“The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!”
Isaiah 40:6-9
It’s easy for us to know that we live in a world where there is much to fear. All around us we see tyranny and oppression, persecution and subjugation, we feel the captivity of the body and the mind, the spirit and the soul as evil works its way through this temporal existence, showing its face in the lives of all of those whom it touches. We can’t turn a blind eye to it or act as if it just not there because it is such a prevalent force working its way through this world.
All of Christian life, all of human life, it is given to Spiritual warfare of the age as evil and wickedness works through the lives of the people. The battles are waged, the trials are set, the tribulations are before us as we are left to see the darkness that surrounds the age in which we live in. Amidst all of this there is a longing of the soul that needs an answer to the spirit as we cry out, unsure of what is that we are supposed to cry out as peace and comfort seems so fleeting and pain and suffering seems to come so easily. We want to know, we need to know because there has to be an answer, any answer, yet so much just doesn’t seem to make any sense at all.
Yet even amidst the evil of wicked men willing to work their wicked ways, even when it seems like nothing in the world is going to make sense, and like peace is gone and darkness is on the rise, even as chaos seems to be on an onward, progressive march forward, there is a whispering voice that blows like the wind, bringing unto us the response to the longing our souls. No matter how great the challenge, no matter how large the struggle, no matter how powerful the enemy the Lord our God is there, showing that these things are small, and that yes, they too shall come to pass.
All of the earth magnifies His glory, showing forth the truth of His righteousness. As we look upon all that He has created we see that even the grass withers and the flower fades and dies, for they are but temporal and corporeal. Yet the word and the truth of the Lord our God, it stands forever as the blessed assurances of our lives, promising His help and His hope in the lives of His people as He moves through their lives and in their lives in the most significant of ways even during the deepest of challenges that dominate our lives as He tells us that this age, it shall pass. Though it may see as if the struggles are great, even though it may seem as if the captivity and the slavery that binds those it takes with its burdensome yoke they shall pass like the withering grass and the fading flower, crumbling and dispersing as the Spirit of the Lord blows across it.
The power and the glory, it does not belong to those who move through the world to oppress, worshipping themselves or their idolatrous gods amidst their own self righteousness, it belongs to the Lord God Almighty. He is the same God who delivered the children of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians as they were held by the taskmasters whip. He is the same God who marched them forward through the desert, feeding them and providing for them, never letting them thirst or hunger as He brought them to the Promised Land. Here, even as the wandering tribes of this nomadic people who had spent decades in the wilderness came up against the well established and fortified cities of their enemies, God would deliver victory into their hands.
The hope and the faith, it does not rest on those who move amidst the generations subjugating men, as they bring darkness and pain in their steps, kneeling before their false gods of this world, before their Baal’s that dominate their lives, sacrificing the innocent on their altar, it rests on the Lord our God, our Heavenly Father. He is the same God who sent His only begotten Son into this world that evil and darkness, that pain and suffering would have no more power over us. Through his atoning sacrifice Christ Jesus would set captivity captive and ransom even the most lost of souls from the wickedness that would so encompass them. No longer would they be held in slavery to sin, death and the Devil for he had broken that yoke and set us all free amidst the Spirit of liberty that he brought with him.
Come what may, come what must then, for the power of this world, and the dark forces of iniquity and wickedness they shall fade from this world, showing that darkness has no authority over the souls that they would take hostage and prisoner, over those that they would so inflict themselves on. They shall be put to flight amidst the truth of God’s righteousness as His Word, that transcending and encompassing certainty that surpasses all human knowledge, wisdom and enlightenment, stands amidst our lives to reveal His love unto us. He shall then come in compassion and mercy to all the hidden places where men of sin hold the lives of the people cheap and without dignity or value or integrity to bring them to justice and set His people free.
Yes, there is much in this world to be afraid of, there is much in this age to fear as cruelty and pain seems to be so close at hand, as we cry out for those who are ripped from their homes and from all that they love in this life. We are left to wonder why and what for? Yet even here when we trust in the Lord and place our hope in Him, we know that His rod and His staff shall comfort His people in all that they are and all that they face in their lives for He shall walk beside them all of the days of their lives, through all of the challenges that come before them in this life.
Shout to the Lord amidst your anguished cries, shout out to the Lord, giving Him praise and glory, lift your voices to Him who has brought forth the victories to His people in the ages past for He shall show forth His righteousness in the lives of His people, letting not the dark powers and the painful authority of the generations stand. He shall always show Himself to be a God of justice and mercy working through the lives of His people, moving forever in their lives, giving them the strength to go on, to meeting the challenges that are before them head on. He will never abandon them to the roaring of the lion as they find themselves before the greatest of threats that would come to encompass their lives.
This is forever the hope and the assurance that you can build your trust and your faith in amidst the love that He shows unto His people all of the days of their lives. For even as darkness rises it shall quickly fall as the sword of truth cuts through it shining the light of God even in the grimmest and gloomiest of places. Blessed be His glorious name for that.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment