Both of them.
I dream often, most nights. Some grab me and drag me from my sleep, others are just me working through life. Chess dreams where I try to move a pawn diagonally and I know that’s not how it goes. You’ve probably had a stirring, emotive dream too. You can’t explain it, but you know it’s not just imagination – it carries weight. There’s something stirring in that moment, where God begins to speak you, capturing your attention. Sometimes it’s a message for you, or for others.
Both Josephs in Scripture knew that place. Like bookends in scripture; one in Genesis and one in Matthew. Different centuries, different callings – but both shaped by a dream they didn’t ask for, or expect. Both had different outcomes!
The first Joseph was a young man with the famous multi-coloured coat and a calling. His dreams were clear. Sheaves bowed. Stars did too. Nothing in scripture suggest that he was trying to be impressive, he just shared what he saw. Probably not with great wisdom, but he was a youngster! And it cost him. The dream marked him, and everything in his life seemed to fall apart after that. Betrayed. Abandoned. Forgotten. He didn’t ask for the dream, but here’s what we miss when we rush the story: the dream didn’t die in the pit. God was preparing the man who would one day carry the weight of nations. Not despite the suffering. Through it.
Then there’s the second Joseph. Older. Cautious. Steady. Righteous. He wasn’t dreaming of power. He was planning a nice little wedding. And into the middle of that ordinary faithfulness, God speaks: “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” Afraid? Wife? A different kind of dream! No symbols. No grandeur. Just instruction – and trust. That kind of obedience doesn’t come from impulse. It comes from a heart already inclined to say yes.
What unites these two men isn’t just the fact they dreamed. It’s what they did next.
Joseph in Egypt walked the long road of endurance. He held the dream in silence until God opened the door. He didn’t push his way forward. He didn’t try to manufacture outcomes. He waited, served, and listened. Remember the heartache of thinking he’d been rescued when they lifted him from the pit – only to send himm on to Egypt. When when the time eventually came, he stepped into leadership with wisdom not forged by pain, but by the realisation that God was with him.
The camera lens moves; miles and years away, Joseph in Nazareth protected the promise when no one else could see it. He didn’t need centre stage. He was entrusted with the hidden years of Jesus’ life – the years no one writes songs about. He obeyed, again and again, in quiet faith.
Now here’s the encouragement for those of you carrying a dream: don’t despise where you are. Don’t assume that delay means denial. And don’t buy the lie that significance always looks public. Some of the most kingdom-shaking dreams are born in hiddenness.
If God has given you something – a word, a picture, a calling – it’s not yours to force or rush. But neither is it yours to bury in fear. The Spirit still speaks. Not every dream is from Him, but when He does speak, it carries the weight of purpose. And it’s not about spotlight or success. It’s about faithfulness. About formation. About being the kind of person who can carry what God entrusts.
Both Josephs remind us: the dream is real. The process will be slow. But the God who gives the dream is faithful. And He is shaping you for what He’s already prepared.
And maybe this is worth saying too, words matter. The Spirit didn’t stir vague ambition in those Josephs. He gave them dreams. Actual ones. While they slept, God interrupted the night with revelation. Not goals. Not well-articulated vision statements. Dreams. The kind you wake up from and know something holy has passed through your soul. These were the dreams that Joel was speaking of.
We throw the word around today – dreams, aspirations, desires. And fair enough. There’s room for language to flex as I did just a few moments ago. But let’s not lose the weight of what happened here. God wasn’t responding to their ambition. He was initiating His plan. While their bodies rested, His Spirit moved.
With that in mind, it has to be said; there was another Joseph. The one who didn’t dream but did something just as courageous. He carried no vision in the night, but he had a holy aspiration: to honour Christ when it looked like everything had come to nothing. Joseph of Arimathea. We get to know exactly where he was from. A man of means and a quiet disciple. He asked for the body of Jesus when others scattered. He gave up his own tomb for the One they thought was finished. No heavenly dream. Just a heart moved by honour.
So yes, some of you may dream. Others may not. But the Spirit still speaks. In visions and pictures, in nudges and convictions, in sacred longing to make Jesus known.
The dream or aspiration can come in the night or comes like a whisper in the middle of your day, so don’t dismiss it. God speaks in, and through those moments.
Keep going…