

— Hebrews 12:1-2

Eyes on the Eternal Prize

A quote from Rick Renner's Sparkling Gems from the Greek:

"The main goal of all believers should be to find God's plan for their lives and then to go after it with all their might and strength ... The primary emphasis of reward (in the ancient games) was not material wealth, but on the distinguishable honor bestowed on the winners. These people were only able to achieve victory in the Olympic Games by being disciplined, balanced, and committed to excellence ... our task is to find the divine plan for our lives: to get in shape so we can start running our race ... You have to remove all distractions and commit yourself to a life of discipline, balance, and devotion." 

What enabled Paul to press ahead when he was being assaulted so viciously? How could he maintain such a victorious attitude? How is it that he never surrendered to weariness, exhaustion, or the devil's attacks? ... That he would one day hear Jesus say to him, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." (1) 

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works Which you have done; And Your thoughts (plans - machshav)toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered. 

— Psalm 40:5

In closing, I would like to share some Scriptures to pray as we seek the Lord for His plans and purposes. His Word describes the needs of our hearts in better ways than we can think of ourselves sometimes. I love these Scriptures because they really hit the target concerning our search for Him and the plans He has for us.

I pray to you, the God of My Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that you may give to me the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You, and the eyes of my understanding would be enlightened; that I may know what the hope of Your calling is, what are the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of Your power toward me 

— Ephesians 1 

I ask that I may be filled with the knowledge of Your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that I may walk worthy of You, Lord, fully pleasing You, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You... and I pray that my love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that I may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ 

— Colossians 1 

May the God of peace who brought up My Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make me complete in every good work to do His will, working in me what is well pleasing in Your sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. 

— Hebrews 13 

... being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in me will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ ... 

— Philippians 1:6 

... for it is You who works in me both to will and to do for Your good pleasure. 

— Philippians 2:13

Cause me to hear Your mercy (covenant love) in the morning,
For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You.
Deliver me, O LORD (YHWH), from my enemies;
In You I take shelter.
Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God (Elohim);
Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.

— Psalm 143:8-10

 © 2011 Tamarajo

(1) Sparkling Gems from the Greek by Rick Renner, Teach All Nations Publishing, copyright 2003