“Let go of what you’re holding on to.”
“But I don’t want to let go of it.”
“You need to let go so you can come down.”
These are words from a recent dream I had that, upon awakening, stayed firm in my heart. It’s the kind of thing where you sense the Lord is beckoning you to ask Him about it.
And so I did.
I will try to spare you the full details of the entire dream because after all, who really is all that interested in someone else’s dream?
THE DREAM:
We had a full house of people over, friends and family alike. As evening came, the gathering was winding down, and most everyone were going on their way. There were a few stragglers left but instead of asking for help in picking things up and putting them back in their place, I decided to do it myself. I wound my way through the house and leftover guests, all the while filling my arms with everything that needed to be put away. I made my way out a side door to take it all to a different part of the house by way of the backyard. (Remember, this is a dream and dreams don’t always make sense, especially this next part)– I carried my large burden out the door and began to carefully walk on rickety pole-like steps that I had constructed earlier. They suddenly gave way, and just as I lost my footing, I was able to anchor my arms (household items and all) onto the ledge of our deck. I was now hanging completely off of the deck, except for my full arms, a good 20-30 feet off the ground. I hesitated to call for help because I didn’t want to draw attention to my predicament, but quickly realized I could not remedy the situation. I called out, and a friend inside the house heard me and came outside. He looked up and saw me hanging there with my arms full of stuff. And this is when he said, “Let go of what you’re holding on to.” I didn’t like his solution. I had worked hard and spent a lot of time cleaning up after everyone and I didn’t want to let go of all I had done. So I replied back to him, “But I don’t want to let go of it.” To which he calmly and gently replied, “You need to let go, so you can come down.” In that moment, I realized he was right. There was no way I would be able to hold onto the ledge and drop down with all of this stuff held tightly in my grip. I did as he said, letting go of it all, grabbing the ledge with my hands while straightening my arms to hang down and drop so he could catch me. As soon as I did this, he told me to Let Go. I quickly discovered that instead of a 20-30 foot drop, it instantly became a 1-2 inch drop and he was right there by my side.
The dream continues on a bit but with unimportant details so I will end it here.
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The morning of the dream, I went for a walk and asked the Lord what He was wanting me to take away from the dream. The Holy Spirit quietly spoke to my heart. When we hold tightly to things, when we try to control our life, when we as Christ followers don’t trust God; don’t trust Jesus with our whole heart, we bring upon ourselves futile, fruitless burdens. But that is only part of the issue.
If we are not surrendering all that God has given us in life; be it our families, our relationships, our finances, our health, etc., we are setting ourselves to be god over our own life. I don’t know about you, but this stops me in my tracks. When I think about who I am (created) and Who God is (Creator) and what He said to Job of Himself, I want to drop to my face in humility.
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the measuring line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone..?” Job 38:1-6
Our gracious and loving God knows we are weak, He knows our frailties and His Word says He remembers that we are dust.
“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:11-14
God desires to have an intimately close relationship with us and that can’t happen if we’re focused on self and trying to run our own show. But once we surrender, once we let go of trying to do it all ourselves, our hearts can hear His voice so much more clearly beckoning us to draw near to Him. He’s been right there all along.
Just like the illustration in my dream, when I held on to all the stuff, I felt far removed from the friend on the ground who came to help me. But when I trusted his words and let go, the distance between us was instantly gone.
We all have struggles in this life, challenges and burdens, difficulties and heartache; but if we belong to God, if Jesus dwells in our hearts as our Lord and Savior, then we need not fret, we need not fear, we need not try to control what we don’t have control over in the first place. We need to Let Go, surrender it all, and cling to Him.
“…that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days…” Deuteronomy 30:20
Dina
The Green Olive Tree 