317. WHEN THE DREAM IS DEAD

(The Faith Forum Series – Batch 11)

What do you do when the dream is dead? What do you do when that which you hoped for, prayed about, nurtured and cherished, has died? Do you throw in the towel and give up on life, distraught or do you continue believing in the Lord, although that which was close to your heart, has clearly died?

When your dream is clearly dead, you are to do like THE SHUNAMMITE WOMAN in 2 Kings 4. Her son got ill suddenly, sat on her knees till noon and then died, YET, she told her husband, “It shall be well“. (vs. 23). When later asked by Elisha’s servant if it was well with her, her husband and the child, although hurting, she did not say that the child had died but only “It is well” (v. 26).

Such optimism in the face of clear adversity is admirable! Such a positive outlook in a situation where her only child (that which had been gifted to her by God based on the promise conveyed through the man of God Elisha) had clearly died! She was convinced seemingly, although she had not a clue how, that the man of God (Elisha) operating through the power of God, would somehow set the nightmarish situation aright.

For, she had not desired of him the announcement, that her once infertile womb would conceive and she would finally bare a son (one that she had most likely dreamed of for many a year before giving up hope of it ever coming to pass) but this is what he had promised! He had caused her to have hope again, that despite all her years of childlessness in marriage, that she would finally have a son and just as Elisha had declared, she later conceived and did deliver a son! Now, some years later, this child that she so cherished, the subject of God’s promise conveyed through Elisha the prophet, suddenly took ill, cried for his head and died on her knees!

What was she to do with such an outcome? Was she to wail uncontrollably because that which she had held dear, had died and because the motherhood that she had been encouraged to dream about, was no more? This she did not. Instead, she saddled her ass and went to the man of God, insisting to everyone who asked, that all was well and all would be well!

Similarly, in Mark 5, JAIRUS sought the Lord Jesus’ help to heal his daughter, who was at his home sick and dying. Verse 23 and 24 state of Jairus that “…when he saw him, he fell at his feet, and besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.”

His plea in a near dismal situation was one of desperation, hence the reason he fell prostrate at Jesus’ feet. He was making it known to Jesus that the situation was so bad, that he was his only hope. One can imagine the love he had for this daughter, which Luke 8:42 states what his “one only daughter“!

While on his way to his home with Jesus though, there was what he would have most likely regarded as a distraction along the way. Jesus stopped to address a situation, where someone had touched him. Shortly thereafter, Jairus received the worst news he could have ever dreamed of. His hopes seemed dashed when someone from his house came to him and informed him that his daughter had not survived. She had died! Alas, they had not made it in time and that which he had hoped for, seemed all but lost! The messenger told him bluntly, “Thy daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the Master any further?” (Mark 5:35)

If there was ever a reason to despair, this was it! For Jairus’ daughter, his only daughter, the one that he had sought the Lord’s intervention for, had died! There being no life in her left, it seemed that all that was needed now was to resignedly begin the grieving process, to mourn the fact that what he had cherished and held so dear was gone and forever.

YET, Jesus did not sit by and allow this man’s hope to dip. In what seemed to defy all logic, natural reasoning and common sense, he told him, “Be not afraid, only believe.” Jesus was asking him to ignore the reality of what he had just heard and to still hold on to his dream that Jesus would intervene to fix the situation, somehow.

As I write, I have begun to weep, as these scriptural accounts remind me of my own dreams, hopes and desires, which, at this late point, seem certainly dead. Why then should I trouble the Master any further with prayer requests, that he would take me, a solitary woman and provide for me a husband and a family of my own, as Psalm 68:6 tells me he is able to do? After all, given my age, how much time has passed, all that I had been through and the endless number of years I have remained on the shelf of singleness without even being seen, surely at this stage, my dream has died! Surely all hope of this ever happening has gone!

This is what people around me think and I can’t blame them. YET, when I look at my dreams that seem now lifeless, I remember the Shunammite woman and I dare to defy all logic by faith in Jesus, although I cannot work it out and I find myself still entertaining hope, that somehow, he will bring by dead dream back to life! I find myself still crazily declaring (because I believe he planted the dream in my heart in the first place) and despite my clear reality, “It shall be well!” I find myself meditating on the words uttered by Jesus to Jairus, even after he had received the news that his daughter had died, “Be not afraid, only believe.”

I have not a clue how God will work or when or through whom. Given the clear reality of my age, how much time has passed, that everyone thinks that my ship has sailed and that that would be it for my story, my dreams, though seemingly dead, still flicker by faith from time to time. Could there be life there yet? I dare to hold on despite everything I see and through the limitless power of God, I still dare to hope, to believe, to dream, that it shall be well!

ABRAHAM had the same mentality evidently, when his dream of having a child seemed dead. There were times when his faith wavered and he seemingly wrestled with God, given his age and that of his wife Sarah. However, he got to the point where he believed God completely, so that although he did not know when or how, he believed that God would do what was considered impossible and give him and Sarah a son. For, God had promised to make him a father of many nations. and therefore caused Abraham to nurture this dream!

