Today's Old Testament reading is from the book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar had a recurring nightmare, leaving him sleep deprived, grumpy and frustrated because he couldn't remember all the details – they slip away too fast after he wakes up. It was understood back in ancient times that dreams especially the dreams of Kings had import. He knows this dream is an omen, and is frustrated by the fact that if he can’t tell his wise men the dream, they can’t interpret it. Frustrated, he lost his temper and demanded they tell him the dream and the interpretation or he will kill the lot of them. Only one who knew God could really do what he is demanding.

Daniel comes to the rescue and tells Nebuchadnezzar with the confidence, of absolute faith, that give him a little time and he can do it. How did he know? Two reasons, the first and most important is God can do anything and everything! The second one is that Daniel would have been taught the history of his people from a young age, he knew the stories of Genesis. He knew that God had done this before, when one of his children was in similar circumstances, Daniel knew about Joseph bar Jacob (Israel).

Joseph, son of Jacob was not the eldest in his family but his father had made him a coat of many colors signifying he was his heir. His older brothers out of jealousy sold him into slavery, telling his father he was dead. He was carried into Egypt and ended up not just a slave, but thrown into prison for sticking to his faith. But having passed God's test of his faith, blessed by God, he interpreted dreams, eventually interpreting a dream that bothered Pharaoh, King of Egypt. This turned out to be a long-range weather forecast for his farmers, a fairly important subject for a king of essentially a desert country with only the one large fertile river plain. Joseph ended up being Prime Minister or it’s equivalent, second only to the king.

Daniel realizes he is in a similar circumstance to Joseph, he and his friends are slaves and they have been tested and stuck to their faith when it could have cost them their lives. If he can’t do this they will be killed, which is a worse predicament than prison. God has done this before, and Daniel has faith that what He has done before, He can do again. Indeed He can and does, today in our Old Testament reading we read King Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream as told to him by Daniel. But this repeating of theme's and circumstances was deliberate on God's part to teach his children the Israelites and to teach us. Not only in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament, God sometimes chose to speak to people through their dreams. Jesus stepfather Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt, avoiding the massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem. Still today it is reported that many many Muslims, in countries where Christians would risk death to share the gospel are having dreams about Jesus....Lesson - Heed your dreams, they are one way God can speak to you!