What Are You Running From?

 

I had a dream in which I was home at night, working in my study while my husband Richard was in the family room. Suddenly I heard him cry out, “There’s a strange man in the house – run!”

I quickly tried to get up but snapped back into my seat. I was strapped into my office chair by a seat belt-like contraption going across the right side of my neck and shoulder all the way to my left hip. Frantically I struggled with the buckle until it released me and then I ran out the front door, leaving it wide open.

Although it was dark, I immediately realized that I was not on the street where we currently live, but on the street where I grew up. While running as fast as I could, I berated myself for not having dialed 911 before I left. Then I realized that I was running the wrong direction – not toward a busier intersection where I would be more likely to flag down help, but toward another quiet, dark, residential neighborhood.

I decided to change course, but as I turned around, I spotted a dark figure lurking in the shadows. Should I call out for his help? Or was this more likely to be the intruder who had broken into our home and was now pursuing me?

So I kept running, as fast as I could, away from the stranger. When I awoke, my heart was pounding and my breathing was so fast and shallow that I thought I might pass out.

I finally calmed myself enough to lapse back into a fitful sleep, interrupted by another dream. In this dream, one of the ladies in the Bible study that I teach and I were working at an emergency medical facility. She raced into my office to tell me that one of the patients had fainted and to ask what we should do next.

As we rushed down the hall to see the patient, I asked my student many questions about the patient’s medical history, medications, recent labs, other recent symptoms, and what she was doing before she passed out. Finally I asked her, “Did you call 911?”   

When I awoke and considered the significance of the dreams, I realized that the prominent theme was running – away from danger in the first dream and toward assistance in the second dream.

In the first dream, my husband yelled for me to run away. Thankfully, our marriage is strong, centered in our faith in Jesus Christ and in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only way to Heaven (John 14:6). But the dream may represent a general warning that some relationships, particularly with unsaved people (2 Corinthians 6:14), can hinder exclusive reliance on our Savior. We must run from such relationships as we would from any idols (1 John 5:21), defined as anything that gets in the way of our devotion to Christ and usurps His pre-eminence in our lives (Colossians 1:18).

Although I immediately wanted to obey my husband’s command to run away, I was delayed by being strapped into my office chair. This may represent the hold that work, as a means to power, prestige or excessive wealth, may have on some people. As Scripture confirms, all who are able need to work to meet our physical needs and those of our family (2 Thessalonians 3:10). But when excessive time at work becomes more important than God or family, workaholics are serving their job or career as an idol and should run from it.

The main reason I was running away in the dream was because there was an intruder in our house. Danger, defined as anything that separates us from God and His perfect plan for us, is seldom as obvious as a terrifying devil with horns, tail and a pitchfork; or a roaring lion seeking to devour us; or even an armed home invader.

As responsible stewards of the time, talents, treasure, ministries and relationships God has entrusted to us, we should hide ourselves from evil (Proverbs 22:3; 27:12) by screening who and what we allow into our home. We may have alarms, security systems and doorbell cameras to keep out criminals, but the dangerous home intruders we face may be more subtle.

Beginning in the 1950s, the ubiquitous television has diverted time and attention away from worship, prayer and family time to meaningless or even harmful “entertainment” promoting filthy language, sexual immorality, violence and substance abuse. Around-the-clock news channels may rob us of our peace and joy.

The Internet can be a valuable source of information on virtually any topic, but it can also promulgate misinformation and false doctrine. Social media can foster virtual friendships among like-minded individuals and can be a means to share the Gospel. But these can also expose even children to dangers including bullying, body shaming, lowering self-esteem, triggering depression or anxiety, and even fostering hookups with cultists, drug pushers or sexual predators.

Sadly, “how-to” sites can teach depressed individuals how to end their own life and can provide criminals with instruction manuals for violence, breaking and entering, procuring weapons, building bombs, murder, and even terrorism. We must therefore guard our homes and our lives from these dangerous intruders.

In the dream, once I ran away from the threat within my home, I began fleeing my past, symbolized by suddenly finding myself on the street where I grew up, running away from my childhood home. There I needed to change direction, which brought me nearly face-to-face with a shadowy figure. Was this a potential source of help, or the home invader I sought to escape?

God endowed each of us with a unique history specifically suited to the mission He has planned for us. Our past experiences, even if there were trials we had to endure, equip us with compassion and wisdom to help those going through similar trials (2 Corinthians 1:4-6). But when Satan mocks and belittles us with past mistakes, inadequacies, or sins, we must flee from the danger of believing his lies (John 8:44) and becoming trapped in our history rather than moving on to our future. We can’t outrun the devil, but if we resist Him by submitting to God, he will flee from us (James 4:7). To avoid confronting Satan in the first place, we must flee temptation (2 Timothy 2:22).

Once we elude intruders into our God-given peace and joy and resist the devil and his lies (which are ongoing struggles in the Christian life overcome only by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit), we may more fruitfully pursue God’s work. In the second dream, my supervision of a friend in Christ, in the role of a medical coworker, may represent the mentorship opportunity I have in teaching a ladies’ Bible study. Just as a medical facility is the best place to obtain physical healing, a local church and its fellowship and study groups is often the ideal setting for spiritual healing and ongoing growth in our Christian walk.

In the dream, the woman from my class ran into my office for help with another’s healing, and then we both ran to the aid of the one in distress. Strangely, I asked her whether she had called 9-1-1, which is odd, because we were in a facility delivering emergency care.

In my first Bible after being saved, I kept a list of “9-1-1” verses I had printed up from the Internet – verses to consult in times of need, whether physical danger, temptation, sadness, grief, sin, failure, or loss of fellowship with God. I believe the second dream was a reminder that without Christ we can do nothing (John 15:5), and that attempting to do His work without the direction of His Spirit and His Word is doomed to end in failure.

May we have Spirit-empowered strength to run away from physical and spiritual dangers, and to run with patience the race He has set before us (Hebrews 12:1), running toward the mark for the prize (Philippians 3:14) of victory in Christ!

© 2024 Laurie Collett