Some time ago I read a
fascinating true story in Guideposts magazine about a couple (Joyce
& Ken) who had a scary moment that led to an emergency trip to the hospital.
They wrote to the magazine sharing their amazing story.
By the time Joyce got Ken
to the hospital, he was ghost white. Nurses screamed for the crash cart,
knowing he was near death. Doctors told Joyce that Ken was bleeding internally.
He would need immediate blood transfusions to keep pace with his blood loss
until they could find where the bleeding was coming from and patch him up.
Eventually, Ken’s condition stabilized.
Joyce was utterly drained
from the experience. In a quiet moment she muttered a soft prayer, “God help us
through this night,” then she dozed off. Suddenly, a frightening dream gripped
her. She was in a hospital room filled with floor-to-ceiling mist. Joyce could
see Ken slowly sliding through the misty wall. And she knew if he went through,
he would die.
She grabbed his arm,
putting one hand above his elbow and the other just below it. She was tugging
with all her might but was losing him to the mist. Joyce pulled one last time,
and he was free.
When Joyce awoke, she called
a nurse in to check on Ken. Nurses noticed something was wrong and began
working feverishly. Joyce was asked to step out of the room while they made
emergency adjustments. About a half-hour later, a doctor came to Joyce and explained
that Ken’s transfusion line had clogged, shutting off the blood he so badly
needed. “It's a good thing someone went to check on him or he would have surely
died,” the doctor said. “How did you know?” he asked.
Joyce looked down at Ken's
arm. He had black and blue marks just above and below his elbow in the places
she had clutched in her dream. Suddenly, Joyce knew God had answered her prayers.[1]
Studying the Christmas
story again I was reminded how dreams pervaded the lives of those involved. In
the first two chapters of Matthew I counted five dreams. An angel appeared to
Joseph in a dream, convincing him to take Mary as his wife and to name her
child “Jesus” (1:20-21). The wise men had an angel visit them in a dream
telling them not to return to Herod (2:12). In the next verse Joseph had another
angelic visitor in his dream instructing him to take Mary and baby Jesus to
Egypt so they could escape the clutches of Herod (2:13). The Bible records that
Joseph had two more dreams after this in which God gave him specific instructions
(2:19, 2:22).
Naturally, the questions
arises—does God still speak through dreams today? Honestly, there’s nothing in
the Scriptures that says it’s impossible. God’s primary means of communication
to us today is through His word and His Spirit. But if He chooses to use a
dream He can.
I’ve read numerous stories
of people in closed countries having dreams/visions that result in them coming
to faith in Christ. Accounts of people in third world countries being told to
go to such and such a place at such and such a time to speak with God's
messenger, only to bump into a missionary at the exact place and time. In fact, Lee Strobel writes in his book The
Case for Miracles, “More Muslims have become Christians in the last
couple of decades than in the previous fourteen hundred years since, Muhammad,
and it’s estimated that a quarter to a third of them experienced a dream or
vision before their salvation experience.”[2]
I would not be so quick to
put God in a box and dismiss these stories. At the same time, we must be
discerning and not be so gullible that we establish doctrine on a dream (1 John
4:1-3).
The dreams of Joseph in the
Christmas story are a powerful reminder that God is not shut out of our world.
He breaks through in our sleep. He interrupts the ordinary. He is there and He
is not silent.
-DM
[1] “An
Inspiring True Story from Guideposts’ ‘Miracles Do Happen’” <https://www.guideposts.org/better-living/entertainment/books/an-inspiring-true-story-from-guideposts-miracles-do-happen>
[2] Lee
Strobel, The Case for Miracles (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2018), 139-141.
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