Regarding Dream Dictionaries....

I am more and more persuaded that the dream is the voice of God to and for the dreamer, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or atheist. Therefore it is to God that we must turn to listen to what He is saying to the dreamer, for the dream is personal, speaking to the immediate situation or problem of the dreamer.

I am often asked to recommend various authors or books that offer dream symbol dictionaries or quick and easy interpretations of dreams. I cannot in good conscience do so, because I believe they are a serious impediment to the individual’s growth in learning to hear the voice of God directly. I am also seriously concerned when people offer to interpret dreams for another or dictate the meaning to the dreamer. I believe that while we may be able to work with the dreamer towards a better understanding of what dream symbols mean to the dreamer, it is manifestly wrong to dictate to the dreamer what the dream or its symbols mean. It is not a question of bad intent, but one of responsibilities before God on the part of the dreamer and the “interpreter”. As is true in any relationship, learning to communicate takes time and effort, and there are dangers in trying to short-circuit the process. What I advocate in working with people seriously engaged in seeking the meaning of their dreams and in actively seeking transformation is an attitude of seeking God’s voice through the intensely personal dream symbols God knows can have deepest meaning for the individual. While we are all made in the image and likeness of God, and have certain common spiritual “DNA”, each of us is made uniquely by God, and this must not be overlooked in working with dream symbols. Reliance on general patterns or dream dictionaries can be hugely misleading. We need to discern God’s voice in our lives, and take responsibility for doing so rather than abdicating that to another, and thus walking according to their interpretation of what God’s intends as an intensely personal gift to us.

There is much to learn about dreams, and in order to interpret the meaning of a dream there is a great temptation to turn to a dream dictionary to find the meaning of the symbols in the dream, or to seek someone who has devised a pattern to quickly get an interpretation of the dream. Though I, too, at first wanted that, I found that it is one of the serious traps in dream interpretation. It causes us to jump to false conclusions and focus on the meaning that we want the dream to have rather than what God may actually be revealing. By turning to dream dictionaries or patterns one is avoiding listening to God, in the heart or unconscious, to hear what God is saying, and instead depending on another person’s ideas, and missing the point that God is making.

Because the dream is God speaking to the individual it is vitally important to understand how God speaks (Learning to Hear God’s Voice). He speaks generally through all of creation; He speaks specifically to His children; but he also has a secret language to all that are eager to learn more. The last is evident when Jesus spoke in parables. In answer to the disciples’ questions as to why He spoke in parables He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you but not to them. Whosoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him” (Matthew 13:11,12. Therefore God gives secrets to those who are eager to learn more. Jesus spoke secrets in parables to those whom he knew would be open to hear what He had to say. He could not tell his secrets to the Pharisees whose mind was made up and did not want to hear what He had to say.

When Jesus said to the disciples, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6), He knew that the disciples had enough experiences with those religious leaders to know what He was talking about, but yet the disciples were still thinking rationally.

To interpret a dream of someone of whom we know nothing or little about is to presume that we know what the dreamer’s inmost most motives or desires are, and make the dream to apply to what we guess God is talking about. It is to the heart of the dreamer that God is speaking. How often when a family or group is together and are talking things over, an accusation is made by an outsider, the response of the family member will be, “You don’t know what you are talking about, for you don’t know what he is like and what he is thinking.” So also when we interpret someone else’s dream by a certain pattern given to us, we presume that we know the dreamer’s inner desires and motives, and place on him or her an accusation or promise that comes from someone knowing nothing of the dreamer.

In the Biblical illustrations of dream we see a pattern. The dream of the King of Gerar gave secrets about how Abraham was lying to him, though he tried to keep it a secret. Jacob was running away from his problem but God knew the secret of his heart and told him how his problem could be solved. Joseph had dreams that none of his family could understand, but God knew his deep hearts’ desire and fulfilled it. Pharaoh was given a secret about his country that the best of his wise men could not understand. In the dream God showed what Solomon’s deep heart desired and gave that to him, and more. No dictionary, nor someone’s pattern, could have told Daniel about the great Babylonian monarch, Nebuchadnezzar - that only God knew. Joseph’s dream about Mary could not have come from anyone but God. All these dreams were very personal, and spoke to their hearts. Therefore to tell what God is saying in the dream to someone else’s heart seems sheer presumption without recognizing the voice of God.

When Miriam and Aaron complained that God was favoring Moses and not them, God said: “When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions; I speak to him in dreams---in riddles (or parables)” (Numbers 12:6-8). When Miriam demanded to hear the secret message which God had given to Moses He dealt very drastically with her, covering her body with leprosy. What a judgment! So we cannot play lightly with the secrets that God chooses to give to His children through their dreams. When we say that we know what the dream means, yet know nothing of the dreamer’s private life, are we presuming, as Miriam did, that God has given us his secrets?

Therefore we must deal very carefully with the secrets God gives to people. The fact that God gives dreams to all people is an indication that he wants all people to learn more than the mind can tell them and then He speaks privately to people according to their various circumstances. I have read that Einstein had a dream in his youth, and spent the rest of his years meditating on that dream until God could take him beyond the three dimensions in which we live to discover the theory of relativity. God does not give away His secrets without preparing the person for the message. God could tell Abraham the secrets of his future after he had obeyed Him thus far. He does not surprise people with a great new idea until that person has obeyed what he or she knows thus far or has begun a search to find it. Therefore to interpret a people’s dreams without knowing what God has prepared them for is plunging them in waters too deep for them.

The reason that I so vehemently oppose the books that have patterns of interpretation for all symbols is because it is imposing on the dreamer an interpretation without knowing anything about the dreamer’s personal and private life. I do not find any pattern in the Scriptures of having classes to interpret dreams, though there were classes for prophets. I did have classes like that and tried to get people to listen to their hearts for the meaning of the dreams. However I was disillusioned with that, for people at first were interested, but then very, very few would follow through in learning to listen privately to God for the meaning of their dreams.

Why do we often need help with our dreams? Most commonly it is because we take the dream literally, instead of realizing that the dream speaks in symbolic language, in “riddles or parables”. I’ve heard people ask, “Why doesn’t God speak so that I can understand Him?” First of all the language of pictures and symbols is the first language that we learned, but then the schools taught us to learn the language of reason, and neglect the language of symbols. Jesus said we must become like children to understand Him. Learning to understand the key role that symbolic language has in dream interpretation is the first step in understanding how the dream speaks.

There is another important step to learn in order to understand the dream. God speaks in his secret language to those who are eager to learn, as Jesus said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you but not to them". To follow the dream is a costly procedure, for it demands the willingness to leave the shelter of rational thinking and reach out to what God has in mind beyond the three dimensions.

There is a pattern in the Scripture for dream interpretation. The pattern is that the one who wants to interpret dreams must learn to recognize the voice of God. The person who wants to follow God and touch even kings, must understand the voice of God so reliably that he or she can go to kings even at the risk to life or reputation, like Joseph and Daniel did. Or be so sure of hearing God’s voice one could risk his own family’s safety in obedience to what the dream has said as Joseph did with Mary. In each case this was done privately. But we might complain that if we limit our work to help private individuals it takes away the opportunity to reach many people. However both Josephs and Daniel influenced nations and their leaders and so were remembered for thousands of years. We may choose between being popular today and being honored by God and kings later.

Is that practical today? I am sure that God is giving dreams to many leaders around the world and I believe He is waiting to find those who can so reliably interpret dreams so that they are willing to risk their lives on it. To them God will open His doors.

Herman Riffel, February, 2007

Revised: 02/18/2007