What God Dreams About

Everyone has dreams. Dreams give us hope. Dreams keep us going. Dreams guide us to our next step, and they guide us to the goal line.

In fact, Helen Keller once said that if a person possesses no vision or dream, he is in a sad state: “The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but no vision.”

So we know that people have dreams. But did you know that God also has dreams? He absolutely does! He has a very clear vision for his relationship with his people. I was reminded of this by a passage from the book of Jeremiah.

At an absolute low point in Israel’s history, God had banished his people to Babylon. It didn’t look as if God’s relationship with them would ever be right again. The closeness and tightness of their relationship appeared to be gone forever.

But God kept the dream alive that he would reconcile with his people. He revealed this vision through Jeremiah. Though events would have indicated that God’s relationship with the Israelites was over and done forever, God’s promises indicated that his grace and forgiveness was very much alive.

Do you believe that God still has a dream for his people today? Are you confident that his grace and forgiveness are very much alive? Do you know that he dreams about you, and about the relationship that he hopes to have with you — just as he did so many years ago in the days of Jeremiah?

As then, so now.

I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. (Jeremiah 32:37-41, NIV).

Lord, help me to understand that you have dreams for me. Help me to remain confident that your vision for me and my life are good and kind, and will bring me blessing upon blessing.

Our Bible reading for Friday, October 16, is Jeremiah 32:26 – 34:22, 1 Timothy 1:1-20 and Psalm 119:41-48.

Header image based on "Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral" by Ben Sutherland, CC By 2.0