Gadfly's Muse

I Will Give Them A New Heart....

[Ladies, Prayer Garden, National Martyrs Memorial, RK, 2007, JAVanDevender]

Ezekiel 11:19-20  "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,  "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

What an incredible miracle is this whole business of conversion... "regeneration" to the more technically precise among us!

No one who has been present at the birth of a child, under normal circumstances, can deny the sheer wonder of it, especially if it is your own baby.  The seemingly ever renewing earth presents similar miracles to our senses in magnificent array.  A dead pond, full of scum and mud, the product of rain falling upon recently scorched earth after a forest fire, may in time, begin to tremble and stir as life is born into it.  The self-correcting actions of micro-organisms begin to filter the water and make it inhabitable and attractive for larger creatures.  From death, life will rise triumphant and a cycle will begin anew.  It is the ordinary miracles which are most astonishing when we pause and consider.

It is easy to pass over the miracle of conversion also.  It is seldom remarked by the world, it usually does not occupy the minds of the news media, it happens and the ripples spread, but other than by those closely affected, it is not is deemed very important.

But, if we pause and consider, .... if we let our minds and hearts dwell on the true nature of the event, what a different story is told.  In conversion / regeneration, God creates a whole new person out of the dead, dried up husk that previously went through the emotions of existence.  As the surface of a muddy pond begins to stir with implanted life, so the inner and outer workings of an individual begin to vibrate and resonate with hidden stirrings.  Where life was once preoccupied with idols, as existed in Korea for thousands of years, suddenly a new idea and new emotion begins to push those previous assumptions right out the window.  There is a real change ... a new "heart" begins to beat.  It is not a repair job that is being done... the old heart was dead... it is a transplant that is accomplished.

And what results accrue?  In the very place where the idols of the world around once reigned supreme, now ladies on their lunch break gather to eat, share their lives and pray.  Astonishing!   What a transformation!  What a supernatural event!

It is a modern fiction which treats this radical change in psychology, sociology and emotional nature as a mere foible, an amusing anecdote to be smilingly noticed as the world's notice moves on to "bigger" things.  This work of God, made possible only through great price, should be of supreme importance to all.  To those who have not experienced it, it should be the object of great longing and desire.  To those who know it and the One Who caused it, it is a pearl of great price, the value of which is such that a man would sell all he possesses to own it.  It should be a portion of our daily prayers of thanksgiving.  It is the glory of God to save men... not by a bare forgiveness of their sins... but by transforming them into new beings, fit for eternity with Him.  We should daily remark on this, notice it, express our gratitude for it, and live in its aura all day.  How can we grumble and complain in the face of this great gift we have received?  How different would our lives become if we simply gave this miracle the recognition it deserves and appropriated the attendant promise it conveys: "I am your God... and you, as evidenced by this gift I have given you, belong to Me!"

Ah, the magnificence of it all...  and of the joy that attends it.

Get A Shovel and Get To Work.....

[Barn Door, Covenant Village, 2009, JAVanDevender]

Ezekiel 7:13  No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity.

We seldom pause to consider the relation between "strength" and "holiness."

There is, in my thinking, a direct and immediate connection between these two concepts.  Taken to the negative extreme, one has only to pause and consider the life of a dissolute person.  The preoccupation with pleasure undermines their moral resolve, the end justifying the means essential overwhelms their conscience, and the call of self-sacrifice falls upon deaf ears.  Such a person is undependable in virtually every respect and the weakness of their will is everywhere evident. 

How different are those to whom we credit 'strength.'  There are those men and women who walk among us that we instinctively recognize as having character.  It shows itself in various ways, not the least is an apparent self-confidence that is not divorced from humility.  They simply seem to "know what they are doing."  To them, life is miraculous but not arbitrary; mysterious but not without illumination.  Their steps are more surefooted and, not un-seldom, with attendant benefits to their life.  Regardless of their physical condition... they are "strong."

In my mind's eye I see my Savior in this light.  Strength radiated from him and drew to Him those whose lives were anything but strong.  His strength was rooted in His purity and holiness, in His moral perfection as well as His other attributes.  Similarly, it is not inconsistent that in healing those with physical problems he would sometimes begin with stating "your sins are forgiven you."  The relation between their guilt and the overall aspect of their life cannot be completely separated.  I am not suggesting that every person who is physically weak or damaged in some way bears that burden because of specific sins in their lives.  I am talking however about a fundamental strength, even to bear physical weakness, and its relation to purity of life, both absolute and relative.

