Put too much Nescafe Gold in a mug around 6ish yesterday evening, and I paid the consequences by having not-so deep sleep throughout the night. At around 3-4am the sound of metal hitting the floor woke me up, and when I checked, it was our involuntary ‘indoor’ cat who was to blame – he swatted out the metal cover to the rice cooker, still hungry and looking for something to eat.
I tried sleeping again after putting the rice, pot and all, into the fridge, going number one and having a glass of water… But by then the morning roosters began their ‘alarm’ symphony, and all I ended up doing was just closing my eyes, praying and thinking of random stuff, trying to doze off in vain.
Throughout all of this I was also resorting to the potent combo of blue-light blocking glasses and reading God Emperor of Dune… only this time it wasn’t so potent because I finished the book through the night.
With that said, here were some thoughts:
- I’m one of those folks who think that it wasn’t Zendaya playing Chani in the Villanueve versions of the Dune movies…. no, it was more like just Zendaya. Same face and character as in all the movies she’s in. BUT before you go ahead and compose a 5-page long seething complaint about my opinion, I will say this – Approaching the end of God Emperor of Dune, she would definitely have played a good Siona instead.
- With that said, I was thinking of Jason Momoa whenever Duncan Idaho was mentioned. Now there’s a decent casting.
- On to the deepest thought that popped up through the night: The entire ‘account’ and approach presented in this novel set literally thousands of years after the events of Dune: Messiah and even Children of Dune further validates one of my favorite lines, that one by Francis Bacon, to be precise: Reading makes a full man, speaking makes a ready man, and writing makes a precise man. In the case of Leto Atreides II, writing, or journaling to be precise, makes a remarkable man.
- I’m not one for leaving a legacy, considering that the only legacy I wish to leave in case I depart before Christ comes back, is, well, Christ. But from this book I learned of the extremely long-spanning impact of meaningful writing (over all other sorts of achievements), to the right people, that has the potential of lasting, again, literally thousands of years after we pass away.
- It also reminds me that, sure, there’s always going to be value in journaling and posting these reflections, but surely we can go deeper.
- That’s what she said.
- With all that said, I believe I’m on the right track just writing. It’s not earning me any money, and I’m actually spending to keep things updated, but I believe the pros will always outweigh the cons. Also, I believe the value of writing compounds.
- Anything else? Well, there’s something to be said about living in the moment, there’s also some deep thought meant in imagining living forever; but what if we were given 3000 more years to live? There’s something totally different to be said about that too, huh? And even then, we would be subject to changes that happen only through that long period of time, specifically.
- One common denominator of it all is that we appreciate the value and terrifying power of time. As someone in the Fallout TV series pointed out, time is the greatest superweapon. For us mere mortals we ought to be more thankful for the time that we do have.
- After seeing the events of Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune, I believe Leto Atreides II was fully aware of everything that was going to happen to him; the prescience he had actually gave him all the possibilities and the actual certainties – one of them being him losing his humanity through the decades and centuries (not really a spoiler if you’ve been following Dune fan pages and seeing Dune memes).
- With this in mind I believe that Christ also was aware of how His finished work would impact Him, but still, in His perfect love for the world, from the everlasting love the Father has for Him, I believe He thought it was worth enduring all immediate pain and eternal implications, if it meant the redemption, reconciliation and righteousness of all who would believe.
That’s all for now, I guess. I might go straight to Heretics of Dune, but part of me wants to sort of flip through the pages of God Emperor of Dune one more time – there were a lot of quotable quotes from that read, mostly from Leto Atreides II.
In this fictional account, the people of Arrakis and the rest of the conquered universe called its Emperor their God, and took all the words he journaled into account, much so that people still talk of his Golden Path thousands of years after his reign, which also lasted thousands of years.
Makes me think – Christ not only existed but reigns in eternity, where thousands of years seem infinitesimal; His Words, therefore, do not merely have great value within the confines of sheer lengths of time – no, only an infinite Christ has words with infinite value. His Words are not just deep and far-reaching – they are Spirit and Life.
As we continue reading through His Word, may we see more of this infinite value.
Thank You, Jesus, for the reading of Your Word.
Psalm 69 is another really long composition, so I’m just going to get a chunk off of it:
16 Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.
17 And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in trouble; Hear me speedily.
18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies.
19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You.
20 Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Coming from reading the fictional account of a guy who lived and ruled for three thousand years, to now reading the psalm of one of the more ‘finite’ kings of Israel forces me back to reality, ‘zooming in’ concerns more immediate. I am actually humbled, especially nowadays, where so much can happen and impact us in the span of just one day… those 24 hours don’t seem so ‘little’ as composed in that song originally composed in Spanish, by María Grever.
