What the Scriptures say of our dreams

Jacob Jordeans painting of “Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. Public domain.

The other night, I found myself walking alone into an empty baseball field. It was a strange, quiet place with no bleachers and no sod. All that remained were the faint imprints of a dirt diamond worn into the earth, surrounded by tiny buds of new grass just beginning to poke through the soil. Suddenly, the peace was broken as a giant crane appeared and began chasing me.

As an Asian American, I grew up with a deep belief that the images we see in our sleep carry profound meaning. When I sat with this dream, the message felt clear. It was a call to stop running away from a task I have been avoiding. It was a promise that the structure and support I am looking for will only appear once I stop fleeing and start doing the work.

This experience reminded me of how often God uses the quiet of the night to get our attention.

After the celebration of Christmas, we usually turn our hearts toward the story of Joseph. He was a man who had to make sense of an impossible situation, and he often found his answers while he slept.

In a pivotal dream, a messenger told him to rise, pack up his family, and flee to Egypt as refugees to escape the political violence of King Herod.

Joseph didn’t dismiss the dream as a trick of his imagination. He recognized it as a divine instruction for survival. Because he listened in the dark, he was able to protect Jesus and Mary in the light of day.

Joseph is far from the only person in the Bible who received guidance this way. We see dreams acting as a bridge between heaven and earth throughout the entire scriptural story.

There was the other Joseph in the book of Genesis, whose dreams about sheaves of wheat and stars eventually saved nations from hunger. There was also the prophet Daniel, who understood the visions of kings to help navigate the rise and fall of empires.

These stories show us that our subconscious mind is often more receptive to the Spirit than our busy, waking minds. When we sleep, our defenses are down, and we are finally still enough to hear what we might be ignoring during the day. 

For us today, dreams can be a vital part of our Christian faith. They act as a form of spiritual intuition that highlights our deepest fears, hopes, and callings.

While not every dream is a direct command from God, many serve as a mirror for our souls. They can show us where we are stuck or where we are being nudged to grow. By bringing these nighttime images into our prayer life, we invite God to speak to us in a language that goes beyond words.

Just as my dream told me to stop running so that growth could begin, your dreams might be the very place where God is offering you the direction you have been seeking.