Secret Room Afloat
I recently had a dream which was much like recurring dreams I have had for years. In the dreams, I am always in one of the many houses I have lived in throughout my life. In the houses, I always find a room that I did not know existed. The rooms are always filled with things I get to spend hours going through. The rooms become familiar and safe places. There is a feeling of peace and contentment in the rooms. The rooms are always a place I love to relax and hang out and long to stay forever it seems.
The most recent of these dreams differed from the norm somewhat in the fact that danger was involved in the secret room. This secret room was beautiful, surrounded completely by glass overlooking a peaceful lake. The room as in all the previous dreams seemed to have been abandoned, but this one more recently. There were tables with half-empty glasses and shoes by the door. On the counter was a rechargeable phone as well as a cell phone. The television was playing on a news channel. As I picked up an open book on the table I noticed movement. The room was detaching from the main house and floating. The room was actually a floating yacht. The most disturbing thing was this; the secret room was not only moving and floating on water but was rapidly taking in water and sinking.
At the moment when panic seemed to take over, the cell phone vibrated on the bar and signaled a message coming in. I read the message from someone named Bruce who undoubtedly had once occupied the room. He texted me instructions as to how to reattach the room to the house. However, I was not successful in following his instructions. I continued to sink rapidly, but happily, there was a happy ending. Yea! Someone (perhaps Bruce himself) rescued me on a blue float decorated with pink fish and yellow butterflies. Hooray for Bruce and for me.
Now if you know where I am going with this secret room sinking tale - good because at this point I certainly don't have a clue. I do realize the dreams of secret rooms most likely indicate my searching for something. I don't try to over-analyze them a lot because I usually enjoy the dreams. It is so nice to find something right there in my very own house that has been there all along that I didn't know existed. Of course, I do feel that very thing did happen in my life when I found God, not that I didn't know He existed before, but the fact there was so much more of Him than I knew of. He is a place where I do find peace and safety in the middle of chaos and confusion. He does rescue me when I am sinking. Hooray for God and for me.
However, more than knowing God is my Rescuer, I believe the dreams are to teach me what I am to do with a special God-given secret place and to warn me what I shouldn't do with it.
In Psalm 91 I find that the secret place is not just a place to visit, but a place I should dwell in.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 81 reminds me that God answers me from the secret place. It is the place I should go to find answers when trouble is near.
Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder:
God's Word also gives us instruction (sends us a message) as to what we are not to do with the secret place. The God-given secret place is a very special place that we must not clutter with worldly things. We must respect it as a holy place of communion with our Lord. When the secret place is defiled with things of this world God turns His face away. Perhaps there were too many things of the world defiling the secret room in my dream and that is why it was sinking.
Ezra 7:22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it
I also found God's Word speaks of the danger of man-made secret places and what we should not hide there.
Deuteronomy 27:15
Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place
After we find God and His secret place, after He answers us and communes with us there, after He shows us how to care for and respect the secret place, we should tell others there is a secret place. Even though each person's secret place with God is special to them, the good news is meant to be shared with all those who are searching for hope of something to keep them afloat; the hope of something to reattach them to a stable foundation in their lives. We should not keep the God of secret places a secret. He should not be hidden from the world.
Luke 11:33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
Today I pray I may not only find the secret place of God but continually dwell there. May I follow His instructions and stay connected to Him always. May I never defile God's secret place, nor make my own secret place to hide things that cannot be hidden from God. May I find assurance in knowing that He is always near to rescue me from danger. May I never hide the hope I found in Christ, my Rescuer, from anyone who is searching for hope to stay afloat.
jbp