When Did You Stop Dreaming?

When did I stop expecting God to do anything new in my life?

Somewhere between a full calendar and a letdown, hoping for more starts to feel childish. The dream doesn't always die in a moment; it usually just gets quietly set down. Isaiah and the exiles knew what it was to stop expecting anything, and God spoke to them there.

“Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:18–19

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:20–21

Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to Yahweh. Trust also in him, and he will do this:

Psalms 37:4–5

Can God really use someone like me to build something that matters?

Gideon was hiding in a winepress when the angel called him a mighty warrior. Moses had a list of reasons he was the wrong man. Scripture keeps showing God starting with people who assumed they were disqualified, which is nearly everyone at some point.

Yahweh’s angel came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. Yahweh’s angel appeared to him, and said to him, “Yahweh is with you, you mighty man of valor!” Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.” Yahweh looked at him, and said, “Go in this your might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Haven’t I sent you?” He said to him, “O Lord, how shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Yahweh said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”

Judges 6:11–16

Moses said to Yahweh, “O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” Yahweh said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, Yahweh? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.” Moses said, “Oh, Lord, please send someone else.”

Exodus 4:10–13

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.” But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you. Don’t be afraid because of them, for I am with you to rescue you,” says Yahweh.

Jeremiah 1:5–8

For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, that no flesh should boast before God.

1 Corinthians 1:26–29

What does God ask of me while I wait for the bigger thing?

Dreaming can turn into waiting for a door that hasn't opened yet, and the waiting is where most of the living happens. David was anointed as a boy and spent years shepherding and hiding before any throne. Faithfulness in small, unseen work is its own kind of dream.

He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

Luke 16:10–12

Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your children here?” He said, “There remains yet the youngest. Behold, he is keeping the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.” He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with a handsome face and good appearance. Yahweh said, “Arise! Anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the middle of his brothers. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

1 Samuel 16:11–13

And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:23–24

Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us. Establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Psalms 90:17

Is it wrong to want more, or is God the one putting that desire there?

There is a real worry that wanting more is greed, and the worry is not foolish. But scripture tells the story of God planting desire in people and then meeting it himself. The thing to examine is what the desire is pointed at, not whether it exists.

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.

Psalms 145:19

The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

John 10:10

Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:13–14

You lust, and don’t have. You murder and covet, and can’t obtain. You fight and make war. You don’t have, because you don’t ask. You ask, and don’t receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

James 4:2–3