"No one strengthens himself who lives in iniquity" God tells Ezekiel.  If our lives are a moral wreck, if we are living in a pig-sty of self conceit, hardness of heart and mind, dissipation and shamelessness, the discipline of "denying ourselves" cannot produce its fruit.  God forgives us of our sins but He sets us on the pathway and tells us "Go and sin no more", "Sin shall not have dominion over you."  We forget that salvation is unto sanctification and our strength in all measures is inseparable from our progress in it. 

As we survey the rubble of our lives what we shall see, always, is the proximity of a shovel.  God's command is clear... "Get to work!"

... yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.

[Pelicans, 2007, JAVanDevender]

Ezekiel 2:5  yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.

Flying in the winds of a gathering storm can be hazardous.  The developing intensity adds urgency to the need to find a safe haven.  Depending on your aircraft you may not be able to climb above the tempest and once enveloped in it, wind shears, pelting hail and downdrafts can "ruin your day."

Smart aviators don't take unnecessary chances.  They tend to live longer than the other type.

Ezekiel was called to fly before the gathering storm and make his presence known.  His life was to be his witness.  God's wrath was visible on the horizon to all who had eyes to see (cf. ch. 3:27).  Fierce winds were going to blow and the rebellious house of God's people would shudder and shake and then come apart at the seams.  Judgment then and judgment now and judgment to come, will begin with the house of the Lord (1Pet. 4:17).

In due time another prophet would fly on the winds of gathering darkness.  John the Baptist would come and call this same race to repentance.  "Turn and be saved" he would cry.  Like Ezekiel his passion was noticed, gaped at, and largely ignored.  On the day God had ordained the winds blew sharp and hot, the lightning crackled, the veil in the house of the Lord was rent in two, and a Roman centurion, terrified at what was happening and what he had done, cried out "Surely, this was the Son of God." (Mark 15:39)

What was true of Ezekiel and John the Baptist as individuals is true of the church of Christ as a body.  We are called to fly before the gathering storm of God's impending wrath and make our presence known.  We are to leave the world without excuse.  They must hear and repent or hear and be damned, but they must hear.  They must know that a prophet has been among them.  To fail in this task is to join those who will perish in the storm.  To fail is to blend into the background, to lose visible contrast, to become lukewarm and detestable (Rev. 3:16).  Whether our message reaps a harvest of lost souls or whether it stands as testimony to guilt, yet the message must be clear, .... it must be authoritative... it must be courageous. 

The prophet's life is not an easy one.  The winds in front of a storm can be treacherous also.  The biggest difference though is that one can see where one is going.  The clouds have not yet obscured your vision.  So, the people of God today must battle the winds... but with clear vision.  Our Christ proclaimed the presence of the Kingdom... He also proclaimed that "now is the judgment of the world" (John 12:31) and that "for judgment I have come into the world." (John 9:39)  We are the modern Ezekiels... the current John the Baptists... we have a message that is sweet to our taste but bitter to those who know not the Savior. 

We need to mount up the winds... sail where He blows us... and let all the world know:  "He is coming!"

How The Gold Has Become Dim....

[DMZ, Seoul Korea, Oct 2007, JAVanDevender]

Lamentations 4:1  How the gold has become dim! How changed the fine gold!

We forget how purely arbitrary and subjective is the value of temporal goods... of any sort.

What ever the commodity, its worth is not intrinsic but relative, it depends upon the value assigned it by those who wish to possess it or those who do not desire to give it up.  Inflated currency simply reflects this fact.  The dollar buys just as much as the seller wishes to trade for it.  Even a man's life falls subject to this imposed standard.  There are circumstances when life is cheap... there are those where it is priceless.  Thus value is a measure of desire.  How much will you pay determines how much something is worth.

Jeremiah was witness to the horror of life in besieged Jerusalem, when women were eating their own babies (Lam. 4:10).  Starving men care little for fine gold.  It is worthless when there is no future... when there is no hope of an economy where goods are bought and sold...  When the most important thing a man possesses is a loaf of bread no amount of diamonds, gold, silver, or credits against a future prosperity will separate him from it.  In those cases gold loses its lustre... it has become dim... it no longer pleases... it no longer avails.

