Those Were the Days

Tuesday, October 07, 2008, 8:11 a.m. – I woke to this song in my head:

Days of Wine and Roses / Henry Mancini

The days of wine and roses laugh and run away like a child at play
Through a meadow land toward a closing door
A door marked "nevermore" that wasn't there before

The lonely night discloses just a passing breeze filled with memories
Of the golden smile that introduced me to
The days of wine and roses and you

I also woke from A DREAM: I know that at the end of the dream, either my daughter or my sister (these two often blend together in my dreams) was telling a story about a wedding she attended. She had pictures she was showing us. I opened an envelope with negatives only first and then I opened an envelope with pictures and negatives. I looked at the pictures as she told the story.

She was complaining about something in relation to the wedding, and the dream cut off with me stating something to the effect that she always had an excuse for something. END

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Lamentations 1:1-17:

Jerusalem, once so full of people,
is now deserted.
She who was once great among the nations
now sits alone like a widow.
Once the queen of all the earth,
she is now a slave.
2 She sobs through the night;
tears stream down her cheeks.
Among all her lovers,
there is no one left to comfort her.
All her friends have betrayed her
and become her enemies.
3 Judah has been led away into captivity,
oppressed with cruel slavery.
She lives among foreign nations
and has no place of rest.
Her enemies have chased her down,
and she has nowhere to turn.
4 The roads to Jerusalem are in mourning,
for crowds no longer come to celebrate the festivals.
The city gates are silent,
her priests groan,
her young women are crying—
how bitter is her fate!
5 Her oppressors have become her masters,
and her enemies prosper,
for the Lord has punished Jerusalem
for her many sins.
Her children have been captured
and taken away to distant lands.
6 All the majesty of beautiful Jerusalem
has been stripped away.
Her princes are like starving deer
searching for pasture.
They are too weak to run
from the pursuing enemy.

7 In the midst of her sadness and wandering,
Jerusalem remembers her ancient splendor.
But now she has fallen to her enemy,
and there is no one to help her.
Her enemy struck her down
and laughed as she fell.
8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly,
so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag.
All who once honored her now despise her,
for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated.
All she can do is groan
and hide her face.
9 She defiled herself with immorality
and gave no thought to her future.
Now she lies in the gutter
with no one to lift her out.
“Lord, see my misery,” she cries.
“The enemy has triumphed.”
10 The enemy has plundered her completely,
taking every precious thing she owns.
She has seen foreigners violate her sacred Temple,
the place the Lord had forbidden them to enter.
11 Her people groan as they search for bread.
They have sold their treasures for food to stay alive.
“O Lord, look,” she mourns,
“and see how I am despised.
12 “Does it mean nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Look around and see if there is any suffering like mine,
which the Lord brought on me
when he erupted in fierce anger.

13 “He has sent fire from heaven that burns in my bones.
He has placed a trap in my path and turned me back.
He has left me devastated,
racked with sickness all day long.
14 “He wove my sins into ropes
to hitch me to a yoke of captivity.
The Lord sapped my strength and turned me over to my enemies;
I am helpless in their hands.
15 “The Lord has treated my mighty men
with contempt.
At his command a great army has come
to crush my young warriors.
The Lord has trampled his beloved city
like grapes are trampled in a winepress.
16 “For all these things I weep;
tears flow down my cheeks.
No one is here to comfort me;
any who might encourage me are far away.
My children have no future,
for the enemy has conquered us.”
17 Jerusalem reaches out for help,
but no one comforts her.
Regarding his people Israel,
the Lord has said,
“Let their neighbors be their enemies!
Let them be thrown away like a filthy rag!”

My Understanding: My daughter usually symbolizes the church in America, in particular, and my sister is living among foreigners, so in combining the two together, the Lord is showing the church (his people) in America living under the rule of foreigners because of their sins.

The wedding is a picture of when things were good here in America, but now with the financial crisis looming over our heads, many people are complaining. The “negatives” represent “negatives”, i.e. bad stuff, I believe. Then, the negatives plus pictures represent memories of good things in the past, when things went well, but also lamenting over our present conditions.

I have a sense that a specific news story will soon emerge to go along with this dream, especially how it ended with the people making excuses. I do see that our political leaders are very good at the “making excuses” category, but the Lord used my daughter here to represent his daughter. This sounds like “passing the buck” or the “blame game” where the people do not take responsibility for what is happening.

The truth of the matter is that all this financial crisis, though certainly the fault of many, was allowed by God as an instrument of judgment on our nation, and in particular the apostate church here in America because of our many sins against God – spiritual adultery, idolatry, man followers instead of followers of God, disobedient, forsaken our first love, false teaching, i.e. putting “band-aids” on serious wounds and treating them as though they are not serious, i.e. easy-believism, etc.

“Making excuses” for everything has to do with us blaming everyone but ourselves for this present financial crisis in America. The purpose of this is to get us to return to God; to return to our first love; to bow the knee to God in humility and repentance and to seek God’s face.

“The Lord is right,” Jerusalem says,
“for I rebelled against him…
Lord, see my anguish!
My heart is broken
and my soul despairs,
for I have rebelled against you (Lamentations 1:18a, 20a).