Why God Doesn't Just Say It Plainly
"God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night..." Job 33:14-15 One of the first questions anyone asks when they start paying attention to their dreams is a simple, honest one: why doesn't God just say it plainly? If He wants to guide, warn, or reveal something, why not speak in clear sentences instead of rivers and doors, cities and storms, cows and ladders? The answer isn't found in mystery for mystery's sake. It's found in how God has always chosen to reach the human heart. God speaks in symbols because symbols reach the spirit, not just the intellect. A clear sentence can be argued with, deflected, filed away as merely an idea. An image that lodges itself in you while you're asleep — defenseless, undistracted, unable to talk yourself out of what you're seeing — works differently. It bypasses the resistance the waking mind puts up almost by reflex. Job names the real issue plainly: it was ne...