Dear Friends,
Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. Psalm 23:4 (NLT)
Just when I thought all was lost, I awakened. My heart was beating a mile-a-minute and it took me a few seconds to realize I was safe in my bed. The dream had seemed so real. I still remember the details:
My Prius had stalled by the side of the road on route 2, the Wrightwood highway, in the area of Mormon Rocks. After several attempts to start it, I placed the car in neutral and released the brake so it would start to roll. My plan was to jump start it like we used to do with our old stick shifts. Not so smart when you consider I was driving a Prius and the power steering doesn’t work when the engine isn’t running.
As the car gained momentum, it started to swerve all over the road, and I knew I had lost control. The car hit the curb and went airborne. “Help me, Lord.”
The car landed in the dirt at the side of the road, hit some rocks and was catapulted toward the edge of a bridge that crossed a rocky ravine. “Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
I awakened.
That dream taught me a lot about my faith. In a time of life-threatening peril, my thoughts immediately went to God. There was no equivocation; there was no doubt. As I sat in bed after awakening from the dream I began to wonder if dreams are one of the ways God communicates with us.
We know God used dreams to communicate in the past. The Old Testament is replete with stories of God using dreams to steer the fortunes of his people. In the New Testament, only Matthew and Luke (in Acts) mention God’s use of dreams.
Having read all the Scriptures I could find related to dreams, I am still in the uncomfortable position of not knowing whether or not God still uses dreams. I know I occasionally dream and sometimes my dreams provide answers to issues that have perplexed me. Was it my subconscious working out issues? Was it God speaking through a dream, or as Pastor Rick from Saddleback Church suggests, was it simply a bad burrito? I’m not sure.
The prophet Joel offers us hope that God may still use dreams: And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Joel 2:28
Perhaps my dream was God’s way of reminding me that, as the Twenty-third Psalm tells us, even when we walk through the darkest valleys, God is close beside us.
Whatever method God chooses to speak to us, I pray that we will have hearts ready to receive and obey his instructions.
Blessings,
Your Friends in Christ
SCRIPTURES RELATED TO DREAMS
But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” Genesis 20:3
[Jacob] had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Genesis 28:12
(This verse inspired the Led Zepplin’s classic hit “Stairway to Heaven”)
Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.” Genesis 31:24
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
Genesis 37:5
The cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were being held in prison—had a dream the same night, and each dream had a meaning of its own. Genesis 40:5
When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by the Nile,
Genesis 41:4
In Deuteronomy, God warns, If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 13:1-3
Gideon overheard two men discussing a dream and made his decision to attack the Midianite camp based on the interpretation of the dream: When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The LORD has given the Midianite camp into your hands.”
Judges 7:15
At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”1 Kings 3:5
Job reported having terrifying dreams: When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint, even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions, Job 7:14
Solomon wrote critically of dreamers: Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore fear God. Ecclesiastes 5:7
In Jeremiah we find God commanding his prophets who dream should report faithfully what they have dreamed: Let the prophet who has a dream recount the dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:28
In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. Daniel 2:1
In an end-times prophecy, Joel wrote, And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Joel 2:28
Zechariah closes out the Old Testament commentary on dreams with a warning:
The idols speak deceitfully, diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd. Zechariah 10:2
In the New Testament, an angel of the Lord appeared to [Joseph] in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:20
In Matthew 2:12, the wise men were told not to go back to Herod and returned to their country by a different route.
Joseph was told in a dream, “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” Matthew 2:13
In Matthew 27:19, we read about Pilate’s wife’s dream: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”
In Acts, Peter quotes the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Acts 2:17
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