Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 11:24 a.m. – I went to bed at 2:30 a.m. after finishing the dreams and visions from this past Sunday. Then, the Lord woke me at 5:30 a.m. with a dream, so I got up and wrote it up and sent it out. Then, at 7:30 a.m. I went back to get a little more sleep. At 8:56 a.m. the phone rang. It was an 800 number so I didn’t answer it. Then, it rang again a second time letting me know they had left a message (which turned out to be a hang-up).
I may have woken from a dream. I remember talking with the Lord about a dream he gave me, but what I’m remembering may be when the Lord woke me at 5:30 a.m., so I’m not sure. I just know that I fell back asleep and then around 11 a.m., two hours after the phone rang twice, I was awakened by the Lord with this phrase: “Ain’t you shamed, you sleepy head.” When the Lord gives me that one, I know that is my commanding officer blowing the trumpet and saying “Get up!” So, I promptly obeyed and got up and came into my office to hear what he wanted to say to me.
From an illustrated `A Child's Garden of Verses' by R.L. Stevenson:
A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon the window sill,
Cocked his shining eye and said:
"Ain't you shamed, you sleepy head?"
My mother used to say that poem when I was a child and she said it to my children.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ezekiel 30:
A Lament for Egypt
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, prophesy and say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
" 'Wail and say,
"Alas for that day!"
3 For the day is near,
the day of the LORD is near—
a day of clouds,
a time of doom for the nations.
4 A sword will come against Egypt,
and anguish will come upon Cush.
When the slain fall in Egypt,
her wealth will be carried away
and her foundations torn down.
5 Cush and Put, Lydia and all Arabia, Libya and the people of the covenant land will fall by the sword along with Egypt.
6 " 'This is what the LORD says:
" 'The allies of Egypt will fall
and her proud strength will fail.
From Migdol to Aswan
they will fall by the sword within her,
declares the Sovereign LORD.
7 " 'They will be desolate
among desolate lands,
and their cities will lie
among ruined cities.
8 Then they will know that I am the LORD,
when I set fire to Egypt
and all her helpers are crushed.
9 "'On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten Cush out of her complacency. Anguish will take hold of them on the day of Egypt's doom, for it is sure to come.
10 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
" 'I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt
by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
11 He and his army—the most ruthless of nations—
will be brought in to destroy the land.
They will draw their swords against Egypt
and fill the land with the slain.
12 I will dry up the streams of the Nile
and sell the land to evil men;
by the hand of foreigners
I will lay waste the land and everything in it.
I the LORD have spoken.
13 " 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
" 'I will destroy the idols
and put an end to the images in Memphis.
No longer will there be a prince in Egypt,
and I will spread fear throughout the land.
14 I will lay waste Upper Egypt,
set fire to Zoan
and inflict punishment on Thebes.
15 I will pour out my wrath on Pelusium,
the stronghold of Egypt,
and cut off the hordes of Thebes.
16 I will set fire to Egypt;
Pelusium will writhe in agony.
Thebes will be taken by storm;
Memphis will be in constant distress.
17 The young men of Heliopolis and Bubastis
will fall by the sword,
and the cities themselves will go into captivity.
18 Dark will be the day at Tahpanhes
when I break the yoke of Egypt;
there her proud strength will come to an end.
She will be covered with clouds,
and her villages will go into captivity.
19 So I will inflict punishment on Egypt,
and they will know that I am the LORD.' "
20 In the eleventh year, in the first month on the seventh day, the word of the LORD came to me: 21 "Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. It has not been bound up for healing or put in a splint so as to become strong enough to hold a sword. 22 Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the good arm as well as the broken one, and make the sword fall from his hand. 23 I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries. 24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a mortally wounded man. 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he brandishes it against Egypt. 26 I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries. Then they will know that I am the LORD."
My Understanding: I was checking the news and came across this about Obama always being late for work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah9W24oMIRc
This is another one about Obama breaking promises: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campbell.brown.obama/index.html
Obama accepting untraceable donations: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803413_pf.html
I believe the Lord is talking about America here and its leaders. We are a proud, self-sufficient and complacent people as a whole. And, the Lord is promising to bring our enemies from the east and from the south against us, which then brings me back to that little poem. A bird with a yellow bill reminded me of how race is classified by colors, like I am of the white race, but my skin is really not white and yellow people are not really yellow, but there must be a yellowish kind of tint to their skin, I would imagine. Anyway, I looked up “yellow” with regard to race and region and this is what I learned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_terminology_for_race
Yellow seems mainly to refer to China and Mongolia and in N. America, the term “yellow” refers to the east. The Lord keeps saying he is going to bring an army against us from the east, so I feel that the “birdie with the yellow bill” here is a reference to our enemies that God will use as his instrument of divine judgment and discipline against us here in America.
A window is usually a symbol of truth or revelation of some sort or a messenger. The phone call I received supposedly had a message with it. Well, it did. It was a “hang-up.” That is the Lord’s message to America via his instrument of divine judgment against us. He is tired of our complacency, our proud strength and our idolatry. A window sill is a projection, ledge, shelf or ridge (Encarta). It could also be a window seat, meaning someone sitting in a position of authority is giving this message or is the carrier of the message (a projection).
The birdie cocked his shiny eye: An eye can mean judgment, watch, or discernment. This is interesting: To “[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]” something could mean, arms the hammer of a gun that, when released by the action of the trigger, makes the gun fire; arms the raised position of the hammer of a gun when it is ready to fire (Encarta). This fits. The hammer of the gun is raised on America and God is ready to fire! And, God is saying to America, “Ain’t you shamed, you sleepy head.”