When God Gives You a Dream… but Sends You to the Wilderness First
It’s been a while since I’ve shared here. In that time, I’ve been sitting in Genesis—a book that holds more wilderness stories than I realized. And lately, one story won’t let me go: Joseph’s.
I don’t know about you, but sometimes when God plants a dream in my heart, I run ahead with it before I’m ready. I picture the outcome, the possibilities, maybe even the recognition… and it’s so easy to forget the dream is supposed to be about Him, not me.
Joseph did that too. We usually think of him as “the dreamer.” And he was. As a teenager, God gave him two big, bold dreams. But when he shared them, they came out sounding like, “I’m the center of the story.” His brothers didn’t hear God’s promise. They heard, “I’m going to be above you.” And they hated him for it.
Looking back, I don’t think Joseph’s dreams were wrong. But I do think they were still about him. He had the dream… but not the character to carry it yet.
That’s where the wilderness came in.
Joseph’s wilderness looked like betrayal, slavery, false accusations, and prison. The kind of places where dreams feel like they’ve died.
Think about it: one moment he was the favored son, wrapped in his father’s love and a beautiful coat, and the next he was stripped of it all and thrown into a pit by his own brothers. What must it have felt like to be betrayed by the people closest to him? That pit was the beginning of Joseph’s descent into years of hiddenness, years where it looked like his life was headed nowhere.
From the pit, he was sold into slavery. And yet, even there, God’s presence didn’t leave him. Joseph learned how to manage someone else’s household, how to serve faithfully, how to be trusted with responsibilities that weren’t his own. That’s not the kind of training he could have gotten in his father’s tent. It was a classroom he never would have chosen—but it was where his leadership was forged.
Then came false accusation. Joseph did the right thing, and it still cost him everything. He was thrown into prison for a crime he didn’t commit. If ever there was a place for bitterness to take root, this was it. But instead of letting despair harden him, Joseph kept serving. Even in the prison, he became faithful with what was in front of him.
The proud, favored younger brother was slowly becoming a man who knew how to serve well, wherever he was planted. The boy who once spoke too soon learned how to listen—not just to people, but to God. And in that long wilderness, his dreams shifted. They stopped being about his rise and started being about God’s glory.
By the time Joseph stood before Pharaoh, he wasn’t the same boy who bragged about dreams of being bowed down to. He was a man who gave all the credit back to God: “I cannot do it; but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires.” (Genesis 41:16 NIV).
And that’s when the dream was ready to come to life.
When I think about my own dreams, I have to pause here. My heart can so quickly make them about comfort, recognition, or success. And while those aren’t always bad things, they can quietly shift the spotlight onto me instead of God. That’s where I have to ask: Whose glory am I really after?
Am I dreaming for me… or am I dreaming for Him?
Because maybe God delays the dream not to discourage me, but to prepare me. Maybe the waiting is where He strips away my ego and strengthens my faith. Maybe He wants me so grounded in His presence that when the dream comes, I won’t mistake it for the prize—He will still be the prize.
So this is my prayer right now:
Lord, shape my heart before You shape my dream. If I start chasing recognition, pull me back. If I run ahead for comfort, slow me down. Keep me anchored in You, so that when You open the door, I’ll live the dream the way You always meant it—to serve You, not myself.
What about you? Where do you see God shaping you in the waiting? If He handed you your dream today, how would you carry it?
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It is in the wilderness our character is shaped for God's glory