Have you ever dreamed that you were gonna do something important? Or be someone who will change the world? Have you ever had this deep sense you were gonna be someone great? You know greatness was in your DNA? That’s probably why we even dream of having superpowers.

Well if you have, you can probably relate to Joseph.

He knew that he carried greatness. It’s what he’d been dreaming of. There was a sense in his heart that he was going to be great. Our dreams show us our deepest parts and desires. When we dream, somehow were touching heaven. When we dream, we’re look through the windows of eternity. It’s as if we’re pulling on a part of heaven and making it a reality here on the earth. It’s as if we’re catching glimpses of what’s possible.

When Joseph dreamed, he saw what was available. And what he saw actually got him into trouble.
When he dreamed of greatness, he saw his brother bowing down to him. And not only his brothers, but his father and mother as well.

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?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Genesis 37:5-11

Joseph was also his father’s favorite. Before he had any of his dreams, his father showed his great favor towards Joseph by giving him a robe of many colors. I believe this was no coincidence.

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.”

Genesis 37:3

Because of the favor he received from his father, he became aware that he could be great. Favor became the launching pad that propelled him to be able to dream of greatness.

This made Joseph’s brother angry. He is not only favored, but now, they’re going to bow down to him. A plot to kill him started among his brothers. However, they took his robe of many colors and threw him in a well. They didn’t want to leave him there to die, so they decided to sell him. He was brought to Egypt and became a slave. His brothers tore his robe and covered it with blood to make it look like a wild beast had killed him.

But favor found him, not only in his father’s eyes, but in Egypt as well. An Egyptian officer bought him and he became a servant. He was so favored that he became an overseer of all his household. And then Joseph’s find himself back in the pits. He was imprisoned for being falsely accused. Where there is great favor, there will be most likely great opposition. But favor quickly found him once again. While in the dungeon, he was put in charge over the prisoners.

From a slave to a servant to an overseer, from a prisoner to a dream interpreter, he becomes the most powerful man in Egypt under Pharaoh. Egypt even became prosperous at a time of famine.

Because there was famine throughout the land, his family was forced to travel to Egypt. Joseph found his family at the mercy of his feet.

The dream he had came true.

The story of Joseph intrigues me, not because of his journey to the place of greatness, but what he said about the process of becoming great. In my previous post, I talked about how it takes a different set of lenses to see something out of what seems to be lifeless, nothing, and has no purpose . Problems, pain, wounds, rejection, inadequacy, unworthiness that people might have inflicted upon us becomes the lines and scratches and scribbles on the canvases of our lives.

As for Joseph, he knew the Lord was with him throughout his process and this gave him the courage to not give up on his dream. I believe it’s in how we see and what we do in our situations and circumstances, whether in the dungeon or in the palace, that will lead us to the place of greatness. Joseph wouldn’t have found himself in charge of the prisoner if his attitude was that of complaining.

A person who knows he is favored will turn a dungeon into a palace. Situations and circumstances don’t dictate who he is, but he dictates and changes the atmosphere around him. He becomes a thermostat that changes the climate of those in his sphere of influence rather than a thermometer, where his inward reality is based on his external circumstances.

Joseph saw his process to the place of greatness and this is what he said about it:

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” Genesis 50:20

The robe, the gift, the favor he had received was trampled on from the beginning. The dream of being great became nothing more than lines, scratches and scribbles on the canvas of his life. Yet favor kept finding him wherever he was. From the lowest pit, to the dungeon, to the palace; when favor is the paintbrush God uses to paint your story, the lines and scratches and scribbles on the canvas of your life are filled in by God and it becomes a beautiful picture of redemption.

Know that you are favored!