February 12, 2024
Meditations
This is all an attempt to keep me consistent in my writing every day, so I hope you can bear with me.
In today’s message in Our Daily Bread, the writer shares about a dream he had about two friends who died in accidents a year apart from each other. In his dream these two ladies were preparing a lavish wedding feast. Apparently one of them was the bride, and when the writer asked who the groom was, he didn’t get an answer… But as he was waking up, he had a good idea of who it was; He whispered, ‘The Groom is Jesus’… and I’m assuming that he had the wedding feast of the Lamb in the book of Revelation in mind.
Speaking of dreaming, I’m reminded of those dreams we have that leave us with such impact, that we actually remember them – compared to 95% percent (my rough estimate) of dreams we forget soon as we open our eyes. They are not just so engrained in our minds, but in our hearts as well; much so, that oftentimes these dreams have us waking up laughing, or crying.
I remember a dream of mine way back when my Dad was still alive.. Apparently I was in death row for some reason, and they were seeing me off before my execution. It was tough saying goodbye to them. There was that other dream where I figured into an accident – one far worse than the one I experienced more than a month ago… And there were real feelings of grief, and terror. But in both cases, you could imagine my great relief when I realized it they were just dreams.
I could go on about dreams I’ve had where I woke up smiling, sighing, and outright laughing… but they’re a little more on the personal side, and if I’m honest, I don’t think I want to ‘jinx’ them by broadcasting them.
Now, this dream that the writer had? I could imagine he was just smiling as he was waking up and whispering. And who wouldn’t be smiling at such a nice dream? For, see, unlike these already rare memorable dreams that are still open to interpretation, this dream was especially rare, considering that we already know the meaning.
But here’s the thing. It’s a pleasant thing, to dream. They’re nice.. IF they happen. But what’s even better to have is hope… anticipation of the good, not IF, but WHEN it happens.
The dreams we have when we sleep, or the scenarios we actively play in our head, as in day dreaming – these are most often than not based on our desires, and are ultimately borne from our hearts and minds; Past experiences, present circumstances, and future concerns and expectations may play a role, but the bottom line is we’re the ones doing the dreaming – and even if it is a prophetic sort of dream (which is subject to criticism and cynicism), any images and scenes we claim to vividly remember still pass through our minds, and our memories.
Not so, with hope – if we’re to talk about desire, dreams may have their foundation on our desires, but the hope we have in Christ is this: Just as His finished work secures our past and present, so we know that He guarantees our future to be just as secure. Just as good – and all according to His infinite and eternal desires, compared to our limited and finite ‘wants’.
Because of Christ, we aren’t left to speculation. The hope we have in Him and through Him is a real and solid hope, infinitely superior to any dream our human minds can conjure. And this hope we have is as Scripture describes – among other things, it is an anchor to our souls.
There’s no need for us to subject that to interpretation; the Hope we have in Christ keeps us together, plain and simple. The Hope we have in Christ keeps us standing firm, no matter how hard the winds blow, or no matter how the waters slam against us.
The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue.
Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Psalms 33:16-22
As we go through these Scriptures, let us always remember that we shouldn’t be placing our hope, much less our dependence and confidence on what we have, and who we are allied to. As we spoke of in Psalm 20, it’s not just trust, but we also shouldn’t be placing our hope in anything within creation (‘some trust in horses’), or anything we ourselves have created (‘some trust in chariots’). We’re reminded here, that just as we place our trust in His name, so we also place our hope in Him – and, apparently, not just Him, but in His steadfast love – the same love which we discussed is more than a conceptual, theoretical love; His steadfast love is consequently not limited to a list of things we should and shouldn’t do… Lest we forget, we couldn’t talk about God’s love without talking about Jesus Christ! So this implies that when we say we hope in His steadfast love, what we’re really saying, in light of the New Covenant, is that we are placing our hope in no less than the Son of God, Jesus Christ Himself!
So see here, we’ve gone far beyond mere dreaming – By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to place our hope in His steadfast love, indeed; but let us not be surprised if, (1) just as Christ is the Author and Finisher of our Faith, He is the One who establishes the Hope within us, and (2) Christ, who is our Hope, points us to God, who loves us with an Everlasting Love – which leads us back to Christ. More than a dream come true, He IS the Truth.
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#Reflections #Revelations #Dreams #Hope #JesusChrist #Bible #Psalms #TrustInTheLord #2024YearOfTrust #BenefitsOfSalvation #PracticalChristianity
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