MYSTERIOUS WAYS: Dreaming and leaning

A quarterly column in which Simon Kumm unpacks the mysterious ways of God, to connect believers with their Father and His incredible living inheritance!

I love dreams! They can be exciting, scary or even downright strange, but my favourite ones are those that contain a message from God!

But how do we know the difference between a God dream and one where our brain is simply processing our day or the food we had for supper?

The short answer is that God dreams just sit differently with us. They are the type that wake us up in the middle of the night or engage us in a way that makes us think: “I need to know what that means!” Sometimes, even the next day they go round and round in our heads, prompting us, seeking some form of response. The problem is we are often unsure of their importance, or worse, we feel Ill equipped to interpret them, especially the really strange ones! So we disengage, leaving them to fade into the misty recesses of our minds, when what we really need to do is lean in!

A healthy approach would be to treat all dreams as if they could possibly be from God. Instead of trying to figure them out, we rather engage with God to ask Him questions about them. Questions like: “Lord is this from you?” Or maybe the Samuel response of “Speak Lord, I’m listening”. Then He can tell you if it’s from Him or not.

I believe that dreams from God are an “Invitation to a conversation”. In the Old Testament Jeremiah demonstrates this when he has a conversation with God about a vision God gave him. He merely repeats back to God what He was shown then God explains it. It’s profound in its simplicity. It’s not just the information but the interaction that is really important to note.

For God, the best part is getting us to lean in, drawing us into a conversation with Him. That’s when we really gain access to His heart on a matter and grow in understanding.

I had a teacher at school who would do this. The noisier the class would get, the quieter his voice would go. In order to hear him, we had to move closer and be quiet. Even lean in to hear more. God uses dreams very much like this. He draws us closer so we can have a chat. An invitation to that special conversation.

The truth is that we may not initially be equipped to understand the dream, but we certainly are equipped to hear His voice. Jesus confirms this in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice”. Even king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream from God and heard His voice. It’s more a matter of just tuning in than having the knowledge to unravel the symbolic mysteries of dream language.

On a recent visit to the audiologist to check my hearing, she explained that hearing loss doesn’t necessarily mean we hear nothing, but could also be that we are unable to comprehend the sounds that we hear.

Understanding God dreams can be a bit like this. We have received information, but don’t have the equipment to decipher it correctly. Hence Nebuchadnezzar’s need for a Daniel to interpret his dream for him. But for those sheep already in His fold, it’s our reason to lean in and start a conversation with God about it. It’s the mystery that draws us closer, and as Solomon said in Proverbs 25:2, it’s the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search it out. The Glory is in the search, not the find! The information in the dream is secondary to connecting with Him about the dream.

In this case there is Glory in leaning in. After all, we lean not on our understanding but into Him.

I encourage you to take time to lean in, and enjoy the conversation!

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