No Peace in Inbox

Tuesday 12/27/2011 4:26 AM

In the middle of the night the voice in my dream said, “There is no peace in inbox.”  When I woke from the dream I remember thinking about the absurdity of that statement and I wondered how something so inane would make it into my dream.  I thought I had misunderstood so I translated it as “There is know peace in inbox.” but the absurdity became even worse.  I decided to forget about it and I went back to sleep but when I woke this morning, there it was again, “There is no peace in inbox.”

There are times I will dream something that is reinforced when I sit down for my devotional time and I wondered if that would happen today.  I couldn’t imagine any possible connection between that phrase and what God would be trying to tell me but I’ve been surprised before so I sat down with eager expectation to see what he would say.  I read my assigned scriptures and devotional readings listening for what God wanted to tell me and, as my small group would say, “… crickets.”  There was nothing.  Not only were the passages silent about the statement from my dream, they didn’t even seem to be connected by a common theme.  I started to wonder why the author of my devotional book had grouped them together in the first place.  Or perhaps it was a mistake and the passage from Philemon was supposed to be from Philippians or Nehemiah was supposed to be Jeremiah.

My relationship with God goes through cycles.  There are times when I sense his presence deeply, when I am assured of his love for me and for the world.  During those times it seems that God speaks directly to the relevant issues of my life and my faith is made stronger.  At other times I question if my faith is real and I doubt that God exists or, if he does exist, that he has no interest in what is transpiring in the world in which I live.  Those times are usually precipitated by an event or events that defy rational explanation, times that cause non-Christians to ask, “How could a loving God permit that to happen?”  It is during those times that my faith is tested.  Perhaps I am moving from a time of faith building to a time of faith testing.

I recognize that I have a tendency to overanalyze things so I finally decided to end my devotions and call it a day when the Lord reminded me of 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”  His message to me was simple.  He said, “It doesn’t matter how much insight you have or how eloquently you can speak, if you do not have love for the people you meet on a daily basis, the only message they will hear from your lips and from your life will be as absurd as, ‘There is no peace in inbox.’  Love more.”