When I was learning to walk, my Mother put a pair of high top shoes on my feet. They gave my ankles and feet support and perhaps a feeling of a little extra confidence. It wasn’t long before I started walking and then running. Since that time, I have had many types of shoes: heels, flats, house shoes, flip flops and boots in different colors and styles. They have covered my feet well and kept them dry and warm from the elements and protected me from stones, thorns and thistles along the way.
One night, I had two dreams and each dream involved not being able to find my shoes. They were lost and I was barefoot. I had searched and searched. In one dream, I was in the middle of a lot of people but no one would or could help me find my shoes. In the second dream, I was with two members of my family in the woods where we searched and searched but could not find my shoes. In both dreams, I was the only one without shoes.
I am not necessarily a huge believer of dream interpretation but I do know that God used dreams in the life of many people and in particular, the life of Joseph, son of Jacob, in the Old Testament and also in the life of Joseph, husband of Mary in the New Testament. As a result of these reminders, I prayed for an interpretation to these dreams.
From the secular view comes this interpretation: a dream of being unable to find your shoes represents feelings of being unable to approach a situation with confidence or in a way you are used to doing. Feeling that your methods to solving a problem will not work the way you thought they would.
We had been studying the life of David in our Bible Study class. On this morning as I was reading in 2 Samuel 11:1-27 David plunged into a downward spiral of sin with Bathsheba. His sin took him to the point of not listening to the Holy Spirit (quenching the Holy Spirit) and ignoring His voice.
When we ignore the leading of God, we set ourselves open to stumbling and falling into sin. Perhaps these dreams I had were a warning to me concerning sin. Sin, if you remember, means being disobedient to what God has told you to do.
Be obedient and listen to the Lord as He tells you through His Word. True confidence for life comes only from God Himself. God’s Word gives us guidance concerning our feet:
Psalm 116:8
For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,
Jude 1:24
To him (Jesus Christ) who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—
2 Samuel 22:37
You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way.
2 Samuel 22:34
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.
Psalm 37:31
The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip.
Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Psalm 140:4
Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet.
Proverbs 4:26
Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.
Perhaps these dreams were a reminder of the guidance given to me by the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that dwells within every believer. Listen to the voice of God who gives us the confidence to live and breathe.