Everlasting God / Chris Tomlin
Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord,I also woke from A DREAM: I had not had my music lessons in several weeks, so I tried to call the music teacher at the last minute to schedule a lesson. Nonetheless, I was calling from what looked like a pay phone that had lots of instructions and the numbers were really small so I had to remove my glasses to read them up close.
We will wait upon the Lord…
Our God You reign forever
Our hope, Our strong deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint, You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eaglesGod,
You are everlasting
My first attempt at calling ended up with me sending a cable gram and then I tried again and this time I got through, only it was right at the time that the lesson should start. I had just woken up and I hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet, so I grabbed a bite of a pre-packaged cake.
My daughter-in-law’s father (and maybe his wife, too) showed up somewhere in here while I was trying to reach the music teacher and/or to find the books, but that part is really fuzzy.
When the music teacher came over and saw me eating that cake, she frowned on my choice of food. I said I knew I needed to eat better. Then, I had trouble finding the music books. I eventually found them in a stack of books on a table just outside a bedroom door, I believe. They were with some other books between book ends.
Then, the music teacher asked me about some papers, maybe that had my lessons written on them, so I went looking for those and found them in another stack somewhere that was kind of messy. I told her I used to be really good at filing but that I had gotten slack about that. Then, she made some suggestions about that.
Somewhere in all of this there was a group of people sitting in a balcony in a stadium who formed a human butterfly. I believe this was happening while I was still trying to phone my music teacher. END I closed my eyes to pray about this, and immediately I saw the face of Bill Clinton. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
I read Isaiah 51:17-52:15: The Cup of the LORD's Wrath
17 Awake, awake!
Rise up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD
the cup of his wrath,
you who have drained to its dregs
the goblet that makes men stagger.
18 Of all the sons she bore
there was none to guide her;
of all the sons she reared
there was none to take her by the hand.
19 These double calamities have come upon you—
who can comfort you?—
ruin and destruction, famine and sword—
who can console you?
20 Your sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street,
like antelope caught in a net.
They are filled with the wrath of the LORD
and the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one,
made drunk, but not with wine.
22 This is what your Sovereign LORD says,
your God, who defends his people:
"See, I have taken out of your hand
the cup that made you stagger;
from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
you will never drink again.
23 I will put it into the hands of your tormentors,
who said to you,
'Fall prostrate that we may walk over you.'
And you made your back like the ground,
like a street to be walked over."
Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake, O Zion,
clothe yourself with strength.
Put on your garments of splendor,
O Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
O captive Daughter of Zion.
3 For this is what the LORD says:
"You were sold for nothing,
and without money you will be redeemed."
4 For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
"At first my people went down to Egypt to live;
lately, Assyria has oppressed them.
5 "And now what do I have here?" declares the LORD.
"For my people have been taken away for nothing,
and those who rule them mock, "
declares the LORD.
"And all day long
my name is constantly blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people will know my name;
therefore in that day they will know
that it is I who foretold it.
Yes, it is I."
7 How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy.
When the LORD returns to Zion,
they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Burst into songs of joy together,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD will lay bare his holy arm
in the sight of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see
the salvation of our God.
11 Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing!
Come out from it and be pure,
you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
12 But you will not leave in haste
or go in flight;
for the LORD will go before you,
the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
My Understanding: I am personifying America in this dream and the Music Teacher is the Holy Spirit. America has lost touch with the Lord – it sounds like a time of mourning because of “double calamities.” And, the Lord is calling upon America to wake up and to call the music teacher for lessons (hard lessons, perhaps) so that she can learn how to “sing”, i.e. rejoice in the Lord again.
Her sons, i.e. our leaders, such as Bill Clinton (speaking at the DNC tonight), have not given her guidance. I think the picture here is that Bill Clinton is “falling prostrate” so that the Obama camp can walk over him, so in essence, Bill is not taking America by the hand to help her. God’s wrath is going to come upon America, but then he will have mercy and he will turn on her tormentors.
Then, I see the people forming the human butterfly as a symbol of the church in America putting on garments of splendor and freeing herself from the chains around her neck, for she trusts in Jesus Christ as her redeemer, not man. The “human butterfly” is thus a symbol of the church in America coming out of that cocoon she’s in and being free, bursting into songs of joy together, and bringing forth the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment