One night I dreamed I was driving along the road when an oncoming car suddenly crossed into my lane. I quickly applied my brakes and discovered they were not working! I swerved and barely avoided a disastrous collision. Thinking I was out of danger, I relaxed to collect myself from the physical drain I felt. Then the road suddenly changed, and I soon found myself speeding down a steep hill, unable either to slow down or stop. A large concrete retaining wall ran alongside the road, and I ran my car into the embankment in an attempt to brake my speed. It did slow me down some, but it damaged my car in the process. Finally, I came to level ground where I was able to coast to a stop. Heavy traffic filled the road about a mile ahead, and I felt tremendous relief that I had been able to stop before rushing out of control into it.
A tow truck appeared and took me to a service station for repair. As I watched other cars speed along the highway, I became impatient waiting for service and decided to move my car into a more visible position. This pre-sumptuous decision set off a chain reaction of ridiculous events, unfolding like a comedy of errors. First, someone had leaned a guitar against my car, so as the car rolled backward, the guitar was crushed to pieces. Then I could not stop my car from rolling still farther, and it smashed into a window of an adjacent building. Pushing the car forward to get it out of the broken window, I carelessly ran over and destroyed the mechanic's tools which had been laid out on the driveway for the repair job on my car. I was exasperated!
Finally, with all this commotion, a policeman appeared and began writing me a citation. The dream ended as my car was impounded in a lot behind the service station, and night began to fall. When I woke up, these words resounded within my mind: "Get your brakes fixed!"
Interpretation:
I knew this dream was a parable, so I asked the Lord what it meant I remembered the verse in Mark's Gospel:
"He did not say anything to them without using a
parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything." (Mk 4:34)
This is what the Holy Spirit showed me. The brakes symbolize the discipline of self-control in our lives. The Lord wants us to walk in the Spirit, at all times avoiding presumptuous behavior and speech. Any time we over-step due boundaries, undertake a matter without clear justification or behave with daring audacity, we experience "brake failure." Impertinence, impatience and presumption: these are chief among the great human sins, and they are always reflected in how we act and talk. If our lives are characterized by "hurry" and "worry," it's a sure bet we are living in presumption and setting ourselves up for the unpleasant consequences.
The crazy events of my dream illustrate the seven consequences of presumptuous, impatient behavior. First, it jeopardizes our relationships with others. This was seen in the near-collision with oncoming traffic. Next it damages our ability to minister effectively (the car being damaged by the concrete wall). Then presumption quenches praise and worship; this was reflected in the crushed guitar. Fourth, it will shatter your vision, resulting in the loss of ability to see clearly the things of God (the smashed window). Fifth, it hinders the work of restoration (the mechanic's broken tools). Sixth, presumption brings condemnation (the policeman writing the citation). And finally, persisting in presumptuous behavior and speech causes us to be set aside in darkness, like the car impounded behind the service station as night began to fall.
The psalmist cried out to God:
"Who can discern his errors, forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, 0 Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer ." (Ps. 19:12-14).
This prayer gives us insight into how we can "get our brakes fixed." Ask these three things of God: Cleanse me from secret faults; keep me from presumptuous sins; and help me to please You in what I think and say. One last important note from this dream: There's heavy traffic ahead! More than ever, it is time for us to "get our brakes fixed." God is calling us into greater opportunity and accountability in ministry. The arena in which He desires to use us requires a higher level of trust and obedience than we have ever known. Those who do not accept the discipline of the Holy Spirit in the area of patience and self-control cannot be released into the "greater works" Jesus promised we would do in His name.
