How do you face the death of a dream?

Dreams that die

1 Chron 17 Being quarantined to protect ourselves from the coronavirus has been a challenge for many. Some of us have had our dreams put on hold or even terminated. This might be a good time to ask God what He is doing. Does He have a different plan for your life?

King David had a vision or a dream. It came from a pure and humble heart. There was nothing wrong with David’s dream, and there may be nothing wrong with yours. But God wants us to dream with Him. Sometimes we share our dream with those closest to us, just as David shared his with the prophet Nathan. Nathan was excited and encouraged David to commence—but then God came to Nathan with a message for David. God was not only delaying the dream, but he also was not going to fulfill it. Hearing Nathan brought David to a point where he had to make some choices about how he should respond to the “death of his dream.”  He went in and sat before the Lord humbly. How we respond shows whether our dream was ours or His. Note this lesson; God didn’t take away David’s dream. Instead, God was saying; your dream is too small. I have bigger plans for you that you can’t even imagine just as the prophet Jeremiah told the Israelites. In a nutshell, God said: I have plans to prosper you and to give you a future filled hope. {Jer 29:11 author’s thoughts}

Don’t stop listening when God says no. He usually has something far greater or bigger than you can imagine.

Jehovah Jireh Our Provider

Trust God not man

1Kings 17-19 Today people are beginning to grumble because their comfort zone has been disrupted. They have lost their trust in government officials, others, and even the God of the Bible. They just want the problem fixed which is precisely what the wicked King Ahab wanted too.  Yet God is God, and He will not share his glory with another.  To teach the evil king and queen, God will use his faithful prophet Elijah to remind us that nothing is too hard for God. He is Jehovah Jireh, our provider.

First, Elijah needs a place of refuge from the wicked king and queen. When the brook dries up, and the food is no more, God sends him to a widow outside the land. Here God tests Elijah with the death of the child. Will he trust God to raise a little boy from the dead? Will the widow learn that Elijah is God’s prophet?  In the meantime, God provides a simple man named Obadiah to show weary Elijah the truth that no problem is too hard for God. Obadiah protected and provided a place of refuge for God’s prophets. Step by step, God provided for every need. And when Elijah was weary, He provided a replacement in Elisha to accompany him.

If He could use the unclean ravens or an unnamed widow or an Obadiah, will He not provide for our every need? Yet if God provided for Elijah, will He not do the same for us?  Do you trust Him to take care of your essentials this day? in God I trust, I am not afraid. What can mere men do to me?” [Ps 56]

“Shelter in Place”

2Samuel 22

We are told to shelter in place as this Corona Virus slithers into our communities. We often think of the word “shelter” as a structure where we can be safe from intruders or marauders but listen to David “My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter.” [vs3] If we look closely we see that David wasn’t talking about a permanent structure but God Himself. He was talking about confiding his hope in God.

David notes there is a greater shelter that is not tangible but is spiritual. In the OT, the Israelites were given a shelter of fire by night and a cloud by day to protect them. It provided shade from the desert heat and protection from the desert freezing temperatures at night. However, we are not in the desert and yet we still need that shelter’s presence. We find it in the scriptures, in prayer, and in community, therefore constantly pray.

The Lord is our shelter: Psa 91:1 As for you, the one who lives in the shelter of the Most High, and resides in the protective shadow of the Sovereign One –

God’s chosen leaders: Isa 32:2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land, therefore pray for them.

The world would have us fearful, but God is our shelter in times like this. Where do you go to shelter?

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