Monday, June 17, 2013

Whispers of Him

     "Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him!  But the thunder of His power who can understand?" (Job 26:14)
      I love these words from the book of Job, for they are a blazing reminder--we do not even begin to understand Almighty God.  We can't put Him in a box, all tied up with neat ribbons of our limited knowledge and finite vision.  We truly do see in a mirror dimly (but one glorious day we will see clearly!), for His ways are so infinitely beyond our ways.
     And in this I find great comfort.  If my puny mind could fully grasp and comprehend God, then how big and great could He be?
     No, we cannot begin to fathom how huge, how awesome, how omnipotent, how omniscient  the Creator and Sustainer of this universe.  We can't even begin to figure out ourselves... much less an inscrutable, infinite, ineffable Lord.
     I've been reading the biography of the wonderful Christian singer, Keith Green, who died in a plane crash at the age of 28.  The small plane was taking a missionary family along with Keith and two of his preschool children on a quick sight-seeing trip when it suddenly crashed, killing everyone on board.  His pregnant wife and one year old daughter survived, because they had stayed behind at home.
      Keith was such an extraordinarily talented musician, a poet really, powerful, prophetic.  And I've often wondered, why.  Why take him so soon? Who knows how many more powerful songs He could have written and how mightily the Lord could have used him?  And the death of his two young children and the 6 young children from the missionary family.  Our hearts cry out, why Lord?
     In the immediate aftermath of the crash, Keith's widow, Melody wrote: "The only thing that kept me going was a sense of the presence of God.  I was blanketed in His grace.  I felt His presence like I'd never felt it before.  Buffeting the blows.  Holding me.  Comforting me.  It didn't erase the pain. But I felt God's tender heart for me.  The pain was real and it was constant.  When I wanted to lie down and not get up, He helped me to my feet.  When I didn't want to eat, He reminded me of the new life inside me that He'd given me to take care of."
    Some 26 years later, Melody, who never remarried, writes: "There are no words to express the extreme mercies and blessings God has continually poured into my life.  I have walked through some difficult times, but the wonder of it all is that I've never walked alone.  I am convinced that God looks at death differently than we do--especially the death of the righteous.  The Lord sees it from the other side of the veil.  Those who get left on earth have one experience.  But for those who enter into the presence of the Lord, it's a new beginning."  And she has seen God take the grain of wheat that was her beloved husband, Keith, and when it was buried in the ground, God has raised it up and multiplied it and used it mightily for His eternal kingdom.
     So, Lord, on this day, as some of us grieve the death of a loved one or struggle with Your sometimes mystifying ways, I thank You for Your Word and for Your Son and for Your perfect plan of redemption.  We may not understand, but we choose to trust and to rest on You.
    "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (John 12:24)   Help us to see the new life springing up in the flowers and trees all around us and to remember--You are making all things new.  You are redeeming and restoring and reviving this lost and broken planet.
     And death, from Your perspective has been defeated and transformed into the passageway to eternal joys and perfect peace and unending wonders and unimaginable glory.  On this earthward side of the veil, we sorrow, but on the other side, there is ceaseless rejoicing.  O Lord Jesus, would You, in Your grace, help us to hear just a touch of that joyous melody?  While we hurt in our hearts, would you still place Your song in our souls?
     Right now we might hear only whispers of who You truly are and see only tiny glimpses of Your glory, but help us, when the darkness closes in, to listen for Your voice and trust in Your loving heart even when we cannot fully understand.  For You have promised never to leave us or forsake us... and Your Word will never ever fail.  We trust in You, our Good Shepherd, our Savior, our Friend.  To God be the glory.

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