Friday, October 18, 2019

A Field of Bibles

 Recently I dreamed a dream.
I dreamed I was looking over a field that stretched as far and wide as I could see.  
The field was dry - not a blade of grass, not a thin weed grew anywhere. 
 There was nothing but dust. 
But spread out across the field in neat rows, covering the whole field were Bibles. 
Black leather Bibles with the letters HOLY BIBLE imprinted in gold across the bottom front.

I awoke and thought, 'That was a strange dream'.  But I immediately went back to sleep, 
only to dream the same dream again ... exactly the same in every detail, 
nothing added, nothing taken away.

Having the same dream twice caught my attention and nudged me to think it was a God-dream. 
 But what did it mean?
I prayed, even asked for another dream to explain the first ones, but no more dreams came.
I let my mind wander over scriptures ...searching for something that would 'fit' but nothing seemed to lend meaning to the dreams.

Then, the next day when I was doing an unrelated scripture search, my eyes fell on Matt. 4:4 
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 

I felt the YES in my spirit ... and then to my delight discovered that the verse is repeated in Luke with a repeated reference --  both 4:4.  - Matt. 4:4 and Luke 4:4.
I then turned to the Old Testament verse that Jesus was quoting... Duet. 8:3 where I read these words,

"So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not lives by bread alone, but man live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord."

The field is the earth ...  the world.   We seek what it can offer. Food , success, affluence, comfort, material goods, travel, entertainment, shelter  etc.
 There are many things in this world that are needful to us, for life and comfort but if we are 'sowing' into this world thinking we shall reap a harvest with eternal value, then we are going to be disappointed. In the end we will behold a field of 'dust'. 
Nothing of this world can ultimately satisfy, nothing will feed our spirits. We can take none of it with us when this life is over. 

Sometimes God steps back and lets us experience the dryness of what the world offers -- allows us to become hungry ... just like He did with the Israelites.  When we are 'hungry' we cry out for food. As long as we are 'happy' in the world, we do not seek God.  It is when we realize that we need more, when we feel that deep dissatisfaction in core of our being,  that we seek for eternal food. Then we desire the Water/Bread of Life that truly satisfies. 
Just as the manna covered the dry field of the wilderness, so also the Manna - the Bread of Life covers the earth.  We need only 'gather it up'.

Romans 10:17,18 says .. "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed, Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world."

If we invest the energies of our mind, building our life on the words of God we will reap a hundredfold harvest, not only for this our earthly life but also for all eternity !