When God Gives a Dream

“You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.” Psalms 73:24 

Many of us know Dr. Martin Luther King’s most famous speech, “I Have a Dream.” Originally, that was not what it was called. This is an amazing little piece of history that you may not know. It has been called the greatest speech of the 20th century. When Martin Luther King stood and spoke at the Washington Monument, it moved the nation and the world.  But here’s the amazing part. At 4:00 am that morning, he released the speech, word for word, to the press. He would give the speech later that afternoon. It was very common that the media got the speech ahead of time so they could prepare for the newspaper articles. 

So he got up and began to speak, and for 12 minutes, he presented the speech that he had pre-submitted word for word. Then, all of a sudden, after 12 minutes – you can hear it in his voice – something shifts. He goes off script. He had not intended to include his dream in the speech that afternoon, nor did he have it in his notes. But something shifted in him, and he said, “I have a dream.” This part of the speech became famous and would go down in history. 

So what happened? The rest of the story is about Mahalia Jackson singing two songs that day. The last song she sang before he gave the speech was “How I Made it Over.” Dr. King was reading along for 12 minutes, and Mahalia Jackson leaned in and said something to him. Right in the middle of his message, she said, “Tell them about the dream, Martin.” There, he paused and then went off script with, “I have a dream.”  

Proverbs 16:9 says, “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” There may come a day when God interrupts your carefully made plans and whispers a dream into your ear. When that happens, make sure to yield to His leading. You never know what could happen next.

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