They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!” GENESIS 37:19 (CSB)

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Joseph was a dreamer. Most children are. I think it begins with Peek-a-Boo. That simple game that never fails to delight babies and toddlers teaches us that we live in a predictable, yet delightfully surprising world. For years, children experiment by pushing boundaries. They seek to understand just how far they can go before they have gone too far. Most of the time they learn these lessons by going too far.

So it was with Joseph. He was a precocious lad, a dreamer of dreams. He was still trying on ideas and dreams for size as a teenager. What to him was a fascinating adventure full of excitement and wonder was a burden and a bore to those who were more concerned with daily details, chores, and real-life problems and work. 

Do you notice how God spoke to Little Joe according to his bent? He spoke to Joe in a manner Joe was entirely comfortable with. He communicated truth and expectation to him in a way that fired his imagination and drove his next steps. 

Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes sang a song she wrote called, Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer. The song was from the album Gideon, a collection of songs about a man’s life, his ups and downs, sung from his personal perspective though he then lay in his grave. 

Joseph’s brothers would agree with Ms. Carnes. They did not care for The Lord of the Dreams, the literal meaning of what the CSB translates, “that dream expert.” 

Dreamers see farther and clearer than their companions. Where others see roadblocks and obstacles, they see opportunity and destiny. 

One of these days, we will get to the final chapters of Genesis. What do we discover? Through many dangers, toils, and snares, Little Joe became Joseph, the Little Dreamer Who Could. He became Joseph, second in command of Egypt only to Pharaoh himself. He became Joseph, the man who saw his dreams come true in service to others. 

We will fall in love with a dreamer.

Like Father Abraham before him, he was blessed to be a blessing. He lived not the life of his dreams for himself, but the life of God’s dreams for him. 

God dreams better than we do. 

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.” God has always known you. Before he said, “Let there be . . .” he knew you, and he knew me. We get to live the life today he has dreamed for us forever. Why would we settle for anything less than what he planned?

King David, a boy whose dreams came true, wrote, “The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD,” (Psalm 24:1). What does David say about those who live the life of God’s dreams for them? “He will receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation,” (verse 5). 

Many people wept in Pixar’s Inside Out when the imaginary friend Bing Bong faded away. Dear friends, the dreams God gave you, the ones that honor him and serve others, are still possible. Call them to memory. Blow gently upon those dying embers. Gather kindling. Build that flame into a fire. Become what you might have been if you had followed God’s dreams for you. 

Joseph lived the life of God’s dreams for him. That is what kept him going in the cistern, as part of a caravan of goods to be sold, as a slave in Potiphar’s house, as a prisoner in the dungeon, and as second in command to Pharaoh. Where others see obstacles, look for the opportunities. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus,  the author of our story of stories. Do not allow anyone but him to place the final period on your life.

Someone once said, “I have a dream,” and it changed a nation. When God gives a dream, it changes the world. What is the God Dream of your life? I cannot wait to see it fulfilled!

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I will live the life of God’s dreams for me.

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Our Father, I do not want to live the life of my dreams. I want to live the life of your dreams for me. You dream better than I do. Empower me to see the obstacles along the way as stepping stones toward the daring destiny you have planned. As you were with Joseph, be with me. Show me the way to go so that I may get where you want me to be. I want to live a life that honors you and blesses others. Amen.