The Voice

This is a song sung by Celtic Woman, and I really like the lyrics. For those of you who don't know me very well, I tend to live my life through song lyrics. Most of the time, in fact, when I'm mad and I want to be passive-aggressive, I'll use song lyrics to tell you how I feel. This song however, I feel as if it describes that voice that will always be calling out to you. The Lord's voice that will always be filled with the things that have happened, not that they should be forgotten but that we should grow from the wounds we've previously sustained. 

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not someone who enjoys pain, whether it be emotional, physical, or spiritual. However, if there is something that I have learned over these past 3 1/2 years of college, it's that pain is necessary for obtain growth. Pain comes in many different varieties. The verse we should cling to in in James 1:2-4 when the author says,

      "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that          the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may          be mature and complete, not lacking anything."(NIV) 

How amazing that God allows us to take pure joy in by joining in his sufferings. This is the same thing that Paul says his letters to the churches in Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus. His voice remains and echoes now through the struggles which we endure as Christians in this world today. However, I would challenge you to live this life which we have been instructed to live (instructions found in Galatians, where Paul states that in chapter 2, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."(Galatians 2:20 NIV) and later in chapter 5, "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not  what you want."(Galatians 5:16-17 NIV)

 My prayer for us is as David's in the Seventeenth Psalm, "O Lord, by your hand save me from such [wicked] men of this world whose reward is in this life. You still the hunger of those you cherish; their sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children. And I- in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness."( 14-15 NIV) This is my prayer, to see more and more likeness to the Lord within myself, not gratifying the sinful natures and sinful human desires, but living in full righteousness sharing in the suffering of the Lord. It never has and never will be that Christians are going to live lives blessed beyond belief, beyond suffering, but suffering produces righteousness and perseverance, PRAISE GOD. 

God's voice is always calling you, always calling me, it's just making the choice to respond. And no matter what we do, nothing will quench the longing in God's heart to know us. Us, in our sin and brokenness, he wants to know us, intimately, infinitely. He calls out to you calls you son or daughter. Jesus Christ, son of God, was sent down for us. And when he prayed to His Father, he set a new precedent within the Jewish tradition by using the word Abba. Roughly translated, Abba is Hebrew for Daddy. What an intimate word to call out to a supreme being, this should serve to show us that he wants to know us as intimately as possible, every little aspect. And yes, He knows our thoughts and our movements, but He would much rather we tell Him. If we never talk to someone, how is it that we find ourself in relationship with them? It's not possible. In likeness, to have relationship with the Lord, you must talk to him, and at time, get angry at him. 

There are times when I have been so angry at the Lord for trials and sufferings that I have cried at him, I have shouted at him, I have been so angry at him that I was ready to say no and never look in that direction again. But He draws me nearer when I come back to him. James says, "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."(James 4:8) Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. Soak that in. He never leaves you, good times and bad times. So wash your hands, Praise him, and persevere in your sufferings. For the Lord never leaves you. Hear the voice of the future and the past and listen, choose to respond to Him who loves you more than any mortal man on earth can or will ever be able to. Accept grace given to you, live a life filled with the Spirit given to us by the death of a man on the cross named Jesus Christ. Live your life and know the Lord, intimately, infinitely. 

"Listen my child," you say to me

"I am the voice of your history

Be not afraid, com follow me

Answer my call and I'll set you free"

I am the voice in the wind and the pouring rain

I am the voice of your hunger and pain

I am the voice that always is calling you

I am the voice, I will remain

I am the voice in the fields when the summer's gone

the dance of the leaves when the autumn winds blow

Ne'er do I sleep throughout all the cold winter long

I am the force that in springtime grow

I am the voice of the past that will always be

filled with my sorrow and blood in my fields

I am the voice of the future, bring me your peace

bring me your peace, and my wounds, they will heal." 

-"The Voice" Celtic Woman

My hope is not my own, it is in this God whom I trust. "For I know the plans that I have for you', declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jeremiah 29:11 Amen.