«The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets» (Daniel 2:27, 28).
WE HAVE ALL had bad dreams or nightmares. They are generally very distressing moments and they snatch our peace throughout the remainder of the day. According to a research study conducted in France, even our worst nightmares can result in positive effects. In the study, done on students who were preparing to take a medical entrance exam, 60 percent of them admitted they had had nightmares regarding the exam. Some dreamed they were late; others dreamed they didn’t answer certain questions because they didn’t know the answers. . . The amazing thing about the study was that those who had that kind of dreams scored higher than those who didn’t.
The Bible mentions two individuals who had nightmares, but their dreams served to initiate good things. Genesis 41 mentions dreams that made the Egyptian pharaoh’s «spirit [be] troubled» the following day (verse 8). Likewise, Nebuchadnezzar, the proud Babylonian king, had a dream after which «his spirit was … troubled» (Dan. 2:1). It is surprising that these two brave warriors, who had gone out to engage in combat with the most powerful nations of their day and had been successful, lost their peace of mind over a dream. The thing is, both in Egypt and in Babylon, as well as in other nations of the ancient world, «dreams were regarded as significant, and as portending future events.»
The main point is that their spiritual distress was followed by the beginning of a divine revelation to both kings. Pharaoh found peace by acknowledging that God had given Joseph the ability to interpret the dream. And at the end of Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar proclaimed, «Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret» (verse 47). The dark night gave way to divine revelation.
Like Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, we also have our nightmares, our troubled spirits, our sleepless nights. In the midst of our distress we should know that «there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets» (Daniel 2:28), who will take us out of our dark nights and give us a glorious dawn.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Angelica Cuate
