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“For you, LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.”
Am I where I desired to be at this point in my life? No! I am not where I expected to be at this point in my life.
I had dreams, aspirations, and a personal God-given mission. How does one deal with the disheartening reality of shattered hopes, splintered plans, or dreams still sitting in the infant stage after years have gone by?
Dreams take us places we hope to go, inspire us to do things we hope to do, and move us to become someone we hope to become. They bring passion and purpose. They propel us forward into the possibilities of what could be.
Proverbs 29:18 tells us without a vision people will perish. The Hebrew word for perish is para, which means being exposed, going back, or experiencing complete ruin. The Hebrew word for vision is chazown, which means dream or vision, which is to plan or imagine our future direction.
Without a vision for where we are going, we will likely go backward or wander around aimlessly or even worse, experience utter ruin.
We need to have thoughts that consider our future. If we don’t, we will go backward or fade away or slip into destructive patterns. Dreams have a directional place in our lives, giving us the motivation to move towards the finish line.
Dreams can also have an adverse effect. “For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity; but God is the one you must fear” (Ecclesiastes 5:7, ESV)
The problem is legit dreams with great purpose; these God-given directional dreams can consume us to a point where our lives become more about the dream than about God. We are either hyper-focused on fulfilling the dream or dwell on the devastation of how we are failing the dream.
Each time we fixate on the dream over God, it replaces the Giver of the incredible vision with making the dream happen. The dream becomes our new god. The dream becomes our highest hope, the dream determines our success, and the dream speaks to our identity.
When the dream becomes our focus rather than the One Who gave us the dream, we make our dreams an idol.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him… For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. Psalm 97: 5-7, 9, NRSV
Psalm 97 is a rich song with lyrics describing how mighty and majestic our God is. In verse five it says, “The mountains melt like wax before Him.” Imagine a mountain melting down like a candle’s hard texture softening, dripping, running down the sides into a pool of hot wax. Like the melted mountain, He remolds and transforms our idols of making it happen, back into God-given dreams.
If we can catch ourselves placing the pursuit of our dream above the dream Giver, it is at this moment we recast our gaze upward to the Most High, and then we can peel away our fingers from the dream we held on to so tightly. With our grip loosened, we can lift our hands in praise; we have positioned ourselves to receive the joy we are promised.
“Light shines on the godly, and joy on those whose hearts are right,” Psalm 97:11, NLT.
His Light warms our face and hearts as the dream becomes the Givers again, and we remember we are the stewards of the dream – not the owners of it. In this yielded posture, we allow the Most High to guide the process and set our perspective in the pursuit of our dreams. We trust the God Who is powerful enough to soften the mountain of our heart to also melt any obstacles blocking our dreams.
The God Most High is over all the earth, and He towers over us – who we are, who we are trying to become, what we have, what we don’t have, what we have accomplished, and what we have not accomplished. The dream Giver covers our dashed dreams and any disillusionment that is attached to it.
Joy inevitably returns to the heart as the dream finds its rightful position, and we accept the only way to live out our dreams is to entrust them to the Most High God continually. We rest in the Most High God by trusting our obedience to Him regardless of any outcome.
Our hope is in the dream Giver, not the dream.
And when the dream comes to fruition, we will remember to give God the honor He deserves for inviting us to be a part of the dream in the first place.
Meditation: You are Most High over everything in my life
Reflect: What have I been dreaming about that is not of God or God led? Am I dwelling more about the dream than on the One Who gives us the ability to dream? If so, how can I change this? How are you practicing the position of steward over owner with any God-given dream?
Digging Deeper: Psalm 97; Psalm 62:5-8, NLT; Jeremiah 29:8-14a, NLT; Philippians 3:7-9, 13-14
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(Bible References: ESV – English Standard Version, GW – God’s Word Translation, NLT – New Living Translation)
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