Job 33:15-17 "In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls..."

In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals, while they slumber on their beds, then he opens their ears, and terrifies them with warnings, that he may turn them aside from their deeds.” (Job 33:15-17)

Question:

I know God speaks to us in many ways. I just need to understand how He speaks to us in our sleep.

Comment:

To really understand the import of this passage, it’s important to place it in a larger context. The Book of Job is really a very early drama; its cast of characters includes God, Satan, Job and Job’s friends; and the central question is “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Job has gone from success to abject failure, from health to constant pain, from abundance to complete lack. In previous chapters he has proclaimed his innocence, insisting that he has done nothing for which God might be punishing him. In Chapter 33, his friend (to use the term loosely) Elihu refutes his claims of innocence. He insists that God speaks in two ways: through internal guidance and, if that guidance is ignored, through pain and strife. The passage about which you are asking describes the first kind of communication from God: guidance in consciousness, usually when we are asleep and thus more open and less resistant. Dreams and visions may be a way of alerting us that our daytime choices are moving us in an undesirable direction.  These “warnings” are not necessarily “terrifying”; they are as likely to suggest positive possibilities as to warn about negative choices. And not every dream represents that spiritual awareness; some are distractions or images from our human experience. The point is, I think, that we will always know God’s guidance if we are willing to receive it.  And if we are not willing, and continue to make negative choices, then the results of those choices will become increasingly painful.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed