I love that God blessed people with imaginations! Authors create new worlds, artists compose stunning works, and grandmothers dream up tasty desserts.

Brainstorming can yield brilliant results with the right guidance, but without boundaries, our imaginations can run wild, landing us in a world of worry. This is what I found when reading the narrative of Joseph found in Genesis 37-50.

Joseph’s jealous brothers had sold him into slavery, so he was carted off to Egypt. He eventually rose to power when, with God’s help, he interpreted Pharaoh’s daunting dreams. Joseph was then assigned the task of overseeing the storage of grain during Egypt’s plentiful years so there would be food for the upcoming years of famine (which Pharoah had dreamt about).

Eventually, the famine hit Canaan where Joseph’s family lived, and his brothers traveled to Egypt for grain. (Though Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn’t recognize him.) Joseph tested his brothers to see if their attitudes had changed and arranged for the guys to be taken to his home. Their imaginations went wild. They thought, “He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys” (Genesis 43:18b). Count ’em. Four fears!

In their panic, Joseph’s steward set them straight. “‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver’” (Genesis 43:23). Note that none of what the brothers imagined happened.

God replaced what they feared with treasure. I hope we can learn that lesson as well. Instead of imagining reasons to panic, let’s imagine peaceful blessings. Since God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20), let’s imagine His best!