The other night I had a dream. All I can recall about it is that I was quite thirsty and kept drinking these ridiculously tall glasses of water, but still wasn't satisfied. The water felt wonderfully soothing as I drank it, but that feeling vanished as soon as I emptied the glass. I woke from that dream feeling, you guessed it, thirsty.

As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,

and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,

or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,

and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,

so shall the multitude of all the nations be

that fight against Mount Zion.

-Isaiah 29:8

When I came across this verse, I had to laugh. It's applicable in too many ways. It falls in a context where God is assuring Israel that He will rescue them from those who fight against them, but I read it and thought about how I can be like those nations, like the dreamer. I'm yearning to be satisfied, to be fulfilled and powerful, but many times how I try to accomplish that is by going to something that isn't God, I fight against Him.

For me, as for the multitudes in this verse, this fighting against God does not satisfy my hunger, and does not quench my thirst. I may experience brief periods of satisfaction, but I inevitably wake up in want. What is encouraging is the fact that this isn't where the story ends, it doesn't stop with the futility of fighting against God. It ends with Him coming to the rescue, and not only of Israel, but of all peoples.

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

And he will swallow up on this mountain

the covering that is cast over all peoples,

the veil that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death forever;

and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,

and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the Lord has spoken.

-Isaiah 25:6-8

God will take our broken and parched reality and turn it into abundance. When we stop turning to the things that don't give lasting satisfaction and turn instead to the Lord, then we find what we have been truly craving. This is a reality I look forward to waking up to.