It takes a dramatic turn of events to ram the full implications  of this truth into the forefront of our consciousness. We spend most of our lives chasing after stuff, the value of which is purely arbitrary and which satisfies no true hunger.  We sell our souls for a portion of gleaming rocks.  Why?  What possesses our minds such that we assign such value to such inherently worthless things?  In time, whatever such "gold" we possess will grow dim.  It will not mean as much to us as it once did.  Unless there is some other deluded soul to whom it can be traded, it may not mean as much to others either.  Where can true value be found?  Where can unchanging worth be obtained?

In the sense that "value" and "worth" are thought to exist objectively and independently - they cannot be found because they do not exist in and of themselves.  Even eternally - that which is valuable is Personal.  That which is worthy is Subjective.  The only thing worth having is a Person... God Himself in all Three Persons. 

A brilliant and flawed theologian, James Henley Thornwell, stated the idea precisely and wonderfully even if it sounds arcane to modern ears - "...the fellowship of God (is) the consummation of felicity."  That condition of being completely satisfied, completely happy, completely fulfilled, completely content - the condition of "felicity" or "shalom" - is only possible when we fallen sinners are brought into the immediate, blessed state of fellowship, communion, with God.  This is not only the ultimate worth or ultimate value, it is the only one because it is the ground on which all subordinate "values" are measured and appreciated.  To know God... immediately and presently... this and this alone is good and it is good eternally.  This "gold" never dims nor decreases in worth.  To possess it is the chief end of man.

Why Should A Living Man Complain?????

[Broken House, Harper's Ferry, WVa, 2010, JAVanDevender]

Lamentations 3:33-40  ... He does not afflict willingly, Nor grieve the children of men.  To crush under one's feet All the prisoners of the earth,  To turn aside the justice due a man Before the face of the Most High,  Or subvert a man in his cause -- The Lord does not approve.   Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it?  Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That woe and well-being proceed?  Why should a living man complain, A man for the punishment of his sins?  Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD; 

The setting is not ideal... there is probably no perspective which would yield a good photographic composition, yet the old ruins capture the eye.  Stark and bleak as the cliff behind, it stands with those cliffs as testimony to the puniness of man and his dreams when situated in the perspective of God's eternal plans.

The roof gone, along with a porch if the second floor middle opening is indeed a door, the walls provide little shelter.  In the long haul the rule of nature is decay.  Even the Sphinx is eroding.  The reign of death will end in the Lord's good time but until it does, man lives, breathes, loves, hates, propagates, and suffers in the midst of joy.  His time passes on earth at the hand of that One who reserves to Himself His own counsel as to how each man's life is to work out.  It is from His mouth that "woe and well being proceed."  There is a balance.  The world's woes and the world's well-being (relatively speaking) effectively cancel out.  To some it is to suffer more than others, yet no one is unscathed.  God proceeds with His plans, guiding the progress of history, such that His will is accomplished in both the over-arching narrative of man's progress and the individual sub-plot of each man's life.

This is how it should be.  God does nothing arbitrarily.  As Jeremiah so eloquently states "He does not grieve willingly" or spitefully.  Each weal or woe has its place.  For those who seek their comfort in Him and abide in His promises, it is sufficient to know that the root of all suffering is sin and apart from sin there is no death.  The hulks of fallen houses like the shattered remains of ruined lives remind us that God is strict but not unjust.  We have all sinned and fallen short of His glory.  We all merit much worse than we receive.  The humility of that thought should remove the impertinent complaint from our lips and from our hearts in every instance. 

Life came to this house.  Once its walls resounded with laughter and grieved along with the tears.  Now it only reminds us that as life comes, so it passes and God alone remains, like the cliff behind, solid and true.  Let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to Him.

He Will Surely Repay....

[Bethesda UM Church, Shepherdstown, WVa, 2010, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 51:56  For the LORD is the God of recompense, He will surely repay.

At the very heart of true justice is the principle of restitution or recompense.

This idea has lost a lot of ground these days.  Whatever the high sounding rhetoric that we hear from various political, legal or educational forums, this basic formulation is often neither honored nor understood.  The prevailing notion is that "justice" is determined by "outcome."  Something is "just' or "unjust" based upon whatever utilitarian ends are applied as benchmarks.  In a world gone crazy, essential distinctions of respect between classes of people and groups based upon merit or demerit is considered "unjust".  Those who strive and work and provide for their families are not accorded any greater social status than those who are willing to let others furnish the means of existence for them.  Our penal institutions have been relabeled a "correctional" system because their purpose is understood in terms of rehabilitation rather than punishment.  There are serious efforts underway to reinstate the voting franchise to felons and criminals serving time. 