Not only are things happening in increasing quantity, but in quality/value/meaningfulness/overall impact. We’re talking here and now about what’s going on in the Middle East, how it’s hitting us here so many miles away from the conflict, and, unfortunately for most of us it’s a question of who to blame… but now that I mentioned it, for us in the body of Christ, it’s frankly more of who to trust during these times.
But I’m also mentioning all this if only to point out that verses 16-21 were words originally written by David, but were a foreshadowing of the suffering of One who would eventually come from his bloodline centuries, kingdoms and generations later; I assume David was speaking figuratively in his case, but they literally gave Christ bitter wine or literally vinegar to drink at the cross.
I say all of this, only to emphasize that Christ had the entire world happen to Him in the span of one day, in the hours of His torture and crucifixion; Therefore, we can trust Him who endured all this, in these escalated times and days.
I hope that makes sense.
22 Let their table become a snare before them, And their well-being a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; And make their loins shake continually.
24 Pour out Your indignation upon them, And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.
25 Let their dwelling place be desolate; Let no one live in their tents.
26 For they persecute the ones You have struck, And talk of the grief of those You have wounded.
27 Add iniquity to their iniquity, And let them not come into Your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous.
See the infinite impact of our infinite Savior; It’ll already take us a lifetime and eternity to speak of our reconciliation, to revel in our redemption, and to enjoy our righteousness… But here, we see so much more of what it means.
At the cross, the enemy of our souls, the deceiver was defeated. While our Good Shepherd prepares a table before us while they can only gnash their teeth, so much more is happening: their tables became a snare for them, and their well-being became a trap for them. I’m led to remember Tom Hardy as Bane, accompanying his physical breaking of Christian Bale’s Batman with a mental beatdown, with that classic line: ‘peace has cost you your strength, victory has defeated you’.
At the cross, their eyes were darkened, and their loins shake continually. At the cross, the Father’s indignation has been poured out upon them, and their wrathful anger has taken hold of them.
See what we’re doing here? We’re seeing just how much our God fights for us, and just how completely defeated and humiliated Satan is.
By the finished work of Christ, his dwelling places are desolate, and no one lives in his tents. Iniquity has been added to his iniquity, and he is not allowed to come into God’s righteousness.
At the cross, Christ cried out, ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken me!?‘
At the empty tomb, the enemy was confirmed to not be written with the righteous. Our names remain in the book of the living, while his name is blotted out.
29 But I am poor and sorrowful; Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bull, Which has horns and hooves.
32 The humble shall see this and be glad; And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.
33 For the LORD hears the poor, And does not despise His prisoners.
34 Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion And build the cities of Judah, That they may dwell there and possess it.
36 Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it, And those who love His name shall dwell in it.Psalm 69:16-36
The enemy is completely defeated. Satan has been made into Christ’s footstool. We have been brought into victory and the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, Jesus Christ.
Because of Christ and His finished work, God’s salvation has set us up on high.
Indeed, we join heaven and earth in praising Him, and we join the seas and all in the waters in magnifying Him with thanksgiving! We have been humbled by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and it us left us glad; For by the power of the same Holy Spirit we have sought the Lord, we have found Him, and our hearts have been made alive in Him!
Through all this, we’ve declared that our God is our Refuge, our Strength and our Fortress; Here, we also see it is fit and good for us to count on the Lord to be our Dwelling Place, sure as He is our Inheritance!
Through all that is going on, no matter how quick the passage of time, and no matter how things are happening… we shall continue to be still, and know that God is who He says He is;
We shall continue to dwell on His Word, and be brought fresh revelations from His Spirit, accompanied with fresh ‘slices’ of Life.
God is our Way Maker. He is our Miracle Worker. He is our Promise Keeper. He is our Light in the Darkness. He is our Refuge, He is our Strength, He is our Fortress; He is also our Dwelling Place, and He is our Inheritance.
We know He is working in all of the burdens we cast upon Him, and He works as we run to His throne of grace in our time of need. Here, we also see much more of what happened when He was born, when He died and rose again, and when He ascended to heaven, returning to the reality of eternity.
We are still, and we shall continue to trust and depend on Christ, whose victory for us is complete; Christ, whose victory over the enemy was absolute!
All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all!
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown him Lord of all!
O seed of Israel’s chosen race
now ransomed from the fall,
hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all!
Hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all!
Let every tongue and every tribe
responsive to his call,
to him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all!
To him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all!
Let us continue to flow with the Spirit, all the while trusting in Christ, and thanking our Father.
God bless us all.
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