I don't give a lot of credence to dreams, but one I had recently got me to thinking.
It was late at night. I was alone, driving in my car. I was wearing my robe and slippers. I knew I belonged somewhere, but I kept driving around in search of my home but couldn't find it. There happened to be a stranger out walking who asked if he could help me. I told him my plight - that I was searching but couldn't figure out if any of these houses I was passing was my home. I never found my home in the dream...
Daniel, who interpreted dreams for King Nebuchadnezzar, would have had a field day with this one.
Daniel knew what it was like to live as a "stranger in a foreign land." He probably would have reminded me that this world is not my home - I am merely passing through. My ultimate citizenship is in heaven.
I admit that lately, with the world being as it is, I have felt like a foreigner living in exile. I am trying to reconcile myself with this world, but I can't. My homesick heart yearns for my true home and the eternal presence of God.
In the various dreams that Daniel interprets for King Nebuchadnezzar, he warns the king against disobedience and especially against arrogant pride in glorifying himself over God. The king doesn't heed Daniel's warning and spends "seven periods" severed from his sanity, living with the wild animals, and grazing on the grass. At the end of this season, King Nebuchadnezzar is reestablished, by God, over his kingdom and he declares:
"Now I, Nebhuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of the heavens, because all his works are true and his ways are just. He is able to humble those who walk in pride." Daniel 4:27
I believe that we have forgotten the God who holds our life-breath in his hands and who controls the very course of our lives.
God continually says, "Here I am," but we continually turn away to our own devices.
We put our hope in kings and kingdoms, yet fail to humble ourselves before the King of Kings.
I could get really despondent, and allow the enemy to render me ineffective, but the Lord of Armies has given me my marching orders while I inhabit this earth. A day is coming soon when the King of Kings will return and will pronounce righteous judgment. He will wipe away every tear and will establish a new heaven and a new earth.
While we wait, my privilege is to serve others and to be a witness to God's unending faithfulness. When Christ returns to take His people home, I want there to be more citizens in heaven because I opened my mouth and bore witness to his grace and lovingkindness. I want to share a message of hope with the hopeless. This is what God calls me to do.
Even if I am a lone voice calling out in the wilderness, my job is to speak and the Holy Spirit will convict hearts. My life arrow is to always be pointing toward God.
There has never been a more apt time than this to be God's mouthpiece calling for us to love one another as we were first loved...to love others with unselfish love. We are all God-created and we are all equally loved. May God shift our perspective to see all His people through His eyes...not our own.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. I am to be about the Lord's business until He sees fit to return and gloriously usher me home.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2: 15-17
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you and praise you that this world is not my home. Thank you for making a way for me, while I was still a sinner, to be able to stand in your holy presence. I look forward, with inner joy, to the eternal home you have prepared for me. Meanwhile, give me your abiding peace and strength to persevere here on earth. Give me courage to share the hope that is within me. Let me love others in such a way that the world would see YOU, not me, and would glorify You over any earthly kings. Teach me to be obedient and humble in all that I do. Let your Word be always on my lips...so that the world may know You. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
What about you? Do you feel like a foreigner in a strange land? Do you feel a homesickness that you can't explain? Do you have hope beyond today? If so, will you share it? If not, what might God be saying to your heart? Will you share?
Be blessed...
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