He's Got Me Covered.....

Sometimes my dreams are so real, that when I wake up, I think I am just falling asleep. It is a little spooky if I dwell on that too much, so for now, let us start with the premise that I am actually awake right now. In my dream, I went to the mall in my bathing suit, like most Christmas shoppers, but I was wearing my expensive designer cover up. It had cost me a good bit, but it was beautiful thus well worth the money. I went to the saleslady at the store and she told me I had selected an exquisite cover-up, and was I done shopping? I told her I was, handed her my cover-up which I then paid an exorbitant sum for AGAIN. When I got home, I took the cover-up out of the shopping bag, and then smacked my forehead. I realized with dismay that I had already owned the stupid cover-up. How had I been duped into buying it again?

Well the Christian message is so painfully obvious that it is almost insulting to say it, particularly as it will tick off my secular readers.... all two of them. However, when I am handed a message by the Almighty, I know better than to keep it to myself. My guess is that 99% of the unexplained instances of people bursting into flame is from just such folly.

So, two main thoughts came to mind as I contemplated my dream. First the most critical message of Christianity- Jesus' sacrificial death on my behalf "covered" my sin. All God sees now when He looks at me is the atoning cover, and I am free from the punishment I deserve. I certainly didn't need to buy that cover-up again.... nor could I really buy it the first time. It was a gift freely given, though at a great price, and it only had to be accepted once. I don't know why I was so confused in my dream.

But the second meaning of "cover" in my dream that came to me is one I have long struggled with. The story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, kept me from faith for many years. I just did not understand how a loving God could put the strong parental instincts to love and protect his child in a father, and then ask him to overide that instinct and do the most reprehensible thing I can think of. I know what the Christian experts say- that it is a story of obedience, that Abraham knew ultimately Isaac would be returned to him, that he had to understand that the only thing that mattered was God and listening to him, yadayadayada. But none of those things helped me as a non-believer. It is still a passage that brings me extreme discomfort. However, the one part that I love is just as Abraham raises the knife to sacrifice his son, an angel of the Lord stops him, and tells him to sacrifice the ram , conveniently caught in a nearby thicket, instead. (Honestly, as an animal lover I don't like that aspect of it either, but it is better than Isaac's throat getting slit by dear old Dad.)
I love how God "covered" Abraham and gave him an out. He did not require Abraham to follow through with the sacrifice of his only son... though God had not given Himself the same out. God did know intimately what it meant to sacrifice an only son for a greater purpose.

In my dream, I ridiculously repurchased something I already owned. God already has me in His sights, and I am already covered. No need to revisit that store. And beyond that, whatever I am asked to do, He covers me with mercy and grace, and supplies whatever I need to accomplish the task. I have seen it played out in my life countless times, yet for some reason, I am often in doubt, and going back to buy what I already own.
(tomorrow we will discuss the imprudence of wearing a bathing suit to the mall in the dead of winter.)