Significant Dreams

Matthew 1: Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God’s angel commanded in the dream.

Matthew begins the story of Jesus with genealogy, father to father to father. He then continues writing from the masculine perspective as he tells us of the God-sent dream of Joseph. Mary’s pregnant but it’s okay. God’s behind all this, sending the Savior into the world. To Joseph’s credit, he believes the message of the dream and moves forward in faith, never looking back. There are a lot of “dream stories” in the Bible. Way back in the book of Genesis Joseph has message-dreams and also interprets the dreams of others. Daniel’s story is similar, and later on Paul will be directed in a dream by the Holy Spirit concerning his missionary journey. In spite of these, and many other stories, we don’t often think about God communicating to us in dreams. I understand that we now have the written Word of God and that probably accounts for less emphasis on dream messages. Still, I wonder if our own lack of expectation might choke off the possibility of God speaking to us in this way. While I’m not ready to jump off the cliff on this one, I do want to be open to whatever word the Lord might have for me. Maybe bedtime prayers should include not only a request for the Lord’s protection while we sleep but a promise to take seriously anything the Lord might have to say to us through our dreams.

Take Away: I want to be open to hear the Voice of God in whatever way he might speak to me.