Hi Friends,  this message is about suffering.  Not a pleasant topic nor experience, but we need to know how to deal with it when it comes our way.  Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!  I have overcome this world.” John 16:33

We look to the Lord in our distress.  “I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”  Psalm 121:1-2

This is the four part vision:

First I saw something fall.  I heard a thud as it hit the ground.  As my eyes focused on the object, I saw that it was a deer.  But the head was cut off and it had no legs.  The torso dropped on its back so that I could see its white underbelly.

Next I saw someone holding a  green “clutch” with their left hand.  (A clutch is a style of purse.)  

Then I found myself standing on the side of a paved road.  The very narrow shoulder on which I was standing was dirt.  There was no guard rail to protect me from the steep drop off.  At the bottom of the slope was a commercial district.  Suddenly, a black car with white sidewall tires and chrome trim pulled up remarkably close to me.  The front passenger door was only inches away.  Its chrome handle was just above waist height. From my angle, I did not see the driver. But my thoughts tried to understand the driver’s intentions.  Was he trying to run me off the road?  Did he intend to force me into the car?  Either way, I did not believe his motives were honorable.

Lastly, I saw myself dumping out a bowl of soup that I had made, and then washing it in soapy water.  I like having clean and neat items, so I was quite happy to be rid of the soup that I did not enjoy, and at the same time have a sparkling clean white bowl to put away.

What I believe the vision means:

The Deer Carcass

As I was praying in the morning about this vision, I asked God to show me something else to help me understand.  I had many questions concerning the deer in the vision.  First of all, why was it in the air, and why did it drop?  Why was it killed?  Was the head with its antlers to be a trophy, displayed on the wall?  Was it slaughtered for its meat?  If that was the case, then why did it drop? Was it an unintentional mishap?  Was it to be used for decorative purposes?  The antlers for a chandelier or the legs for a table?  But if that were the case, why didn’t they remove the hide, to use for upholstery?  Could the carcass have been hanging in the tree as a lure or trap for a bear or other large predator?

I continued to pray and contemplate, what actually happened to the deer.  The animal depends on the head, for it holds the brain, the ears and eyes needed to respond to danger.  The antlers are there for defense, to fight off a predator when the herd is threatened. The animal uses its legs to support the body and to make a quick getaway when an enemy comes to attack.  The very parts of the body needed for defense were removed.

When I thought about the animal’s head being removed, it made me think of removing the  “head” or top leadership in an organization.  We see shakeups in organizations all the time.  People are hired and fired.  Head coaches, to heads of state, can all be removed.

The story of Nebuchadnezzar and how God dethroned him was quite amazing.  He learned about pride and humility the hard way.  “He was driven away from people and ate grass like the ox.  His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird."  Daniel 4:33 

He was given the mind of an animal and spent the next 7 years in this state.  "At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom…..Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just.  And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.  Daniel 4:33-37

Sometimes it is not God who dethrones, but the wicked one who wants to cause division and anarchy.  His plans are to take out the leader, (particularly the head leader in a church) to destabilize the group or organization. “Strike the shepherd and the flock will scatter.” Zechariah 13:7  

I thought to myself, could this represent the nation?  How many people conspire openly to attack our president?

Could this represent the church?  How many organizations are trying to establish ideas and laws that allow for the open, blatant, practice of sin, and the silencing of those who oppose them.

Could this represent individuals who are persecuted for their beliefs in God and for their choice to live for him?

So, I asked God to confirm his intended message, with a word from the Bible, so he brought me to the book of Job.  Job was an individual, a holy man who suffered greatly as a result of a test that God had allowed.  Job lost his sons and daughters to a house collapsing on them.  He lost his flocks, herds, and camels which represented his wealth, and after the second test, he lost his health being inflicted with painful sores all over his body.

What did Job do when he was confronted with disaster upon disaster?  “He got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.  Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’  In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”  Job 1:20-22   He did not lose his head.  He did not run from his problems.  He did not panic.  He worshipped!   

As we see the other parts of the vision, they all play in one way or another into the story of Job, and how his reactions are quite unlike most people.  Job, honored God, his friends representing the worldview, were convinced that they, and not Job, understood God and the circumstances in which he found himself.  As it turns out in the story of Job, the friends were quite wrong about the Lord.

The Green Clutch

The green clutch, represents money, and the security it affords those who trust in their wealth.  Jesus spoke of the wealthy, on numerous occasions.  “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”  Revelations 3:17

Saying to the rich young ruler, ”One thing you lack,  Go and sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”  Mark 10: 21  

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God!”   Mark 10:25   

When we hold onto riches, and money, or trust in our jobs, our pensions, and our property, we may not experience the peace that comes from God.  When we know that God is our provider, and we trust in him for our provision, we can experience his grace and believe him for greater and greater things in our lives.  But when we place all our trust in the temporal, the things that are passing away, when disaster strikes, and we lose everything, we may feel that there is no hope, no where to turn.  We can fret and despair for lack of provision.  Think of  the many stories told, of those who committed suicide, when the stock market crashed in 1929.