It is now a "sin" to deem another person as "evil" or even "immoral" because that is called being "judgmental."  If there are increasing social pressures against prejudicial treatment (both positive and negative) based on principled moral stances between free individuals, how much more are there pressures, both social and legal, against institutional discrimination (again, both positive and negative) on the same basis.

Yet such is not the teaching nor requirements of our God.  God's teaching is that every Christian should reflect a concern for justice and equity in every aspect of our lives.  Far from treating everyone equally, this means that God intends for us to treat others (and expect to be treated in return) based upon the distinctions that are inherent in the other person's character and behavior.  How many of God's teachings reinforce this?  "With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful, with the blameless man You will show Yourself blameless" (Psalm 18:25) is only one of many.  Jesus teaches in Luke 6:38  For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."  Paul even tells us in 2 Thess. 3, "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us....that he may be ashamed."

Behind all of this is a central principle.  God deals with people in a just fashion conditioning His interaction with them based upon their central dispositions.  He certainly extends His grace to sinners while they are yet sinners in that Jesus takes upon himself the guilt of their sin, but that does not detract from the central premise, it rather amplifies it.  God does not pass over sin nor ignore it nor treat it of little account.  He is the God who will surely repay us for our sin, either in the sacrifice of His Son or in our own person in eternal judgment.  He will surely repay...

What a disservice we do when we do not reflect this general principle in our interaction with others!  How can they be alerted to their danger if we do not, in some way, distinguish between those who are seeking truth & justice and those whose lives are devoted to selfish pursuits?  How can we not be accountable to God for our lack of courage in this regard?

Even A Cup Of Water, Given In My Name...

[Fence_CovVillage_2009_JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 39:15-18  Meanwhile the word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,  "Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you.  "But I will deliver you in that day," says the LORD, "and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.  "For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me," says the LORD.' "

The life of a eunuch in ancient times was somewhat of a paradox.  On the one hand, they, especially those who volunteered for the status (and there did not seem to be a shortage of those) were usually placed in positions of high privilege and responsibility.  As seems to be the case with Ebed-Melech, the job of Palace Steward was not uncommonly reserved for such a person.  On the other hand they were definitely viewed with a bit of cynical disdain by those who were their social peers or superiors.  After all... well, .... you know.

All that being said, it is interesting that the mention of "Ethiopian Eunuch" in Scripture here as well as in the episode in Acts 8:27ff seem to shine just a bit of a different light on God's grace toward us fallen sinners.  Truly we are all "dry trees" as Isaiah says (56:3) when it comes to the inherent ability to bring forth godly offspring or fruit, in righteousness apart from the intervention and blessing of the Holy Spirit.  Yet, as we see here, God is no respecter of persons when it comes to such things.  The highest prince, the most virile athlete, or the most lame and physically challenged individual can discover that God is faithful in much where we are faithful in a little.

Ebed-Melech had taken his life in his hands and stood up for Jeremiah when there were few friends or allies available to him.  He went to the King and asked to save Jeremiah from the muck and mire of the pit where his enemies had cast him.  He went out of his way to do so in such a manner that the physical lifting did not harm Jeremiah's arms.  All this while the Chaldeans were camped around the city and it was becoming increasingly obvious that they were not going to leave.  Jerusalem was doomed.

When that doom came, as the ancients new very well, the blood lust and rage of the rampaging conquerors felt little restraint.  The price of resisting a seige was paid by subjection to savagery.  Those particularly at risk were the ones in the household of the king.  Wives, concubines, slaves, bureaucrats, courtiers, and of course, eunuchs, could expect rough treatment, humiliation, and usually a savage death after being used as toys for the torturers. 

But God never forgets the work done in his name.  Ebed-Melech was heir to a promise.  God issued a sovereign decree that in the midst of the mayhem both Jeremiah and this strange companion would be given safe pass, gifts and the privilege of travel.  For Ebed-Melech it must have been like being born again.  There was hope for his life and all because God, the God of Israel and the God of Ethiopia, was faithful to His promises.

Jesus said that any work that we do in His name (Mark 8:41) will not fail to receive its reward.  No kindness or mercy extended in the name of the Father of mercy or in honor of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is ever forgotten, at least by the only One's whose memory is important.  It doesn't matter if it be something dramatic and scary, such as Ebed-Melech's act, or so obscure and instinctive that even we don't really notice... it goes into God's big book and in due time an accounting will be made.

