Olympians dream of gold medals. Busy moms dream of quiet privacy to relax for five minutes without cleaning ketchup off the dog. Oh, and I just took a dream vacation in the beautiful state of California.

Dreaming is our way of connecting with the ideal. 

Jacob had a dream, but it was more than Jacob’s dream. It was God’s dream for Jacob, who had tricked his brother, lied to his father, and was running away from home. 

Does God dream about you? If so, what’s his ideal for you? What does he want from you more than anything?

Jacob’s dream has the answers: “He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:12). Jacob wasn’t thinking about God. Jacob wasn’t calling out for help from God. Jacob didn’t even say his bedtime prayers. 

But God was thinking about Jacob. God was coming to help.

God’s ideal for you is not that you accomplish better obedience, not that you ascend the religious ladder and climb to heaven. What God dreams about as he thinks of you is keeping all his promises. 

Even when—in weak moments of little faith—you’re not asking, not looking, not thinking of him, not praying as much as you should. No conditions. No condemnation. God is your ideal.