VOICE OF TRUTH / Mark Hall & Steven Curtis Chapman
II Corinthians 12:7-10/I Corinthians 1:20-24
Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I’m in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He’s holding out His hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I’ve tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again, “Boy, you’ll never win!”
“You’ll never win!”
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, “Do not be afraid!”
And the voice of truth says, “This is for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant
With just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they’d have had the strength to stand
But the giant’s calling out my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times I’ve tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again, “Boy you’ll never win!”
“You’ll never win!”
But the stone was just the right size
To put the giant on the ground
And the waves they don’t seem so high
From on top of them lookin’ down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
When I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
Singing over me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
I also woke out of A DREAM: I was visiting my friend N in Ohio. [Aside: His wife and I were best friends for 40 years and then she died of cancer 10 years ago. Her husband was an elder in our church. The elders were elected for life.] Anyway, as the dream goes, evidently N and I (he’s in the north and I’m in the south) had some situation where I got my feelings hurt only I didn’t realize that I had hurt feelings toward him. I was with a woman when we went to meet with N. This woman scolded me because I had not gotten this situation right between me and N. She suggested leaving us alone together at the dinner table to talk it out.
I said something to the effect that it had been building so gradually that I didn’t even know it was there and then she scolded me for letting it build. Then I realized the reason that it never got resolved. We live far apart from each other – him in the north and me in the south – and we rarely see each other (in real life I have not seen N for 8 years – it was at my mom’s funeral and we are on good terms in real life because we did get it resolved). And the other thing is that when I do see him, he is busy talking on the phone or talking with people in person and so it is impossible to talk with him. I tried once to talk with him when his wife was still alive, but he was too busy the whole time to talk then, too. END
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 37:1-13:
Jerusalem's Deliverance Foretold
1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. 2 He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, "This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives."
5 When King Hezekiah's officials came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, 'This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Listen! I am going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.' "
8 When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9 Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10 "Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, 'Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.' 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?"
My Understanding: This is really interesting. First, my N story. It was 1982 and my husband and I were members of a church in Ohio. We had moved south for a year but it was a failed year so we moved back north. The pastor and church elders told us that it was because we were “out of God’s will” that the year in the south went badly for us. We were discouraged. But I was in close relationship with the Lord even though I lacked understanding of his complete sovereignty over my life.
I had learned so much during that “failed” year in the south. The pastor was preaching glorious sermons about using your spiritual gifts. And, I said, “Yes, Lord!” The church had even sent around a survey for us to complete with our experience, gifts, talents, etc. But, the church leaders never asked me to do anything. To make a long story short, I eventually approached the leaders, they made some vague accusations which they were not able to support and the bottom line was that they were comparing me to themselves and figured that if they wanted to be seen of men that obviously that must be my motivation for wanting to serve the Lord.
So, they were doing all the talking, basically. And, there were bad feelings that had built slowly that I was unaware of and when they told me I could not serve in the church based upon their false accusations I believed their lies and I felt without hope until the Lord sent me back to fight it through and to get it resolved. The problem really was that they would not listen; well, they didn’t even try to listen at first. They just played judge and jury and I wasn’t even invited to the trial and then when I did approach them, they just cast their verdict on me – end of discussion!
Ok, so what does this have to do with anything? I believe that it has to do with what is going on between Georgia and Russia and that in this case I am representing the president of Georgia (or the country) and N is representing the leader of Russia (or Russia) and that the reason this can not be resolved is that Russia is doing all the talking. Condoleezza Rice is the woman in my dream rebuking Georgia for their part in this conflict between Georgia and Russia and she is telling Georgia that they have to resolve this conflict, but the problem is that Russia is still there with their army, so they are sill “talking” so that Georgia is not able to resolve the conflict between them. See this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26216434/
King Hezekiah was distraught and discouraged at the rebuke of the Assyrian king and his taunts that said they could not depend on Egypt or on God to rescue them – distraught to the point to where he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes and a feeling that they had not strength and that they would not be delivered. I felt the same way back in 1982. I remember telling God, “But you don’t understand” when he told me he wanted me to get back in there and to fight this thing through and to believe that he had the power to deliver me, which HE did, praise God!! And, eventually N was brought down (see v.7), though I was not looking for that.
"The United States would never ask Georgia to sign onto something where its
interests were not protected," she (Ms Rice) told reporters aboard her plane as
she flew to the Georgian capital from France, where she met French President
Nicolas Sarkozy who brokered the cease-fire.
I see that the Lord is showing me here that Georgia is right where I was in 1982 up against the pastor and elders of my church and right where King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem were in this passage of scripture and instead of listening to the lies of the enemy, Georgia needs to believe in the One and Only Almighty God for their salvation (not the USA) just as I had to learn about the sovereignty of God over my situation and I had to reject those voices telling me “Girl, you’ll never win,” and I had to step out in faith like David did with his giant and to believe God for the rest.
Russia is talking tough and acting tough just like Assyria did in this Bible story but God is bigger than Russia or Assyria or the elders of a church coming against someone who is smaller and weaker than they are and God can handle any situation. The voice of truth says “Do not be afraid; this is for MY glory!”
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