Waking From a Dream

You know that feeling when you have slept well and it is time to wake up. Slowly your mind begins to come out of an alternative consciousness, realizing the real world is waiting. At times you cling to the dream state - wanting to stay in a state of rest and the idealistic world of pleasant dreams that is so far removed from reality.

Then there are those times you run toward the light of reality. Plagued by restless sleep and disturbing dreams, reality is much more attractive than that "sleep of death".

How often life it like that!  We have periods of unrealistic euphoria, where life is lived through rose colored glasses.  We push away anything that may remind us that life isn't always as idealistic as we feel it is. We are teenagers in love, only able to see how wonderful things are, and unwilling to see fault or upcoming pitfalls.

Life can also be a very bad dream.  When everything seems covered in a hazy mist, or oppressive fog, of pain, hurt, betrayal, and sin. We can't see what is in front of us. Light struggles to get through so we live in a world of darkness and shadows. We yearn for the light, but fear what it will reveal. We "rather bear those ills we have/ Than fly to others we know not of".  At times we try to move the fog on our own, believing we caused it so it is our duty to make it go away. Other times we lash out at the injustice of others placing that fog around us,  yelling "Its not fair!" and expecting that a just God would remove it all. Then there are those most dark of times when we just want to give in to the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and instead of "by opposing, end them" we are ready "to die, to sleep".

So often the church's response to those times makes them more difficult. We are told to fight our Goliaths with the faith of David; to search our hearts for the sin that so easily entangles and through repentance break the chains of sin and darkness. There are platitudes of "just keep looking up" and "keep on your knees praying". Much like Polonius's speech to his departing son in Shakespeare's Hamlet, while full of wonderful and true wisdom, they miss the mark. They are like the ghost king, telling us to fight a battle that is not ours, with strength and wisdom we do not have.

No matter what the cause or situation, those darkest of times will never be solved by any work of our own. When overcome with darkness, we know are incapable of fighting our Goliaths. Many times there aren't even Goliaths to be fought, but fiery furnaces to be endured! Our own sin clouds our view of itself. We can't look up because we can't see and we can not pray because there are no words.

"I am the light of the world" There is only one way out of those dark times - God. He is the only One who can see through the darkness of sin. He is the only One with the strength to fight our Goliaths. He is the only One who can withstand the fiery furnace. He is the only One with the words to express what our hearts yearn for. Only He has the faith to move mountains.

And He loves us so much, that He does all those things for us! He gives us His strength and His weapons to fight Goliath. He wraps us with his protection to endure the furnace. The Holy Spirit prays for us when words fail. His Son took on all our sin, paid for them and has given us His righteousness.

So if you are in one of those times of complete darkness, when all seems hopeless, and you feel utterly powerless, be encouraged. Though you cannot see, you cannot speak, you cannot hear - God is doing it all. He is carrying you. He is fighting the battles. He has forgiven the sin. He is the light and He is there working, powerful and active even if you can't see it.

He is bringing you out of that terrible dream. Keep fighting knowing He is doing the battle. Keep

enduring, knowing He is your protection. Keep praying, knowing He has the words and already knows your heart. Keep looking up, because He is lifting your head.

Unlike Hamlet, we are not stuck in a tragedy. Our journey does not end in an "undiscovered country, from whose bourn/No traveller returns". When we awake from this dream, it is to find ourselves wrapped in life and light, in the arms of One who has prepared for us "more than we can ask or imagine" because He defeated the darkness and came back to take us home.

And I know.....because He is doing it for me!