What about those bad dreams?

 

READ Psalm 120–134

Years ago I had a dream in which I was committing sin. I cannot remember the sin, but I do remember what God told me when I woke up. I asked Him why that dream and He said, “Would you rather I reveal your sinful attitudes to you in real life?”

He has done this several times over the years and again last night. This time I was trying to fulfill a legitimate need in a selfish way instead of relying on the Lord to take care of it. After waking up, I again asked the Lord to help me think and act in the right way, then discovered today’s reading actually began with that first thing: confess the selfishness revealed in the dream . . .

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. (Psalm 130:1–4)

Over the years, my self-centeredness has taken many forms. One of them is being ambitious, wanting more or doing more. Learning to be content with the will of God and His choices for me has been a constant theme. He reminds me of that again in these verses:

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (131:1–2)

I picture a child that is not weaned. Sitting on mom’s knee, that child is constantly trying to nurse and making a nuisance of itself. In contrast, the weaned child is calm and not at all worried where his next meal will come from. Other images come to mind, but the sense of trusting reminds me that whenever I try to meet my needs without trusting God’s supply or His timing is far more than a nuisance; it is a sin.

The other reminder from this reading is about preparation for sleep. That dream could have been an attack from “the accuser of the brethren” who attempts to sidetrack me. I’ve had several amazing answers to prayer this week and shared them with many. The devil doesn’t like it. When I go to bed, I often ask for a good night’s sleep because “God gives to His beloved sleep” (127:2). These following verses suggest that I also ask for God’s protection and make sure that He is on the throne of my heart and I’m not thinking of running my own life. As the psalmist says . . .

“I will not enter my house or get into my bed, I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” (132:3–5)

He was thinking of a ‘place’ of worship yet the NT says my body is now His tabernacle, even when I’m sleeping!

Included with a desire for His presence is praise, speaking well of God and relying on Him to take care of me. The psalmist calls out, “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!” (134:1–2)

This morning, I am acknowledging the self-effort of my dream and the sinful lack of depending on God to meet my needs, whether that shows up in a dream or in real life. Other verses tell me what to do: “As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God!” (40:17) and “He delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper.” (72:12) I know that my spiritual enemy does not like these requests nor any confidence in the Almighty, but God loves to hear me call upon His name and I know that He will answer — in His time and in His way! Amen.