I was standing at the edge of the ocean, in my dream, and I was watching a man maneuver a Kayak around not too far from the beach. It looked as though he were really enjoying himself. Before I knew it he was on the shore and started talking to me about taking his kayak out for a ride. I told him I had never been in one before and it might not be a good idea. He explained that it was simple; as long as you follow a few simple rules that go along with kayaking!
So I agreed, climbed into the kayak and he handed me the paddle. As I began to float out away from the shore, he called out to me saying, "Hang onto the paddle. You cannot maneuver the kayak without it". So off I went and got a little bit away from shore and it was, indeed enjoyable and relaxing. I paddled around for a bit and got more familiar and brave with this new adventure. So I paddled and I paddled and after about half an hour or so the paddle suddenly slipped out of my hand. I remembered his last comment about hanging onto the paddle as the only way to operate the kayak.
Realizing that it was very important that I have that paddle in hand, I leaned to the left using my left hand and arm to motor myself and rocked to the right to use my right hand and arm and by the time my left hand hit the water again, the entire kayak had turned upside down. There I was stuck in an inverted kayak, not having any idea what to do, not to mention "not having any oxygen either". So naturally I began to panic. I began struggling and rocking, trying to get the boat upright so I could breathe again. All I remember of the end of the dream is that I lost consciousness and I woke up.
I thought about that dream and thought about it and wondered if that dream had any real meaning for me or someone I love and the Holy Spirit reminded me of a verse that I thought was very NOT related to this incident. So when I got up I went to God's Word and read the passage of scripture.
"No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it" (1Corinthians 10:13).
That's when it dawned on me. I was still asleep. I had lost my paddle, my ability to maneuver in the kayak and so I began to break the laws of physics (the kayaker's very last instruction). What I failed to hear him say was "don't try to paddle with your hands and arms as you will rock yourself over and will have real problems.
Sometimes in life we break the rules. We do things that God never intended for us to do and we find ourselves turned upside down and drowning in our own mistakes. We are tempted every day in every way known to man and suddenly we are upside down in a boat that we cannot upright to save our lives. Sometimes all this sickness makes me feel like I am in that boat.
But to get back to my dream, what struck me most was the verse that God drew me to in my sleep, especially the last part of that verse where Paul says "...but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it." I mean, I can't believe that I am still asleep and God is providing me a way to escape from the tipped over kayak. He simply said, My son, just slide your body out of the little hole it is in and return to the surface of the water. While I was panicking, God was providing my way of escape.
The easiest way to see the "joy" in the middle of all these "bodily breakdowns" in my life is to realize that God is always there to "provide a way of escape" for each one of us. In the middle of my dream, in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of one of the biggest crisis of my life, there was Jehovah Elohim (God - A God of power and perfection, a finishing God) ever so quietly and gently instructing me on how to fall back into His hands.
The verse says that "No temptation has overtaken you, BUT SUCH AS IS COMMON TO MAN..." That means none of us reach a temptation or difficulty in life that another hasn't experienced and God is the Redemptive Tool "that we may be able to endure it."
WOW, what a dream! No, a better way to put it would be WOW, what a God we have!
Dave
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