7 Scriptures to Help with Nightmares

What a nightmare!Sometimes, that phrase is used metaphorically for a terrifying or unpleasant experience. When my favorite team, the Kansas City Royals, lost 106 out of 162 games in 2023, we could rightly call it a nightmare season. We also use this phrase to talk about someone who is unpleasant.More often than not, though, we use this phrase to talk about our unpleasant dreams. Some people are afflicted with chronic night terrors. Most of us simply have bad dreams that become difficult to shake. Do they have any deeper meaning? What do we do if we find ourselves battling nightmares? Are there Scripture passages which might help us in working through these?As we answer those questions, we will begin by looking at the origin of the phrase "nightmare."Where Did the Phrase "Nightmare" Come From?When you think of the word "mare," you likely picture a female horse. Or you are really bad at spelling and think of the elected head of your city—the mayor. But if you used the word in Old England (around the 1300-1400s), you would have thought of an evil spirit who walked on people's chests while they slept.This legend came in various forms from German, Norse, and Swedish folklore. The goblin, they believed, would attempt to suffocate sleepers and thus create bad dreams. The "night" prefix was added to signify that these disturbing experiences occurred during sleep.Thus, a "nightmare" was originally the nocturnal visit of an evil spirit. Over time, the term evolved to refer more broadly to any distressing dream that occurs during sleep. But this origin reminds us that for many centuries people believed dreams and what happened when we slept, was deeply spiritual. Is a nightmare something that comes from evil spirits? Or is it a psychological experience that points to deeper fears within our psyche? What exactly is a nightmare?Photo credit: © Getty Images/demaerre