DREAMS

                                                                            Dreams

Me before I lost my ability to fly!

Dreams usually happen when we’re asleep, and daydreams when we’re awake. Obviously, we have more control over daydreams than sleep dreams. Perhaps it’s the same for everyone, but I remember when I was young deciding what to dream about before going to sleep at night. If I awoke, I could re-enter the dream upon falling back asleep. I could revisit the same dream the next night. So, how different are night dreams to daydreams? Well, now that I’m older, I’m still able to daydream, but my nightdreams seem to be beyond my control. Come morning, I find it hard to recall any of my dreams apart from the bad ones!

Perhaps, like me, you could fly as a youngster? My take-off would be similar to when we’re walking in a public place when we pretend that we didn’t really trip but that we are in a hurry. As an extension of this, I would simply soar into the air. I thought my flying would impress the girls! I could also fly to a height where the sticks and stones of bullies could not hurt me! I think now we’re getting to the point where we can see that dreams can have some meaning – impress girls, escape bullies. However, my dream experience, thankfully, is not exactly what the Bible means when it speaks of a ‘dreamer of dreams’ (Deut. 13:1,3,5).

Before God’s revelation to His people had ended with the completion of the Bible, God ‘at various times and in various ways spoke to the fathers by the prophets’ (Heb. 1:1). One of those ways was through dreams. Therefore, an Old Testament ‘dreamer of dreams’ was a prophet of sorts. And, as with the prophet, if what the ‘dreamer of dreams’ claimed to be from God was proven otherwise, such as telling the people to turn to other gods, ‘that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God…’ (Deut. 13:5). So, whether you’re Freud, Jung, psychiatrist, psychologist, local pastor or whoever, all of us need to be careful when it comes to interpreting dreams lest we invoke God’s displeasure. ‘To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them’ (Isa. 8:20). Even if ‘your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams’ (Joel 2:28; Acts 2;17) we must be careful lest we deceive ourselves. Therefore, even our dreams then, need to be evaluated against the Scriptures.

We don’t need a Joseph or a Daniel to interpret our dreams for us now that we have the Spirit working with His Word as our ‘Prophet’ so to speak. William Cowper reminds us poetically: ‘Blind unbelief is sure to err, / and scan His work in vain; / God is His own interpreter, / and He will make it plain.’

So, even though I’ve given up flying to escape bullies and/or impress girls, no doubt some psychologist or other may find some meaning in the dreams I dreamed as a youngster. However, now that I’m older I seek meaning not in my dreams but in God’s Word. Jesus is the eternal Word of God and has become also human. He is God’s first Word and He is God’s last Word, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Jesus is God’s final Word to mankind. He is the beginning and the end of His revelation: ‘In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe’ (Heb. 1:1-2). Do not trust your own dreams or those of others. Trust in Jesus!