Genesis 37:5-10 (NIV)

Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”

Do you dream big? Have you always wanted something that you thought was so out of your reach you haven’t dared to say out loud what it is? Are you afraid that others will laugh at you, or worse, turn on you in jealousy?

Joseph apparently was not afraid to share with his family the big dreams that God gave him, but he suffered for doing so. His jealous brothers sold him into slavery and he eventually ended up in prison, sentenced for life with no possible reprieve. Yet God orchestrated not only his release from jail, but also his being elevated to the second highest post in the land of Egypt. 

In hindsight we can see that those dreams were given to him by God, and therefore, it was incumbent upon God to bring them to pass.

In my own life I have had dreams that I thought were so fanciful that I never breathed a word of my hope to anyone, nor dared to allow myself to entertain the possibility of them coming true. I buried them deep in my heart until one day I saw the impossible happen and one of those dreams came to pass. I saw my marriage, that seemed broken beyond repair, be restored.

We are made in God’s image and we have a great big God, so it only stands to reason that the yearnings of our heart that seem greater than we can imagine are from His heart to ours.

What I have come to understand is that when I do dream big, whether they are dreams I have had while sleeping or just the hidden desires in my heart, it’s usually God-given. Therefore, God wants to fulfill them, in His time and in His way.

So I encourage you to embrace those big dreams—and entrust them to Him!

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4