I’ve written about the Book of Job because it is an important book in connection with personal healing. In that book, Job’s friends are supposed to comfort him. Instead of that, they judge him.
But a guy called Elihu hears their conversations with the sufferer, Job, and gives him real comfort without avoiding the central issue concerning human weakness.
In his speech, Elihu brings a kind of link or introduction to the Lord’s answer to Job. As part of that Elihu explains the purpose of human dreams. That’s in Job 33:15-18. They are to keep us from pride and even from premature death. This, I have found to be so true. When I first had biblical dreams, I was still wallowing in a certain academic pride. It took thousands of biblical corrective dreams, their recording and scriptural follow-up to convince me that God gifts people for service, and academic pride was the sin He was pointing to in my life. The gift of dream interpretation was also present and tempted me with pride. But our Father can just as easily remove that gift. I must admit, I still deal with pride at times. At least I recognise it now. The worst thing about human pride is when we don’t even know we have it. And the truth is, I am not overly clever and my academic field is very narrow indeed. Often, we humans have pride in something that isn’t even real!
It is important to realise that whether through dreams or circumstances, to be humbled, is to be healed. When pride leaves, often sicknesses leave too. People who have spent a long time in churches can also be quite guilty of pride. But to operate in the false kind of pride we humans often begin with, is not a state of well-being – even if we are unaware of our own pride. Arrogance is so self-destructive. We think it is protective. Instead, it is a false mask to hide behind. It feels so liberating when we come free from pride and into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
