Do you remember your God-dreams?

“And he remembered the dreams he’d had about them many years before. He said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.”” ~ Genesis 42:9 NLT

God gave Joseph a dream about his brothers bowing before him decades earlier when he was just a teenager. That dream turned into a nightmare of jealousy, hatred and violence in large part because Joseph lacked the maturity and grace to handle his “God-dream” without pride and selfishness. Joseph thought the dream was about him, what he would become in comparison to his older brothers, instead of how God would use him as an instrument of blessing to feed hungry people during a 7-year famine.

In this passage we see the partial fulfillment of that dream; Joseph’s starving brothers come to Egypt to buy grain and bow down before him (not realizing the Egyptian official standing before them is the same younger brother they sold into slavery years before).

Can you relate to the dynamic between Joseph and his brothers? Even today we see that the younger, favored child is set up by their parents to be resented and harmed by their older sibling(s). When the opportunity to even the score presents itself the overlooked and wounded older brother or sister will often humiliate the favored sibling – it’s a temptation that’s hard to resist for a child who feels overlooked and unloved by a parent.

Joseph needed to grow into the dream God gave him, but his father failed to help him to mature and handle his calling with humility. It would take years of suffering for God to reshape Joseph’s character in such a way to use him as a vessel of blessing.

What dreams did God give in your youth that you may not have been ready for? What steps are you taking to grow into your God-dreams?

And remember, God-dreams often must pass through death and resurrection before taking root and bearing fruit.