Recurring Dreams - Continued
God is a divine being and his wisdom and ways are mysterious. Recurring dreams and visions are just a few of God’s great mysteries that we generally seek to understand. What does it mean if we have multiple dreams and visions with similar themes?
God’s Word validates that when he conveys a message, he will reveal what we don’t understand and what he wants us to know.
“There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries…This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.” Daniel 2:28
“The king answered Daniel and said, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery." Daniel 2:47
We can learn a lot about recurring dreams from the life of Pharaoh in Genesis 41.
Pharaoh’s Dreams:
“Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing on the bank of the Nile River. In his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows come up out of the river and begin grazing in the marsh grass. Then he saw seven more cows come up behind them from the Nile, but these were scrawny and thin. These cows stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank. Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream, Pharaoh woke up.
But he fell asleep again and had a second dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain, plump and beautiful, growing on a single stalk. Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind. And these thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, well-formed heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream.
The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pharaoh told them his dreams, not one of them could tell him what they meant.
Finally, the king’s chief cup-bearer spoke up. “Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh. “Some time ago, you were angry with the chief baker and me, and you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard. One night the chief baker and I each had a dream, and each dream had its own meaning. There was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who was a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he told us what each of our dreams meant. And everything happened just as he had predicted...
Pharaoh sent for Joseph.
Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and no one here can tell me what it means. But I have heard that when you hear about a dream you can interpret it.”
Verse 25: “Both dreams mean the same thing,” Joseph told Pharaoh.” God was telling you what he is about to do.”
Decreed by God: Genesis 41:32 - .
“As for having two similar dreams, it means that these events have been decreed by God, and he will soon make them happen.” NIV
Don’t be alarmed. Keep reading.
Upon waking up, Pharaoh knew what flitted through his subconscious mind was more than thoughts triggered from recent days. He didn’t question if his dreams should be taken seriously. He had one question, “what do they mean?”
Pharaoh had a heightened sense of awareness his dreams were different. I believe the Spirit of God caught his attention in a way he had never experienced before.
One of the mysteries of God is how his Spirit operates in the lives of man. When God’s Spirit stirs our spirit, something begins to happen deep within our souls that we don’t quite understand.
I believe this is what happened to Pharaoh. His spirit was awakened to something he didn't understand and sought out someone to explain them. He turned to his magicians and wise men to tell him the meaning. However, it was a message from God and because they didn’t have the Spirit of God living in them to explain it, they couldn’t. Genesis 41:15 I Corinthians 2:10-16
How God used two similar dreams:
God revealed himself: The Spirit of God stirred Pharaoh’s heart to recognize him.
Warned: A prophetic warning to Pharaoh what was to come.
God chose specific people. God put Pharaoh and Joseph in positions to receive the dreams and fulfil the prophetic word..
Pharaoh didn’t ignore what he saw in the dreams and the the interpretation revealed. He believed and because of it, he put a godly man in charge of the entire nation to prepare for the next fourteen years (seven years of plenty and seven years of famine).
Had Pharaoh ignored the word of the Lord, it could have lead to devastating results.
Joseph wasn’t quick to dismiss someone else’s dream. He relied on the Holy Spirit to interpret the mystery of the dreams. God gave him wisdom and put him in a leadership role to save a entire nation, including his own family whom he had been separated from since his youth. What love to see how God took another man’s dream and made it personal to him. (Take time to read the entire story in Genesis.)
The miraculous wonders that took place in Egypt were fulfilled because two dreams in the night were taken seriously.
How to know if recurring dreams are God-dreams:
Did the dreams startle you from your sleep?
What were your emotions upon waking up?
Like Pharaoh, did you begin questioning the dreams? “What does this mean?”
If yes to any of the above, pray. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide. Seek godly counsel. Is there a Joseph in your life?
Journal your dreams. If nothing is troubling you or distracting you about the dreams upon waking up, dismiss them, pray about them, and move on. In time, God will make his mysteries known.
Do you need to be fearful of recurring dreams? No.
Don’t accept a message of fear from any dream. The Bible states that “God does not give us a spirit of fear and timidity.” 2 Timothy 1:7
“Give” is the key word. God does not hand us fear. It is by our own volition we accept fear from the enemy. It is our decision to remain troubled or we choose to trust.
Like Joseph, choose to understand the dreams from a godly perspective. An unbeliever, like Pharaoh, is more apt to be distressed. A believer should not be.
Seek the peace of God: A revelatory message of the mysteries of God through dreams and visions will put us at ease. “...the Lord of peace…” 2 Thessalonians 3:16
Joseph immediately calmed Pharaoh’s fears. He said, “God can tell you what it means and set you at ease.” Genesis 41:1-16 Psalm 43:5
God didn’t say the famine wouldn’t happen. He did, however, warn those who could turn an impending famine into a miracle. Because the dreams were received, understood, and acted upon, the purpose of the dreams was fulfilled.
Be a believer who is willing to have your spirit piqued to the mysterious ways of God the way Pharaoh, an unbeliever, was.
Pray and ponder the following:
Do you need to be reminded several times a day to complete a task or you’ll forget?
When you are going through one particular circumstance, do you find that God’s promises are repeated in multiple ways? I.e., a variety of verses that are similar?
Do you need to be reminded of his promises?
Why do you think God does this?
It’s our fleshly nature to dismiss the majority of our dreams. Perhaps recurring dreams is just one more way he is trying to get our attention.
Related reading:
(See God Designed Us to Dream)
Thumbnail photo by . (My son Jacob)
