Rachel Adamus
Fast Food God?
This morning, I had a dream in which I was a bystander watching an angry man drive up to a fast-food window. He was angry because he was very hungry but had no money to buy food, so he said to the person at the window, who was the manager, “Just give me a job so I can buy your lousy food!” I remember that he had this attitude of you owe me…and, I don’t want to be here but I have no choice. I remember thinking how ridiculous he looked. The manager said, “No, I will NOT give you a job,” and he closed the window. I remember thinking, yeah, why would anyone hire such a self-important, arrogant person? The next scene, this same man had entered into the building undetected and was stealing. I caught the man and confronted him of his stealing. He said, “I had no choice! I am hungry and the manager won’t hire me, so it’s his fault!” I replied, “If you want a job, you need to go to your prospective employer meekly, seeing that you are the one in a position of neediness, that you are begging for someone to extend you mercy.” That was all I remember of the dream.
I have been thinking about it this morning, because the Holy Spirit has been giving me an interpretation. The man in the dream is representative of many people in the world today and their view of God. They are angry with God because they are hungry–hungry for the filling of that emptiness in their soul that only God Himself can give. They come to Him when they are desperate, as if He were a fast-food restaurant, there only to fix their problems in an immediate way. When they come to Him, realizing they have no money with which to buy His love and grace, they are angry, because they want to feel in control of their own destinies without being obeisant to someone greater than them. Realizing they have no choice, they decide they need God so long as they can work for His love; if they can do good works to earn His gifts, they can still feel in control. They want to be their own god. However, since having the joy and presence of God and the good things that naturally flow from His presence cannot be earned by the sin-stained good works of human effort, people resort to trying to steal the good things of God through other means, such as worshiping the devil and making war against God, though obviously, no one can steal from God or conquer God. When they are confronted with their pride through trials and calamities, they blame God for the consequences of their own sin. Why? It all stems from a wrong heart attitude to begin with. Until the man in my dream can see himself for who he really is–a needy beggar who should be pleading for grace–there will be no grace. The glory of God only comes through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ at the cross, who in His perfect humanity, stood in the place of the fallen Adam and all Adam’s descendants, perfectly fulfilling the requirements of obedience and justice for all who ask of Him to put His record to their account. Then, they go from the status of pauper to prince, co-heirs with Jesus Christ Himself! Hallelujah! Yet with title comes responsibility–responsibility to strive for oneness with Christ in speech, conduct, love, faith, purity, power, suffering, and death (1 Timothy 4:12, Philippians 3:10). For most, that’s too high a price.
Isaiah 55:1: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
Luke 15:11-30: “And he [Jesus] said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.” And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
‘But when he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.'” And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” And they began to celebrate.
‘Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.And he said to him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.” But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” And he said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”‘”
Hebrews 10:26-31: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Isaiah 10:1-4: “Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who keep writing oppression,
to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
What will you do on the day of punishment,
in the ruin that will come from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.”
Isaiah 47: “Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin daughter of Babylon;
sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no more be called
sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
Take the millstones and grind flour,
put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no one.
Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
“Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
the mistress of kingdoms.
I was angry with my people;
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
You said, ‘I shall be mistress forever,’
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.
“Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,
who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children’:
These two things shall come to you
in a moment, in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
in spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.
“You felt secure in your wickedness;
you said, ‘No one sees me’;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’
But evil shall come upon you,
which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
for which you will not be able to atone;
and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.
“Stand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
perhaps you may inspire terror.
You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
those who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
what shall come upon you.
“Behold, they are like stubble;
the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!
Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
there is no one to save you.”
Pray that God would quicken this word to your hearts as He would work it in you!
-Rachel, daughter of the King
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