14 ¶
For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when
deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; 16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth
their instruction, 17 That he may
withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. 18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and
his life from perishing by the sword.
Here, Elihu
notes that God speaks to man regularly but man is often unaware of it, doesn’t
understand what he hears, unless God opens man’s understanding. Perhaps here
there is an implication that there is another meaning of our dreams than what
we have considered. Dreams can be direct and blunt;
Genesis 20:3
But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold,
thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a
man’s wife…6 And God said unto him in a
dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I
also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to
touch her.
…or they can be
cryptic and require the Spirit of God to interpret and their meaning is not
readily apparent to the dreamer. Compare…
Genesis 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on
the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God
ascending and descending on it.
…with
John 1:51
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye
shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the
Son of man.
The Bible is
filled with these dreams and visions which require the Spirit of God to
interpret or future events, unknown to the dreamer, to explain. We should,
perhaps, pay more attention to the dreams we remember and how they relate to
clear Biblical statements, doctrine, and principles, not our inflated view of
our own self-importance. But we have something the men of Job’s time did not.
2Peter 1:19 ¶ We have also a more sure word of prophecy;
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the
scripture is of any private interpretation.
God speaks to
you, Christian, through the Bible. When you read it, expecting something from
God from it, He will open your ears and eyes and reveal Himself to you in
special ways. I personally have been delivered from alcohol and horror movies
and a love of violence including violent sporting events and entertainment
through God speaking to my spiritual heart by His Bible. If you don’t feel
compelled to read or hear the Bible read daily, to hear God speak to your heart
through its pages, maybe you need to consider what Bible you are using and
whether or not it is God’s Bible. Or, maybe you just have a seared conscience
and are cold to the things of God.
God speaks to
you, Christian, through preaching from the Bible that is not agenda-driven,
doctrinally foolish, or politically motivated wrenching verses out of context
and insisting that words mean something the speaker wants them to mean but they
don’t. If you hear a doctrinally sound sermon, that is deep and rich in its
understanding of God’s word, confirming what God has told us through the ages
from His word, then God will speak to your heart by it.
God speaks to
you, Christian, by the events of your life, confirming His sovereignty over you
and His right to dispose of your day-to-day life as He sees fit, expecting you
to trust His judgment and lean completely on Him for wisdom and light,
understanding that He loves you and wishes to make you more like Christ each
day. God shows you things every day but you perceive it not.
He speaks to
you to turn you from the evil purposes you have conceived, to deliver you from
a particular sin, to urge you on to serve His will, and to mold you into a
person useful to Him. He keeps people from the consequences of their pride,
keeps people from Hell, and from violent death, often, through what He tells
them. He sanctifies you with His word.
John 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
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