In Genesis 17:1-7, while still childless, it reads:

• “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.”

Despite the clear reality that Sarah had been barren all throughout their marriage and that “Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women”, (Genesis 18:11), Romans 4:3,17-22 tells us that Abraham held on to the promise that God had given him, by faith in who God was and what he was able to do.

The scripture states:

• “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness…As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not, as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.”

Later on, after God had miraculously caused Sarah to conceive and to bare Isaac, the one whom God had told Abraham in Genesis 21:12, “…in Isaac shall thy seed be called”, God instructed Abraham to take that same son and to go to the place that he would tell him and to sacrifice him on an altar.

In Genesis 22:2, God told Abraham “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

To the average and right-thinking man, this was a hard instruction to accept. For, after having dreamed of having a son and being promised by God that he would have one through whom he would make him a father of the nations and after God had worked miraculously to give him Isaac and had caused him to dream further by telling him that his promises would be fulfilled through Isaac, God was now telling Abraham to kill this very son and to offer him as a burnt offering to him!

It made no logical sense that God would, on the one hand, cause a dream to be birthed and then, on the other hand, give instructions for the death of that very dream! YET, Abraham obeyed and in verse 20 it states, that he “…stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” God intervened before he could have struck Isaac though and provided a ram for the burnt offering instead.

Of Abraham’s thought processes though, when instructed to take the life of his son Isaac who he loved and had been made promises of God through his seed, the Word of God states in Hebrews 11:17-19, that:

• “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”

Abraham therefore believed that, even if he killed Isaac in obedience to God’s command, given that God had promised to raise up seed through that very son Isaac, so that he Abraham would be a father of many nations and that God does not lie, that God, as the Creator of everything, including life, had the power and would raise Isaac back up from the dead. Abraham therefore believed that the God which gave promises, always kept them and that the dreams that he had allowed to be birth and nurtured, even if the subject of same died, he could and would bring it back to life!

Whatever is your dream or heart’s desire, even if it seems dead in light of the reality of your situation, be not afraid, only believe! If God promised you something, for example, that you would be a joyful mother of children (Psalm 113:9) and that you and your children would increase and increase (Psalm 115:14), know that God’s promise is more sure than reality itself and that all that he has promised you is bound to come to pass. Even if the dream seems close to death, he has a plan and even if in God’s sovereignty, he allows it to die, like Abraham believed beyond any doubt, he is able to bring it back to life. He brought back the Shunammite’s son to life when he had died and Jesus did the same for Jairus’ daughter.

The reality is that some dreams die. As time progresses, you sit and watch it grow weaker and weaker, until you accept that it has died. However, know this: Even in such a case, God is able to take dead dreams and bring them back to life. Be not dismayed therefore. However God chooses to operate in your situation, it shall be well!

(Written on 23rd April, 2025)

ADDENDUM

In Luke 24, after Jesus had died at the hands of wicked men, TWO OF HIS DISCIPLES were walking to a village called Emmaus and talking about all that had transpired. They were crestfallen, as they had hoped that Jesus would be the one that would redeem their people Israel. However, he had clearly died and this dream, this hope, seemed dead. They were therefore sad, no doubt confused, as the one they had placed so much hope in and had believed on, had died. Furthermore, some women who had also nurtured the same dream, had told them that they had gone to the sepulchure where his body had been laid and he was not there! They claimed to have had a vision of angels that he was alive but when some of them had visited the sepulchure themselves, he was not there.

As they conversed on their journey, someone drew near to them and accompanied them on the trip. He enquired of them what they were speaking about and why they were sad. It was therefore clearly evident in their appearance, that they were feeling down and hurting, after all that had transpired. The man asked them, “What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?” (vs. 17).

Concluding that he must be a stranger, given that he did not seem to know what had just happened, they filled him in. The Word of God states:

• “And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.” (vs. 18-21).

The men were clearly stating that they had believed in a dream and it was now dead. All their hopes for a Saviour, had been bound up in this one man, Jesus and now, he had been killed before their very eyes! As if such a disappointment was not enough to bear, to make matters worse, they did not even know what had happened to his body.

Later, after they had arrived at their destination and hospitably invited the stranger to stay where they were staying, it says in verse 30 of that stranger, “And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.”

It was Jesus! He had been walking with them all along, although their eyes had been holden so that they did not realize it! Jesus, the subject of their hopes, dreams and aspirations, had clearly died. They had witnessed it along with all the people. But now, their eyes were not deceiving them and he was clearly alive! He who they had placed their trust in, thinking that he would deliver them, had undoubtedly died but he was alive again!

This was reason for celebration. For, the dream which had died, had literally been brought back to life!

(Addendum written on 24th April, 2025)

Dear Reader, if you found the above Article to be interesting, informative, beneficial or edifying, you may also be interested in reading the following:

• Note 232 – ‘Abraham Believed. Do You?’

Also, under the ‘Broken Daughters’ page”:

• Note 48 – ‘What Faith Can Do’

Additionally, under the ‘Married Daughters’ page:

• Note 8 – ‘I Want A Baby! What To Do!‘