Daily Devotions
Psalms
Psalm 73:20a "As a dream when one awakes..."
Day 22 – Psalm 73
“As a dream when one awakes…” Psalm 73:20a
THE DREAM IMAGERY
The dream imagery was employed to describe how the psalmist Asaph understood God.
“As a dream when one awakes,
So, Lord, when You awake,
You shall despise their image.”
Psalm 73:20
1. “As a dream when one awakes”
a) This phrase informs us that Asaph was using an imagery.
b) Dreams can appear to be very real and gripping.
c) But dreams come to an end when one awakes.
2. “So, Lord, when You awake”
a) What this does not mean.
i) It does not mean that God was sleeping.
ii) It does not mean that God was dreaming.
iii) It does not mean that God needed to wake up from His sleep.
iv) Psalm 121:3-4 remind us that God does not slumber in His watching over His people.
b) What it means.
i) This is only an imagery.
ii) Asaph was describing a time when God did not answer his prayer immediately.
iii) The gap of time before God answered him was described by an imagery of sleeping and dreaming.
3. “You shall despise their image”
God will not honour the “image” that the wicked had created for themselves. God will despise their image because it was characterised by wickedness.