For generations, dreams have been dismissed instead of accepted as God's revelations
The Bible records numerous “dreams” that invaded the minds of people. In many of those “dreams” and “visions,” God revealed his plans for his chosen people and leaders.
They included visions of the present and the future that Impacted the lives of the “dreamers” and of those to whom God would vindicate. Of kings and nations, prophets and preachers despots and disciples, victims and even virgins, God spoke to situations in which his will would transcend and triumph over the lives and situations of his people. In dreams - in nocturnal revelations that affirm daytime declarations for human experiences. In dreams, God has spoken.
Now all dreams, all divine revelations, are not readily received. Many dreams, and dreamers, are rejected. Joseph and his brothers affirmed that fact. “Let us kill him…and we shall see what shall become of his dream”, they said. “We choose not to experience his dream.” Kill the dreamer and we kill the dream! Yet, for reasons of personal gain, they choose to sell their brother into slavery, still hoping to avoid the fulfillment of that dream.
But the record shows that in just a matter of years, the reality of that dream unfolded. A famine caused them to seek assistance from a source they had not anticipated. God was not through with Joseph, nor with them yet. Imagine their unanticipated joy when the dreamer, whom they had initially planned to kill, later became the means of hope for their then-current and future salvation. They began to happily experience the dreamer’s dream. Little did they realize, they were already part of another divine dream that God had shared with their forefather Abraham.
Several thousand years later, another dreamer came onto the scene. Martin Luther King was his name. He was a descendant of one, like Joseph, who had been sold into slavery. He too had a dream. And his dream was also a revelation from God. His dream directly impacted his previously enslaved “brothers.” His dream also impacted hundreds of thousands of their children.
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Rest assured, when blessings are showered on persons who are perceived by some as being inferior to, or unworthy of, or even despised, efforts will be taken to prevent those persons and those groups from receiving and experiencing those blessings. That new dreamer sought to sound the alarm on that practice. He preached. He proclaimed. He discussed. He negotiated. He demonstrated. He motivated thousands of others to envision and seek to experience that dream. And just like Joseph, he confronted opposition to his dream.
Like Joseph’s brothers, there arose those who envisioned things much differently. “Let us kill him…and we shall see what shall become of his dream”, they said. “We choose not to experience his dream!” Kill the dreamer and we kill the dream.
But little did they realize that, like Joseph’s dream, This 20th-century dream did not originate from the dreamer, but rather from God.
What those dream-haters failed to understand is that what God has done cannot be undone. What God seeks to do cannot be prevented. Hindered maybe, but not prevented. God’s dreamers don’t initiate their dreams. God’s dreamers affirm and seek to make real the dream. And that which comes from God cannot be overcome by man.
What those dream-haters of Dr. King also failed to realize is that Dr. King’s dream is merely a present-day anticipation in preparation for a reality yet to come. It is a present-day expression of a dream of another King. A reaffirmation of the dream of the king of kings! It is that dream that affirmed that day when “little Black boys and girls and little white boys and girls, and Jews and gentiles, protestants and Catholics, and persons of all ethnicities will be able to break the bonds and be freed from racist, social, moral, economic, political, spiritual, selfish and self-focused shackles.
It is a dream that repentant dream-haters will come to dream what that repentant thief on the cross envisioned when he exclaimed to the king of kings on calvary’s cross, “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.”
When you and I – individually and collectively - choose to experience the dream of the king of kings, then we can truly exclaim together, “Free at last! Free at last! thank God almighty, we are free at last!”
What dream are you experiencing?
The Rev. Samuel W. Hale, Jr. is the retired pastor of Zion Missionary Baptist Church.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Dreams of the dreamers are not always accepted as revelations of God