Maybe today... we might find a fence that needs repairing... or a comforting word to extend to someone who desperately needs to hear one... or a piece of trash that needs picking up so that the beauty of God's creation is not unduly tarnished... or .... or..... or....

The list can go on forever... there is so much we can do... and not one thing is unimportant... no single item will be overlooked nor forgotten.  He is just that good... and that great ... of a God.

A River Runs Through It....

[Trees_River, Harper's Ferry, 2010, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 36:20-24   And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king.  So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king.  Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him.  And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe's knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.  Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words.

Sometimes people can be extraordinarily stupid.  It really doesn't matter much whether they are king or pauper, president or plumber.... when it comes to stupidity no one has a monopoly.

Jehoiakim was a king.  Jeremiah was a prophet.  Jeremiah is having to hide for his life because God has told him that the Chaldean army is going to turn Jerusalem to burnt toast if the people and the king do not repent.  Jehoiakim has had significant proof that Jeremiah's words are true prophecy.  He's been around a long time and the things that he says have this nasty habit of coming true.  But Jehoiakim is betting on the Egyptians and their chariots.  He's betting his life and his country on a broken reed from the Nile in the face of the Word of God saying otherwise.

With perfect 20-20 hindsight we can say, "How stupid can you get?"

Well, let's put ourselves in his shoes.  Jeremiah's was not the only voice in Jehoiakim's ear.  There were those other religious leaders... you know the ones who said... "Naah, God is not like that.  God is not going to bring judgment.  God is love.  God is nice.  Tomorrow will be just like today only more so."

And then there were those other voices.  You know "the voices of Reason."  "This whole God-business is a bunch of malarky anyway.  It's all wishful thinking.  You can't put any faith in that kind of stuff.  You have to trust the things of the real world: swords and shields and chariots.  The Egyptians have those things... If we're going to get out of this mess we have to trust them not some prophet of some invisible God."

When we think about it that way then all to clearly and all too personally we see that Jehoiakim was indeed stupid... but he's not the only one.  How many decisions do we make today based on just such foolish advice?  How much do we put ourselves at risk trusting only the Word of an unseen, transcendent God who declares His will for our lives and who demands that we repent of our stupidity and do what He says not what the world says?

Somehow or another Jehoiakim doesn't look extraordinarily stupid anymore... he's just ordinarily stupid like the rest of us...   and that is the problem.  Ordinary stupidity.

Throughout history there is a common thread, a river if you will, running through the hills and valleys.  There is this constant reaching out by God to His people, to His creation.  He reaches out through His word and His Word.  He calls us to Himself by writing stuff down and expecting us to read it, hear from it and recognize it as being from Him.  He expects the significance of the effort to not be lost on us.  He is under no obligation to let us in on His will.  He isn't under a publishing deadline such that He has to write books of scripture.  It is an indication of His overflowing love for us that He writes... that He sends prophets... that He sends His Son. 

And yet, an aspect of this river running through history, is the fact that where God sends His word, we, like Jehoiakim treat it with contempt.  We place it on our coffee tables to impress our visitors and yet we aren't familiar with more than a few superficial passages here and there.  When it comes to being a light to our feet we are even more stupid.  We listen to the same voices that Jehoiakim heard and we don't give God's Word a second thought.  Of course life is like these voices say.... after all, they are professionals... they know stuff I don't .... so I can trust them.

Sheer stupidity.... 

Yet the river keeps flowing... and God keeps reaching out... and here and there, as it was in Jeremiah's day, some respond, and repent, and are saved, and grow in understanding, and build their lives and the Kingdom of God through the power of the Word He has sent.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path....

One Way.....

[One Way, Harper's Ferry, 2010, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 33:14-17 ' Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:  'In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David A Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, And Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.'  "For thus says the LORD: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;

The juxtaposition of "friendship" (shaking hands) and the "one way" sign was just too intriguing to pass by.  They seemed to be aligned, both in horizontal directions (though vertically displaced) and in general philosophical congruence.  There is only one way to peace on earth and that is through the way of friendship, of respect (especially in disagreement) and especially of mutual civility.  The plaintive cry "Can't we all just get along" is cynically scorned, especially in the life context of the one who made it famous, but yet, at the same time, it lies at the heart of that which is perhaps the deepest human longing.

But it is tough for us to get along... it is tough to find common ground for respect... it is unusual for men and women to abide each other for very long without friction rising to near intolerable levels.  The barriers between us are so huge.  There is self-focus and pride.  There is jealousy.  There are lustful desires.  There are thousands of instances that get blown all out of proportion and become raging tempests overflowing their teapot.  How can such a thing as "friendship" (Biblically = "Fellowship") be established on earth?  How can we not only abide in mutual respect but discover the reality of true love for those whom otherwise we would not tolerate for more than a moment?

