An open prairie, a vast wilderness, and the cry of a bird. The bustling of a city square, the activity and the momentum, and its sounds and smells billow up and up and up. And then…stillness falls…once again. Life seems to have vanished. Silence is upon the land and the city. Mist rises from the bottoms, and the echoes fade. There is movement, but there is quiet. There are people busy, but without effect. Will it last?
All of a sudden…Change…it comes without warning. Vehement and violent. Its rushing and swift power falls down upon the solitude of a moment, and nothing will ever be the same.
A voice has come…to the prairie, the wilderness, the cities–they all fill with its words. What is it saying? What is its purpose?
These are ancient rhythms moving with a cadence that are all but forgotten and rarely before understood. Who can ascertain?
And then…into the silence the voice pierces with its ancient message:
“O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth,
Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength
Because of Your adversaries,
To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
All sheep and oxen,
And also the beasts of the field,
The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth!” -Psalm 8
An ancient word for our cultural climate…has spread upon the land. Will there be ears to hear? Will there be mouths to speak? Will there be feet to go?
A long time ago there was a time when the world was as it was supposed to be. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit–three persons one substance–put into motion God’s will. And there was joy without restraint, peace without strife, love without fear, compatibility without compromise, patience without ambition, kindness without strings, relationships without condescension, gentleness without agendas, understanding without forgetfulness, justice without question, fortitude without failing, resolve without shifting, faith without doubt, and there was the good Father delegating His authority of this world to mankind–the highest creature of His fiat creation. And there is to be a future day when this will be the experience of all those reclaimed and under the authority of the One who has put all things under His feet. But, in between these two periods of time, mankind misused the authority entrusted to them over this world–they sinned. Their world, and ours was forever changed. Pain, hate, disease, injustice, abuse, hurt, brokenness, depression, doubt, fear, anxiety, worry, insecurity, selfish ambition, pride, greed, jealousy, strife, wars, agony, lust, anger, gluttony, and death were woven into its fabric. Busy people, but without a voice…except One.
This change was not the final word, however. A King was promised to come to make all things right. His first act was to substitute His perfect life for theirs on an instrument of execution in order to be the King of their hearts and reconciler of their souls with God. He came. He accomplished. He satisfied.
And now, those who are His by grace through faith live in the fray, they press on toward the produce, they stand for truth, they stand against hate, they renounce all who revile and abuse God’s humanity, they ache with those who ache, they mend the sick, comfort the dying, and cry out for justice, but never without hope. Their voice is the of the One crying in the Wilderness…God has made, continues to make, and will make all things right. The world will again be reconciled to God, and all will know that He is King of kings and Lord of lords.
And His second act will be to rule and to reign after having divided the evil from the good, the profane from the holy, the sour from the sanctified, the wicked from the righteous, and the wrong from the right.
Until then, we press on. We listen to His voice–found in His Word–above the bustle and the noise. And then we discern, we understand, we walk with godly wisdom and godly fear, we share the good news of the gospel, we pray that all men will be reconciled to God, we forgive our enemies, and those who wrong us, we seek to serve and to not be served, we walk in the steps of Christ, and we lift with one voice Glory to our God knowing that He will right all wrongs. He will stand victorious. His voice will forever reverberate into eternity. His Word will never fade!
And in this culture of chaos…in this wilderness, WE, WITH ONE VOICE, WORSHIP…crying that He…is…the…
— August 18, 2017