I truly believe God does give us dreams to prepare us, warn us and show us our propensity for sin. I have had many over the years that prepared me to show courage in tough situations, that left me in awe of the nature of God and also that showed me a depth of sin I could easily fall into.
Numbers 12:6 "Listen to my words: "When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams....
Job 33:14-18
For God does speak—now one way, now another—though man may not perceive it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride,to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword.
I also know that Dreams can terrify and then I have to ask, who is it that would want me afraid? If a warning in a whisper can get the same results why the drama of terror. Would the Good Shepherd and Prince of Peace lead me to walk by quiet waters in peace or over hot coals? The answer may lie in what does it take to get my attention?
Was it our brain making sense of random pieces of information " As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words".Ecclesiastes 5:2-4
Or was it YHWH speaking to correct and inform us as in the Job verses;
Did the dream prompt us to have a sense of Awe of the almighty and to love God or his word more deeply?
Next time you have a dream, think!
T was the dream in keeping with biblical truth?
H was the dream helpful, giving clarity to an issue?
I did the overall message inspire you to read a passage of scripture?
N was it a necessary means of communication, without it you would have no context for an preparation for a future life event?
K overall who emerged as "King" in the situation/drama?
Remember Proverbs 25:2"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings". Some things in life are worth the trouble to consider and take to heart.
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dreams. Show all posts
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
seeking to understand...dreams 2
In the quest to understand the "unusual" and how dreams help inform our insights, here is a time when a friend of Job, who is bereft of family, fortune and covered with weeping sores, comes to help Job 'come to his senses'.
Job 4:12ff Eliphaz recalls a whisper, a dream, a vision, a form that had physical effects on him to make his hair stand on end. The form spoke to him to crystallize an important question "Can a mortal man be more righteous than God?, Can a man be more pure than his maker?. If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth"!
Job is not charged with wrongdoing to bring about the distress he is undergoing, but his three friends are determined that the righteous don't suffer and that Job has hidden sin and guilt; something worthy of God's negative attention.
There must be a perception that right standing before the Holy One is reflected in unblemished living as proof of God's favor. It is obvious that its not necessarily the case but its interesting the lengths we can go to, to validate our perceptions with visions and dreams. The book of Job, known to be the oldest book in the Bible, begins with a friends discourse looking to the paranormal to explain the 'normal'.
(Psalm 8:5/Heb2:8-10)If we examine the questions raised by the "form" we can see that as man is a little lower than the angels, we are lower in rank and as the "vision" infers, high in the risk of wrongdoing.
Jude 5-6 "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day".
It would seem that the "form" had inside knowledge of the fallen status of angels. The "form" may have originated from the pit of Hell itself, calling into question the human form who readily attracts destruction.
Can a "form" give the insight we look for? Do we look to the paranormal to give us light for our path, and help us make sense of our world.
Job 4:12ff Eliphaz recalls a whisper, a dream, a vision, a form that had physical effects on him to make his hair stand on end. The form spoke to him to crystallize an important question "Can a mortal man be more righteous than God?, Can a man be more pure than his maker?. If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth"!
Job is not charged with wrongdoing to bring about the distress he is undergoing, but his three friends are determined that the righteous don't suffer and that Job has hidden sin and guilt; something worthy of God's negative attention.
There must be a perception that right standing before the Holy One is reflected in unblemished living as proof of God's favor. It is obvious that its not necessarily the case but its interesting the lengths we can go to, to validate our perceptions with visions and dreams. The book of Job, known to be the oldest book in the Bible, begins with a friends discourse looking to the paranormal to explain the 'normal'.
(Psalm 8:5/Heb2:8-10)If we examine the questions raised by the "form" we can see that as man is a little lower than the angels, we are lower in rank and as the "vision" infers, high in the risk of wrongdoing.
Jude 5-6 "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day".
It would seem that the "form" had inside knowledge of the fallen status of angels. The "form" may have originated from the pit of Hell itself, calling into question the human form who readily attracts destruction.
Can a "form" give the insight we look for? Do we look to the paranormal to give us light for our path, and help us make sense of our world.
Monday, January 19, 2009
seeking to understand...dreams 1
Have you wondered about the meaning of dreams? I have and do.
It is an interesting topic to study at the beginning of the year and as I read the bible in a year, I hope to have a better understanding of what dreams meant to various people in the bible.
We have seen encounters between God & Abraham, to a lesser extent Isaac and then Jacob has both personal encounters and dreams. Now we have Joseph who will have more dreams than encounters. His first set of dreams is to do with food as he helps his brothers bring in the sheaves, and the next about fealty as brotherly jealously rises to an all time high and they sell their brother to merchants.
The Pharoah has a warning dream about food, is there a connection with the fact that Joseph took care of all the duties of managing the kingdom and Pharaoh only had concern himself with the food he ate.
I get a sense that "God dreams" will take the shape of what we are concerned about. If we are looking for direction and guidance God will give it.
It is an interesting topic to study at the beginning of the year and as I read the bible in a year, I hope to have a better understanding of what dreams meant to various people in the bible.
We have seen encounters between God & Abraham, to a lesser extent Isaac and then Jacob has both personal encounters and dreams. Now we have Joseph who will have more dreams than encounters. His first set of dreams is to do with food as he helps his brothers bring in the sheaves, and the next about fealty as brotherly jealously rises to an all time high and they sell their brother to merchants.
The Pharoah has a warning dream about food, is there a connection with the fact that Joseph took care of all the duties of managing the kingdom and Pharaoh only had concern himself with the food he ate.
I get a sense that "God dreams" will take the shape of what we are concerned about. If we are looking for direction and guidance God will give it.
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