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I Had a Vision in the Night
I had a vision in the night; to approach God.
But, when it comes to communicating with God, I often feel like Gideon. We can be easily swayed by magical thinking, grasping at signs that may be nothing more than coincidence. Gideon, too, was cautious. When he asked God for a miracle, he asked again—just to be sure. And God, in his patience, satisfied his request.
God approaches us in various ways. Sometimes in dreams. Sometimes in a whisper. Sometimes through the pages of scripture—verses so precise, so timely, they cut straight to the heart.
Some time ago, I went through a period of deep stress. So deep, it rivalled the grief I felt in the days leading up to my wife's death. It was a distress that felt beyond bearing.
In desperation, I prayed. And then, to silence any self-doubt, I typed a simple phrase into a search engine: Please tell me a Bible verse—any verse, just one.
I proceed this way to have complete isolation from other verses that may occur when opening the Bible itself
Up came Isaiah 41:10:
So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
It was as if God had spoken directly to me.
The line that stopped me was: “Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.”
Two promises in one breath: that I need not be afraid, and that He is mine. Dismayed was exactly how I felt unsettled, agitated, thrown off balance. It’s not a soft word. And oddly, the version quoted was the NIV, a translation I hadn’t recently used.
This isn’t the first time I’ve received a verse that felt tailor-made. But I remain careful. I don’t treat God like an oracle. He is not to be tested. When his mercy arrives in this carefully contrived line of scripture, I take it as a gift that I read every day. A reassurance that I am not alone
