It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. (Proverbs 25:2) As one very astute minister stated, God is not hiding things from us, rather he is hiding things for us. Like an Easter egg hidden in plain sight, it is His delight for us to find what He has hidden for us and to revel in it. God speaks to us through our dreams. God gives us instruction in our dreams for our coming days. During our waking hours we are busy with the affairs of the day and our minds can be distracted by our daily work as we focus our attention on doing the things that we must do. However, when we sleep, our mind can rest, process and decompress from the stresses of the day. It is at this most opportune time when God has been known to speak to our hearts, and to the ears of our spirit. When our mind relaxes He can talk to us without the clutter of our thoughts or attitudes getting in the way. He choreographs what we see to get His message communicated to us. Often this comes to our minds in word-pictures or a carefully coded message, which must be mulled over and analyzed when we wake to discern the dream’s meaning and how it applies to our lives. Elihu told Job: For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction. In order to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man, He keeps back his soul from the Pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. (Job 33:14-18) The words spoken can be strongly sensed impressions rather than overtly spoken words. They bring God’s encouragement, instruction, correction and guidance. Here are several examples of where God spoke to a man through his dream. Joseph’s dream as a young man brought great alarm when he relayed it to his already jealous brothers. In his dream he saw eleven stalks of grain in the field bowing down to the one in the center. The meaning of this dream was not lost on his brothers, who determined in their heart to make sure that this dream never came to pass. They decided to kill him along with the chance of his dream being fulfilled. This is a good place to remind the reader that, when God gives you a dream, the answer is sure and cannot be turned aside, no matter how much effort is exerted to thwart it. Then Joseph dreamed a second dream in which the sun, moon and eleven stars all bowed down to him. Even his father, Jacob found this absurd and arrogant of Joseph and rebuked him for his impudence. Although, just think of how much encouragement that dream must have been several years later when he lay rotting on a cold and wet Egyptian prison, shacked with chains to the wall. For two years he lay shackled in Pharoah’s dungeon seeing no way for the prophetic dreams to be fulfilled. Yet he hung onto the dreams God had given him as a young man, waiting for the day when these dreams would be fulfilled. David testified of this very thing when he wrote, He sent a man before them- Joseph- who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him. The king sent and released him, the ruler of the people let him go free. He made him ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure, and teach his elders wisdom. (Psalm 105:17-22 NKJV) Here we see the phrase: “Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of God tested him.” The dream which Joseph dreamed on that night so long before was actually God’s reassuring and strengthening word to him. Namely, that one day he would be in a position of prominence and his family would gather around him and bow down to him in honor. His dire circumstances said otherwise, but the dream he had seen gave him the strength to hold out until the day when Pharoah called on him to interpret his dream. Pharoah had dreamed a dream which perplexed him. In this vision of the night he saw seven fat cows coming up out of the Nile River and eating up seven scrawny emaciated cows. Joseph gave the interpretation: The next seven years in Egypt’s farming would be extremely fertile and plenteous, followed by seven years of such a great drought that even the recollection of the prosperous years would be erased from their memory. When God gives you a dream or vision, hold onto it, because it will come to pass. Remember the words of Habakkuk: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. (Habakkuk 2:2-3 NKJV) Genesis 42:6 details how his dream was fulfilled, saying: Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. (Genesis 42:6 NKJV) A vision from God must not be allowed to slip like oil through your fingers. However improbable or impossible, remember the words of Elizabeth to Mary, “ For with God nothing will be impossible.” Luke 1:37 (NKJV) Jesus told the disciples the same truth, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 (NKJV) There is nothing impossible for God to accomplish. Think of it as if God is showing us a sneak peek of the end of our movie. He gives it to us to help us stay focused on our goal, to hold steady when hard times are contrary to us, and like a glimmering lighthouse on the shore, the dream will bring us safely to our final destination.