The Lord is the same in our yesterdays, in this our day, and in our forever.
One of the most well-known dreams in scripture is Joseph's, but as the Lord promised He will share visions, dreams, and prophesy with His children in these times as well as times past.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out
of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams:" Acts 2:17 (KJV)
When thinking of some of my personal dream experiences in life, I noticed a similarity with Joseph's in one aspect. The Lord did not reveal the totality of future experiences. I saw the blessings in later life, and not the struggles, hardship, hatred, and heartache which I must endure before experiencing those things which seemed ever so amazing and beyond my wildest imagination.
Joseph saw his future blessing of family leadership and respect. When he shared this dream with his siblings, their hateful response resulted in starting the very events which brought about the fruition of this dream.
If the Lord revealed a future key event in your life which might have a seemingly negative event in the short-term, how would you handle it.
Would you try changing the course of your history? Judah and the rest of Josephs' brothers tried changing his future, and this is what eventually brought about history. The Lord knows our hearts, and how we will react before the very thoughts that bring about the behaviors occur.
I have seen such an event in my life. While playing high-school football, I dreamed of a critical play sequence a few days before a game. It played within my mind in what seemed a few moments before waking one morning before school.
I was playing a five technique which is on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle. As I saw the tackle whom I was playing against approach the line, he gave the guard who plays one position inside of him a glance and possibly made a slight hand gesture. At the snap of the ball, I was caught unaware when they executed a cross-block. The guard caught me below my knees moving me a yard or so away from my starting position, and the tackle double teamed the defensive nose-tackle with the center. This formed a lane which one could drive a herd of elephants through. This was a pivotal play in the game.
Also, in the dream sequence, I saw my coach watching the game's film with a recruiter whom I had never met, but had seen on campus when he recruited a defensive back for a college team in the previous year. The recruiter seemed disappointed in my performance upon seeing me beaten so badly on this play, and decided against pursuing me as a college player. The dream contained a few more details which might have resulted in me simply following the flow of the dream, but when the deja vu experience occurred on the field my mind was so focused on winning the game and not the long-term outcome which might have placed me in my primary choice for college studies. So, I played the cross-block perfectly tying up a couple of linemen which gave us a freeman who could make the play. If my memory serves me correctly, we won that game. And, I was also offered a division one football scholarship the next Spring. And, this attempted interference with the outcome of that small instance of "dreamed fate" resulted in other dreams which I had near that time being realized.
And, in all honesty, I do not know why the Lord would have thought enough of me that He would bring about the realization of some of the dreams of my late adolescence which offered me the most hope for my future. I was much like Paul, a rather outspoken opponent of "religion". At the time, I was rather focused on the imperfection of mankind and the seemingly lackadaisical approach most of us have with faith. Many of us are "summatime" believers. Summatime we act like we believe and love Him; Summatime we do not.
We lack consistency and rarely make an effort at it. In my immaturity, lack of serious, focused scriptural study, and limited life's experiences, I saw this as a flaw of faith when this is truly a failing of our own. Most of us are not really searching for Him, but we will perform those acts which are socially acceptable and expected of us. Token religious practice is one of those. Yet, Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door will be answered.
But, He blessed me despite of me and my failings. He doused the flames of fire that my unbridled tongue had set in my life, and He set me on a path that was rough, uneven, and thorny at times, but I am a much stronger believer at this age than I saw myself being in that dream about the cross-block had I not played it well. For, if I had blown the play, I would have attended my dream school on the West Coast with an academic scholarship and studied my favorite subject which was physics at the time. In the dream, I had earned a professorship in their department and was focused on winning all the elite prizes in the discipline with unconventional views on field's theoretical foundations. I was basically a faithless fool fantasizing about making Star Trek a reality and not the full establishment of His Kingdom. That last statement is not a scathing criticism or rebuke of all physicist or scientist, for that matter. It was where I saw myself in life had it taken another route.
I could try enumerating my blessings over the past few decades in this weblog, but the entire Internet lacks the storage space. And, it likely always will. But, as I said early, the end parts of my life's journey seemed incredibly peaceful, spiritually rich, and beautiful in that dream. In fact, they say that one will never find the end of a rainbow. But, during this year's rainy season numerous rainbows were spotted in the city of my residence. This includes a few double ones. And, after one rain shower, I came home and found a small ten foot rainbow with it base terminating in front of my doorway. Life is sweet. Not perfect by carnal standards, but approaching a spiritual perfection. The lifestyle of a believer is quite beautiful when it is lived with sincerity and zeal. With that said, I have had a few "cistern" experiences along the way. But, what has become of this dreamer and his dreams!
As the old gospel song says,
"I've had some good days
I've had some hills to climb
I've had some weary days
And some lonely nights
But when I look around and I think
Things over...all of my good days,
They outweigh my weary days - I won't complain
Sometimes my clouds hang low
I can hardly see the road
I ask the question-"Lord...Why so much pain?"
But He knows what's best for me
Although my weary eyes cannot see
And I say, Thank you Lord - I won't complain...
He dries all my tears away
Turn my dark nights into days
And I say, Thank you Lord - I won't complain...
God has been good to me
He's been so good to me
Better than you or this old world could ever be
He's been so good, He's been so good to me...
He dries all my tears away
Turn my dark nights into days
And I say, Thank you Lord...
When my friends turn their backs on me, Thank you, Lord
When the bills are due, Thank you, Lord
In the midnight hour, Thank you, Lord
I won't complain"
Above all in this life, know that the Creator has a plan and purpose for you!
Stay Forever Blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment