I’m a dreamer. As in, my sleeping hours are often filled with vivid imagery and rich plots. Often, I perceive truths through my dreams in such clarity that, upon waking, I immediately jot down the dreams in my journal to keep record of them.
Such was the case this morning. I awoke with a specific scene on my mind from my dream last night. I hurriedly scratched it down in my journal as soon as I was coherent. And I want to share it with you:
I found myself in a room surrounded by tables. Each tabletop was covered with a single layer of sealed envelopes containing handwritten pages. I knew that the contents of each envelope were describing and accounting my life. I then realized that, though the majority, not all of the envelopes were sealed – this represented the seasons of my life that I have already lived and events I’ve already walked out.
Standing in front of the table of my current season, I grabbed a sealed envelope to discover what was written about what lies ahead. I knew I wasn’t to open it, so I help it up in the air towards one of the lights in the room in order to catch glimpses of the words written on the page the envelope contained. “That is prophetic insight,” I felt the Spirit of God say to me, as I held the sealed envelope above my head, stretching to perceive any clarity at the layered words covering the folded page within it. “That is prophetic insight; when I allow you to hold the sealed envelope of a future season into the light – whether the envelope is from the tables of someone else’s life or your own.”
1 Corinthians 14:3 “…he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.”
While I journaled about my dream this morning, a scripture immediately came to me: Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”
The Hebrew word from which “conceal” is derived in that context: to hide carefully, to keep close, and to hide by covering. I’m comforted to know that the Lord so deeply treasures the days of our lives that He keeps them close and covers them with Himself.
“Search out” in the Hebrew in that verse: to investigate, to explore, to examine thoroughtly and to examine intimately.
The weaving which comprises the character and heart of God is the fullness of all the mysteries of the cosmos. Man can, at best, at a given moment, marvel at a single aspect of the fullness of a single thread of who He is. And yet, we rightly delight in the discovery of even part of the mystery of Him. We delight in intimate investigation.
Still in my dream, but magnified as I processed it this morning while journaling, I felt the immense weight of prophecy and the sobriety and care with which we must hold the sealed envelopes of others’ lives to the light. I felt peace in knowing I didn’t have to author the pages within the sealed envelopes. And I felt the trust of the Father over me as the sealed envelopes were never snatched from my grasp – He trusted me to hold the yet-unseen.