“Your dreams will come true.”
From childhood on, the movies teach us to expect this—and sometimes our dreams do come true. But as I read the story of Joseph this week, I was reminded of an even greater truth. God Himself has dreams—good plans—for us. And God’s dreams for us will always come true.
The story of Joseph is a prime example of this. In Genesis 37:5-7 we read: Joseph dreamt a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamt: for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.” (WEBBE)
This was a God-given dream. And, eventually, it would come true! But in the time between God’s promise and God’s fulfillment, Joseph and his brothers faced challenges that we can relate to and learn from.
Challenge #1: When God’s dreams for us come true, but not the way we expected…
When Joseph first received this dream from the Lord, perhaps he envisioned his future as one of honor, honor and more honor. After all, even the brothers that hated him were going to bow down to him one day! But in reality, his life didn’t take such an easy path.
Shortly after being given this dream, Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery. He was then falsely accused and thrown into prison. And along the way, he faced broken promises from those who said they’d remember and help him.
While the details of our stories may look different, I think we can relate to having high-hopes for life and then having those hopes dashed by suffering. We can probably also relate to the struggle of knowing how to respond rightly in those discouraging places.
What do we do when, for a season, God’s promises and good plans for us seem to have vanished from view?
- Do we shake our fists at the people who failed us or at the God who seems suddenly absent?
- Do we give into despair, crawling deeper into the pit where our circumstances thrust us?
- Or do we follow Joseph’s example and live the days before us, as best we can?
I love the example Joseph sets for us here. Even as he, undoubtedly, faced the grief and hardship of his circumstances, God enabled him to do two additional things that were helpful:
First, He took every opportunity he was given to do good, wherever he was. In Genesis 39, it appears that, even though he was forced to be a servant, Joseph willingly partnered with God and sought to serve well, by God’s grace. And while imprisoned in Genesis 40, we see that he volunteered to interpret his fellow prisoners’ dreams, giving credit to God and God alone. Joseph didn’t shut down because of his suffering. He sought to serve—and even point others to God—in the midst of it.
It’s a good reminder for us: Our circumstances may be less-than-ideal—unjust, even. But we still have opportunities to do good by God’s grace there—and we should take them. Who knows? God may even use those small acts of faithfulness to further the good plans He’s had all along.
Second, Joseph held onto God by noting His goodness, wherever he saw it. Over and over again, in Joseph’s story, we read that God was with him and blessed him (Gen. 39:2-5, 20-23). We also see Joseph acknowledging God’s kindness to Him in passages like Gen. 41:51-52, where he names his children in memory of all God had done for him in Egypt.
Even in his suffering— even while unjustly enslaved, falsely accused and thrown into prison—Joseph saw and acknowledged that God’s presence and blessings were with him.
And if Joseph could find God’s goodness to him in those awful conditions, there’s a high probability we can find that same goodness in our circumstances—because it’s there! Just like in Joseph’s story, God is with us and has blessings for us in the midst of our suffering. The question is: will we recognize it and rejoice over it?
In Joseph’s story, the truth was that God’s plan was right on schedule. God’s dream of honor for him was coming true! But I have to believe that noting God’s goodness and then partnering with God to do good in the midst of his suffering enabled him to endure the long journey to Genesis 42:3 and 6, where that God-given dream finally came true. In the midst of famine, we read: “Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. … Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.” (WEBBE)
Joseph’s story teaches us that, while God’s dreams for us may not come about in the way we expected, they will come true. And in the meantime, God still has blessings and opportunities for us to embrace. So, while we wait for the dream to come true, let’s get busy living the days before us, hand in hand with Him.
Of course, Joseph is not the only figure we can learn from in this story. We can also learn from Joseph’s brothers.
Challenge #2: When God’s dreams for others come true, but not for us…
Back in Genesis 37:5, we read, “Joseph dreamt a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.”
These brothers already had a grudge against Joseph because, as verse 4 puts it, they “saw that their father loved him more…” so, when Joseph naively announced his dream of them bowing before him, perhaps these brothers thought, “Great, more favoritism. Not only is he dad’s favorite, now he’s God’s favorite, too.”
Have you ever compared your life to the lives of those around you and felt like God was playing favorites?
Maybe, your friend’s life appears to be all smooth sailing, while yours is one of struggle.
Perhaps, a prayer was answered for your sibling, but not for you—at least not yet.
If we’re honest, it can sometimes be challenging to see God bless other people in ways we desire to be blessed. They thrive while we struggle. They move forward while we continue waiting. We really can begin to feel like God is playing favorites.
But the hope we can take from this passage is that, unlike an earthly father, our heavenly Father does not show favoritism. When He blesses one child, it isn’t a slight to his other children. It’s actually meant to bless them, too. We see this in God’s plan for Joseph and his brothers.
You see, Joseph’s dream may have depicted him in a position of authority over his brothers, but that dream of blessing was never just about God honoring Joseph. God blessed Joseph so He could, in turn, bless and provide for his entire family in famine. All along, God had plans to bless those jealous brothers, when it appeared He only had plans to bless Joseph.
And while other people’s blessings may not bless us as directly as this, I believe there is always something in them for us, as well.
When we get to see God bless someone else, He is giving us a glimpse of the mighty ways He can work and the kindness of His character. He’s giving us the hope of what’s possible with Him—and more reasons to trust Him.
So, in light of this, we should seek to respond to the blessings of others altogether differently than these jealous brothers did. Instead of focusing on the blessings themselves (and being triggered by them), we should fix our eyes on the Blessing-giver. When we do this, their blessings become our teachers and we end up blessed in the end.
In our lifetimes, we will see many dreams come true—some for others, some for us. May we keep our eyes on the One who has good dreams and good plans for each of His children.
This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my three year reading plan: “The Whole Counsel of Scripture.” To receive a copy of the first year’s reading plan (and future reading plans when they become available), sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along!
Written by Paige K. Burhans
©2026 Paige K. Burhans. All rights reserved.
Scriptures taken from the World English Bible British Edition which is a Public Domain translation.
