#80 Cherry pickers (18mar06)

'...God is near in their mouth but far from their mind.'
Jeremiah 12:2

Dreams tend to rear its head, when our minds are troubled. Of course, not all mares are of the dark type, there are also beautiful dreams.
God spoke to Daniel and Joseph through dreams and visions. God do speak to us through dreams as well, sometimes to encourage us, on other occasions to enlighten and often to prepare us for what is ahead.


'...Is there a God besides Me??'
Isaiah 44:8

In many societies, the man is the head of the household. Of course, there are exceptions in unique corners of the world, like this minority tribe in China, where the matriach rules. Yet, down in so-called male dominant societies, behind the public facade, in the private sanctum of the household, it is rumoured that the delicate hand that fed the apple to Adam, not only led him to sin, but also lead him in many ways. Does this norm prevail today??

I had two dreams last two nites.

The first was pretty concise in its brevity. I dream't that my son, Andre did very well in his term 1 exams, in maths, science and chinese. However, the dark clouds gathered when it came to his English, the only subject that I am responsible for and accountable to the wife. The score in the dream(albeit not my dream-score) was 26 out of 50 marks.
As I penned this sharing today, my son just called me. Indeed he did well for the 3 subjects, topping his class in maths. He called to also confirm my greatest fear, he did pass his English, with a score a tad better than my dream.

What does this mean?? The more numerically inclined in us, should be dashing off now to the nearest lottery counter to place a bet, for great wealth awaits, for the gods are speaking!!

The 2nd dream is precise in an interesting way.
Last nite, I dream't that I was in a hotel room, about to check out, when I saw this dynamo of a spirit of the wrong kind dashing in multi-directions. Somehow, I managed to grab a pillow and pressed it down, and the words " Jesus obey" was the first words from my mouth. As I was about to correct myself and said, "obey Jesus," my alarm clock rang and in a puff, the dream was over.

What does this mean???

The kings of old had the advantage of summoning their wise men. What about us, when we face not just dreams, but situations in our lives, where at the twin fork of a decision, we are never sure of the correct route to take.

Jesus Christ said to all who believe " follow me"

Truly, many of us genuinely wants to follow Christ, for who does not want eternal life in heaven and joy and peace on Earth.

Yet, we often have a pre-decided route to take, independent of what God wills.
Inevitably, we choose to bring along an overflow of baggages that we find hard to leave behind, for God.
And like all good rational and judgemental sinners, we will pick and choose what is deemed good for ourselves.

God doesn't differentiate between a luscious looking cherry, a nondescript cherry or even a dreary dry pip squeak of a cherry.
He only wants us to love Him with all our heart, soul and mind. And to acknowlege Him in all our ways
Focus on Him alone. Leave our wandering minds and hearts aside and reside in Him.

'Therefore I will look unto the Lord..'
Micah 7:7

He wants us to love our neighbours as ourselves.
This wonderful road-map to walking with Him is clear but difficult for we only love ourselves, and those we choose, not everyone.

Truly, we are asked to follow Christ, to follow is to obey as God leads, the only precondition is the belief that truly God is sovereign.
Yet in reality, deep in our subconscious, we only want our walk with God to be the way many walked with their pet dogs.
They let the dog lead, but the hand gripping tightly on to the rope for want of a better word, is still the finite us.


God Blesses

Eng Hieang