A Troubled Dreamer Series

When John Wesley returned to England from his fruitless visit to

America, he learned that on another ship in the harbor his friend

Whitefield was about to sail to America. This depressed Wesley for

he had hoped to have fellowship with Whitefield. Early in the

morning he sent a message by boat to the other ship. He said, "Tell

Mr. Whitefield that I have had a dream during the night, and that it

has been made clear to me that he is not to go to America." George

Whitefield received the message and paced the deck in deep thought.

He then said to the messenger, "Go back and tell Mr. Wesley that if

God had wished me to turn back He would have given me the

dream. Why should He send the dream to Mr. Wesley?" And so he

went on his tour to America. Whitefield was sound in judgment in

this situation, for one could have very little assurance concerning the

message of a dream unless he had the dream himself.

No doubt, this is why God spoke to Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, even

though he could not understand it. Had Daniel come to him

with a dream that he had, the king would not be interested at all. a

man is only concerned about his own dreams, and this was especially

true in a day when men recognized dreams to be possible messages

from God. Here is a pagan king and God communicates to him in a

dream. He may not have listened to a prophet, but a dream is so

personal that he cannot refuse to pay attention.

Sometimes the dream is used by God to communicate clearly

when there is no other means available. Such was the case with the

dream of Joseph about taking Mary as his wife, and about fleeing to

Egypt. Such was the case with the warning in a dream to the wise

men to go home by a different route. The dream is usually a

secondary method, and is often just a vague and obscure message

that calls for an interpreter. Such was the case with the dream of

the baker and butler in prison with Joseph, and also that of the

Pharaoh. They provided the opportunity for God's man to become

known through his gift of interpreting. This was also the case with

Daniel. If the king had not had this dream Daniel would never have

had the opportunity to demonstrate his God-given gift.

We see then that God's providence is the case of Daniel's rise to

a position of trust and power, for God opens the door of

opportunity. Two things are needed for any of us to be used of God.

First of all, like Daniel, we must develop our gifts, which God has

given, and secondly we need to pray that God would open up doors

of opportunity to use these gifts. Preparation and then opportunity

are two essentials. Had Daniel not first of all prepared himself, and

been in the position among the scholars, he never would have had

the opportunity to interpret the kings dream. Had God spoken to

the king in a dream before Daniel was there in Babylon, there would

have been no one to interpret it, and there would have been a futile

slaughter of the wise men. We see then that God prepares His man

first. He needs a man ready to lay hold of the opportunity before he

opens the door of opportunity. If people prepare and develop their

gifts, God will open the way for those gifts to be used.

Lets look at the series of events that led Daniel to a place of

leadership in a pagan empire. The king is a troubled man for he has

had a dream and does not know the meaning of it. It bothers him

and he cannot sleep. His loss of sleep makes him a real bear, and he

becomes severe in his anger toward his wise men who fail to tell him

the meaning of the dream. He is a great ruler who has built a city

enclosed by a wall containing more masonry that the Great Wall of

China. He has even built an artificial mountain inside of it for his

wife. Few kings could boast of greater glory, and the whole world

was at his feet. But he knew that empires can fall rapidly, and the

Persians and Greeks were doing some marvelous things that could

threaten his empire.

No one could blame him for being nervous and upset over the

dream. The impression that one has at first is that he is just another

tyrant who will reap as he sowed in hell, but as you study deeper

you tend to feel that you will one day talk with this great king as a