The dream giver also holds the hammer.

Written by On Friday, 18 October 2013 08:56

The hand that holds the hammer breaks my heart. It causes me to cry and weep. It shatters my world into tiny little pieces. My dreams it makes insignificant, my pursuits it discards.
Is there a conspiracy to throw me to the dogs?
It frustrates my plans; my ambition brings to naught.
The hammer is uncomfortable, heck the hammer is painful.
I cannot see beyond this pain. I cannot see what the hand that holds the hammer sees.
The hand that holds the hammer belongs to the one who holds the world - He holds my world. He is;
The alpha
The omega
The beginning
The end

The one that holds the hammer has a picture in His mind. A picture of a perfect me and as the hammer hits;
It sharpens.
It molds.
It shapes.
It makes me more like Him.

There is one who is big. There is one who is great. He is kind. He is loving and His hand holds the hammer.

I first heard of Bebo Norman when I was in high school, seated in our assembly hall watching Shake during one of those Saturday ‘entertainment’ afternoons. They were running an interview of him as had he just landed in the country for a concert.

My first impression: Tacky.
Wearing a pair of jeans, too big/long for him, he’d folded the hems and was wearing sandals (probably some akala- who does that?). No drums. No piano. No band. Just him and his guitar; reminded me of those Kenyan one-man guitar shows- like Tony long- lilo. Don't know him? Be glad.

Then I listened to his music and got even more confused. 90% of his songs either make me extremely sad or extremely confused. With time, I have however come to LOVE him and that makes me wonder if I should be worried about myself. Can you believe, my phone in its auto generated genre playlist had only Bebo Norman songs under 'Blues'. I kid you not.It makes sense though, he definitely is the person to listen to when you've got the blues.
One of Bebo Norman songs inspired the beginning of this post and you can find that song here.

You know how they told you that you should follow your dreams if you really want to be happy and fulfilled in life?

Yeah, about that…

I recently came to the daunting realization that ‘my ambitions’ and ‘my dreams’ were a thousand miles away from God’s intentions and purposes for me. What I thought I was really good at and pursued relentlessly was not even close to where God wanted to lead me. Had I bothered to talk it out with God I might have realized this. But I was young; and the ‘older’ people told me to follow my dreams. That my heart would lead me to my life’s passion.

The process of realigning me to God’s plans has not been an easy one. My 5-year plan, my 10-year plan, my retirement plan crumbled before my very eyes. My unbridled life passions that got me day dreaming(which I do a lot) and my plans that had me set for life went down the drains.

Listening to Bebo Norman got me thinking about this as he so splendidly put it in the song.

‘’My dreams are not the issue here for thee the hammer holds.’’
This kind of shifted thinking is not easy for a world like ours that is constantly pushing you to go after what you want; but we need to realize that the moment we gave our lives to Him- he started calling the shots; so that we are no longer pursuing what we want but what HE wants.

Bebo must have had some experience with this otherwise that song wouldn’t bite as much as it does. I recently read an interview he did where he announced he is quitting the music business by the end this year. It seems everyone is doing that lately. What’s up with that? The people I grew up listening to are no more and no one is coming up to replace them. *sigh- such are my woes.

Anyway, in the interview Bebo says that when he first started out. He had plans to do music for just one year, after which he was to back to school for a career in medicine. This one year turned into a music career that spanned almost two decades, with nine albums and multiple awards under his name.

He had his plans- God had other plans.

Only the creator knows the purpose for which he created. And even though it seems so mean of God to deny you the opportunity to follow your dreams, only He knows what will really give you fulfillment. On a personal level i have come to realize that honestly...God knows me so much better than i know myself. As i research, think and pray about where God is leading me it IS becoming MY dream. I just never knew it before.


What about you? What’s that thing you know you were meant to do and you have always wanted to do? Is it the same thing He wants you to do?

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