Yesterday morning I woke up and remembered a pretty vivid dream that I had the night before. It actually was pretty scary and I felt the emotions of fear, trembling, and anxiety that I had experienced in my dream. What followed my awakening is what got my attention, so I wanted to record it here. It went something like this:
I was out in the countryside. It was becoming dark...almost dusk. I saw a farmhouse in the distance. To get there I needed to cross a big field that was more like a fallow crop field. I was worried that it was getting dark and I wouldn't make it before it got dark outside. In the distance I saw what looked like a coyote or wolf so I started running across the field to get to the house. Before I could get there, it became pitch dark and what appeared as one creature now became a pack of wolves. There were too many to count. I started screaming and yelling...thinking that if I imitate a creature bigger than myself they might be intimidated. However, every time I turned around one came at me from another direction snarling and gnashing its teeth. I was terrified. Eventually, somehow I made it inside the house. From inside I watched the wolves attack a deer and tear it to bits. But out of no where came a large lion...a large male lion... who roared and then ripped those wolves apart with one attempt. I was scared, but I knew I was safe inside the house. I wondered where that lion had come from...but thought, thank God he is here and I am safe inside. I woke up to the alarm.
After waking, I started my usual morning routine. I stumbled to the kitchen, started up the coffee, put in my contacts and made my breakfast. I had remembered the dream, but not all the components. I mostly remembered the wolves and my fear. My usual routine, once my breakfast is made, is to sit down with my coffee and read my daily bible reading on One-Year-Bible-Online. This year I am reading through the message and each day's reading has an old test/new test/psalms/proverbs selection. This was part of what I read :
Luke 10:
Lambs in a Wolf Pack
1-2Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge: "What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.
3"On your way! But be careful—this is hazardous work. You're like lambs in a wolf pack.
Psalm 74:
You walked off and left us, and never looked back. God, how could you do that?
We're your very own sheep.....
Mark and remember, God, all the enemy
taunts, each idiot desecration.
Don't throw your lambs to the wolves;
after all we've been through, don't forget us.
Remember your promises;
the city is in darkness, the countryside violent.
Don't leave the victims to rot in the street;
make them a choir that sings your praises.
22-23 On your feet, O God—
stand up for yourself!
Do you hear what they're saying about you,
all the vile obscenities?
Don't tune out their malicious filth,
the brawling invective that never lets up.
Coincidence? You decide. But when I told my family, we decided my dream was a vision from God. He wants us to know that He is real, He is alive, and He is our security. Why do I say this? Because right now my family is facing some pretty mean looking wolves who are threatening to devour us. They are trying to threaten our faith because they are challenging all the things that in this life we want to have security in...our finances, our health, our ability to provide for ourselves. I think God was telling me that any attempts that I have done to make myself seem "bigger" than my fears, are just a facade. My real security comes from the fact that I can run into the house of the Lord and then and only then will he arrive just in time to fight my battles for me. I think he wanted us to know that right before the darkest hour, he is going to show up. We need to know that. God, please show up.
My dream reminded me of a popular song right now by Newsboys, "Our God's Not Dead". The lyrics repeat:
Our gods not dead he's surely alive
He's living on the inside roaring like a lion
He's roaring he's roaring he's roaring like a lion
Let hope arise and make the darkness hide
When faith is dead I need a resurrection
Some how
And I'm lost in your freedom
And this world I've overcome
By gods not dead he is surely alive
He is living on the inside roaring like a lion
Our gods not dead he is surely alive
He's living on the inside roaring like a lion
He's roaring he is roaring he's roaring like a lion
He's roaring he is roaring he's roaring like a lion