In one day - God took Job’s wealth and blew it away!  We can not “afford” to be short sighted when it comes to God.  We need to have an eternal perspective about what truly matters, and where our security really resides.  We need to take our “clutches” off our clutches!  

Jesus told a parable about riches: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do?  I have no place to store my crops.’  Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do.  I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain.  And I’ll say to myself, ‘you have plenty of grain laid up for many years.  Take life easy; eat drink and be merry.’”

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.  Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’  This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”  Luke 12:16-20  

How did Job’s friends feel about riches and wealth?  They believed that if Job were a righteous man, as he claimed to be, then The Lord would not have taken away this possessions.  They believed that if Job were to humble himself before the Lord, and ask for forgiveness for his numerous sins, God would certainly restore his fortune.  They were terribly mistaken in that God does not reward people with wealth, because they are doing all the right things in his eyes.  They mistakenly believed that wealth was a sign that a person was right with God.  There are many examples in the Bible of men of God who were not showered with wealth for their righteous acts, but who instead, suffered greatly: Joseph, Paul, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and all the disciples.  Wealth is not a reward for the righteous!

The Black Car

The black car represents the enemy, and those who are used by him.  The devil our enemy likes to intimidate and strike us with fear.  When the black car pulled up next to me, he didn’t run me off the road, but he wanted to scare me. Perhaps, his plan or intention was to force me to choose between falling off the edge of the road, or getting into his car.  The devil would love to change the direction of our lives.  He wants us to be lead away from God and to follow the ways of the world.   He can do this with deception, fear and intimidation.  We probably all know someone who uses intimidation to get his way.  

The fear of loss, the fear of death the fear of the unknown or the fear of rejection can cause us to compromise.  In an attempt to escape fear, we conform.

When we are confronted with a difficult situation, we may have to make a choice.  The natural man, chooses “flight or fight,” like a deer.  Should we run from the problem like the deer, or should we stand our ground and fight?   

But if we are not grounded in our faith, when fear comes, we can  “lose our heads.”  We can fail to respond appropriately.  Without a sure faith, fear can bring confusion and mixed signals.  Fear can cause us to stop, rather than run.  We can become “petrified,” (stone-like), incapable of moving.  It would be as if we had no legs!

How did Daniel face the lion’s den?  How did his three friends enter the fiery furnace?  They were able to face these trials and come through them, because of their steadfast faith in God and his love for them.  They would not compromise and deny the Lord.  We must be prepared to face difficult situations as the Lord’s disciples.  “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”  John 15:18

The Bowl of Soup

The soup in the vision, represented an actual soup that I had made earlier in the week.  It didn’t turn out  to my liking because of a few choices that I made:

1.  First, I decided to make a soup, when I knew I was supposed to be writing.  I excused myself from writing because I was losing focus, becoming distracted.  So I went my own way, which was the first mistake.

2.  Then I wanted to take a shortcut in the soup’s preparation by using the Vitamix to puree the vegetables before cooking,  In choosing to do it this way, the onions did not have the opportunity to caramelize.  Because of this the onions tasted raw, and the flavor I was looking for, was not there.

3.  Then as I was cooking, I added an ingredient that I normally did not use in a soup - cilantro.  Now the taste was off, so I started adding spices to correct for the cilantro.  Things went from bad to worse.  

4.  In an effort to further correct the taste, I added smoked paprika, and worcestershire sauce..  When I was finished, it was somewhat tolerable, but certainly not good.   

This is the soup that I wanted to throw out.  Why?  I made one bad decision after another.  What I intended to be a short detour, from my work, turned out to be a disaster.  Yet I took pleasure in dumping it out, and washing the bowl.  Seeing a clean white bowl made me feel happy, to have things in order, once again.

In the vision, the clean bowl, is God’s provision of forgiveness.  I was supposed to write, but I allowed myself to get distracted.  Then because of going my own way, my mind was not in the right place, and I used poor judgment again and again.  The result was wasted time, and wasted ingredients, all because of my desire to do things my way, rather than God’s way.  We don’t always recognize this as sin, but it really is.  When we don’t acknowledge his Lordship over our lives it is called rebellion.  

What would happen if you were on a submarine at war.  The command came down from the top, “Fire the torpedoes!”  And you refused to do it.  After all, you were tired and hungry and would rather go into the galley and make a sandwich.  Would the commander commend you or throw you in the brig?  See the rebellion?

Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commands.”  John 14:15  Obedience is a day to day, moment by moment choice.

In Summary

The word declares that suffering will come to the church and to everyone who is the Lord’s disciple.  We cannot lose our heads and panic.  We cannot become petrified and unable to act.  We cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated.  We must know our Lord and trust in him for the outcome.  We must let go of our possessions, and the things of the world in which we take delight, for they weaken our trust in God alone.  And lastly, we must submit to the Lordship of God.  For our trust in him, and our obedience to God, is what brings us through the fiery trials that may be ahead for each of us.

Remember too that the Holy Spirit is the comforter.  "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Be blessed!!