Beady eyes glowed an evil red while searching for prey. Razor sharp six-inch-long teeth gleamed in the moonlit sky while the massive tail carved a swath of destruction behind powerful legs, crushing the rose bushes as it towered over our pink house in Santa Clara. I woke in a cold sweat and looked over at the tiny Tyrannosaurus Rex model on my dresser that moments before had seemed 40 feet fall and about to devour me. I was seven years old and having a recurring nightmare that I can still remember to this day.
Where do dreams come from? One famous psychologist said, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind.” He meant that because dreams are such an unconscious activity, they give an almost direct insight into the workings of the unconscious mind. Others have come up with various theories about the source of dreams ranging from our brain’s ability for self-organization to indigestion!
The Bible, and especially Genesis 37 to 50, is full of dreams. There are 21 dreams recorded in the pages of Scripture and 10 are in the book of Genesis. Some of them are pleasant, some are confusing, and some are terrifying. (Look up the killer loaf of bread dream in Judges 7:13!) We know that dreams from God came to kings as well as carpenters, to godly people and pagan rulers, to men and to women, and two dreamers were named Joseph! In our passage for this week alone we’ve got a dreaming teenager, a baker, a cupbearer, a Pharoah, and even old Jacob!
God chooses to communicate to people through a variety of methods including dreams. That certainly doesn’t mean that EVERY dream is a message from God. I certainly hope not! Otherwise, I’d better watch out for extinct dinosaurs – maybe Jurassic Park really exists?! Joseph learned a long and painful lesson about God’s purposes through the fulfillment of a dream he had when he was just 17 years old. Had he known the journey he would go through to get there, he would have been terrified!
Joseph couldn’t turn the page and see the next chapter in his life and neither can we. We can’t always see God’s purposes in our lives as they unfold. We have heartaches and setbacks. We have betrayals and suffer injustice. We have to walk by faith to believe that God has it under control. That’s the big message I’ve taken away from Joseph’s life. The belief that God is in charge frees me to forgive others and to have confidence that He has a greater plan for my life.
I’ll look forward to seeing you on Sunday at 10:45 am either indoors or outside. (You can also watch service online on this webpage.) Remember you can join us on Sunday night at 6:30 pm in the quad for small group discussions on The Story too!
By the way, I don’t sleep with that T. Rex toy anywhere near me now! In fact I’m very careful about what I watch, read, and think about, especially before I go to sleep.
Sweet dreams!
Kurt
Speaking of “sleep” (a word the Bible uses to talk about loved ones who have passed from this life into the next), Debbie Long’s memorial will be on Tuesday 9/21 at 3:00 pm at Valley Church. All our church family and friends are invited.