There is only "one way".  The sign is elevated vertically above the shaking hands and so is the "one way" of God above all of man's endeavors to find 'utopia' or 'human culture' where true fellowship, true friendship can control and direct man's society.  That "one way" is the direct intervention in human history, both personal and corporate, wherein God takes the initiative to breach the walls precluding  wide ranging fellowship built on inclusive love.  That "one way" is the transforming grace that was burst through the floodgates at Pentecost and which now is working throughout the whole world uniting people to each other as it unites people to Christ.

It is this work which the Lord foretells to Jeremiah.  "The days are coming when I will do a good thing..." God says.  In those days, which the Lord Christ ushered in with His perfect life, death and resurrection, all of the barriers to true human society were breached.  Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit redeemed humanity, gathered together in visible and structure community, can not only truly love each other, truly respect each other, truly abide with each other - in the very face of social distinctions of race, status, gender, ethnicity, or any other such classifications, but must. It not only is it possible, it is commanded.  The King of Righteousness not only loves but calls us to love in return.

There is no earthly or heavenly reason why God's people cannot fulfill the message of this image.  Under the sovereignty of their living Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the community of God's people must not simply be a Sunday morning social gathering.  It must be the witness to God's reconciling grace.  If it fails in this it fails in all things.  It becomes only a dry husk, useful for preserving the orthodox truth of God's Word, but falling far short of His glory.  "By this shall they know you, by the love you have one for the other" our Lord reveals (John 13:35).  It is "by this" and by no other avenue, by no other street, taking no other direction, can true witness be obtained.  It is the "one way" to peace on earth.

There Is Hope In Your Future....

[Moler Cemetery, Harper's Ferry, 2010, JAVanDevender]

Jeremiah 31:15-17 Thus says the LORD: "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more."  Thus says the LORD: "Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, And they shall come back from the land of the enemy.  There is hope in your future, says the LORD, That your children shall come back to their own border.

On one hand I was happy to see that later generations memorialized their ancestors with representative tombstones. Yet, on the other hand, they seemed to detract from the hallowed ground of the site.  After all, they did not mark the actual burial site (if there was one, knowing how many folks died in those rough years in places and conditions where their bodies were not found) and their modern appearance did not conform to the dates they represented. 

That being said, in spite of the bitter cold (chill factor around -10) and wind the solemn dignity of the little place touched my soul.  The star marker (upper right) next to the ancient tombstone bore the numbers "1776".  Here lay a patriot... though I cannot speak for their relative worth, whether scoundrel or saint or more likely, a mixture of both, yet they lived and breathed and passed their days in the midst of tumultuous events.  The names, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, General Sir William Howe, et al, were as common to their daily conversation as the latest contestant on American Idol is on ours.  They did not perhaps appreciate just how great the works that were happening in the land actually were.... they were too close in proximity to see beyond them... but they probably knew that there was an importance to those works that put their own lives, their troubles, their accomplishments, their joys and their sorrows in perspective. 

There were those who stood around weeping when these folks were laid to this temporary resting place.  The times in which they lived was over... the dusk of the American Rebellion had transformed into the dawn of the Republic.  The world they knew was over... a massive convulsion approached... history is never stagnant.  Yet the tombs and their remains link us to their lives and their times and we honor them for the heritage they won for us.

So also we see the truth of Jeremiah's words to the people of Israel and Judah in his day.  Thus says the Lord!  You individually shall go to your graves... you shall endure a time of weeping... there will be heartaches and difficulties.  But, there is hope in your future.  There will arise a nation from you... a nation which will be special in my sight and which I shall preserve to Myself forever.  A nation under a King, a Son of David, a Son of Man, the Son of God.

And in this nation the works that I have done in you and through you and by you will be honored.  Your faith shall bear witness to My might.  And when that day dawns in which there will be no more weeping, no more tears and no more terrible struggles... when all convulsions and strains are behind .... then shall the graves yield their fruit and all flesh shall see the dawn together.  I will bring you back, and your children, and their children, from wherever they have been scattered and we shall be united, you and I, forever.

I wonder how those sleeping in those graves will react on that day?  What stories will they tell?  What stories will we have to tell them?  It's worth pondering... perhaps it even might help us understand what's important in our lives and our times also.