Let Thy Work Appear

 "Let Thy work appear."

These are the words of Moses at the end of Psalm 90  
 -the only psalm he wrote.

This is the last great cry in the psalm of the man
    who was emptied of all human abilities in the desert for forty years,
        who confronted Pharoah and the Red Sea,
            who saw the power of God outpoured,        
                who led Israel for forty more years in the desert.
This was the man who, before he died, viewed the dimension of the land of promise.

Maybe Moses learned to pray this prayer in his desert years,
    maybe it was repeated time after time throughout the years.
        "Let Thy work appear" as he stood before Pharoah,
            as he stood before the waters of the unyielding sea,
                as he faced the hunger and thirst in the desert,
                    as he carried the burden of Israel upon him.

    For us, in our day, in our lives,
    it is a cry for the things we have hoped and yearned for,
    the things we have dreamed of and dimly seen as we look Godward.
        
It is a prayer to be prayed again and again -
    until we see the meaning of the words,
        until we feel that meaning,
            until it becomes a flame within,
                a driving passion to see the Kingdom come.
            
            This is the battle of Life -
            not just to believe in the unseen
            but to see it manifest in our lives, our times, our world.

                        "Let Thy work appear."

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE STORM ... AND REACHING THE SHORE

We are surrounded by so many voices,
    everybody seems to be voicing their opinion.
        and yet there is so little substance.
How we need a true view of our present state.

On the other end of everything written are the readers.
    Everything we read, hear and experience is interpreted instantly,
        in the light of our feelings, culture, experience and education
            - the biases of our lives.
It takes a conscious effort to rid ourselves of these things,
    and to see with fresh eyes and a free spirit what lies before us.
        It takes a conscious effort to free ourselves from the world of our existence,
            to shut out the voices around us
                and hear the voice of God fresh from heaven.

Let us go to the book of Acts, chapter 27
    Here is the story of Paul,
        and here is  the world,
            and here the rapidly unfolding record of our day.
                It is a journey to destruction.
                   
The central and sublime moment of the record
    is when Paul declares,
        "I believe God."

What must it have been to be there that day in that ship,
    helpless in the grip of the winds,
        the darkness of days without sun or moon,
            the throwing overboard of everything superfluous.

Overboard also was hope,
    "all hope...was taken.away."
Forget the destination - they had no hope for life.
    THE SHIP WAS HEADED FOR DESTRUCTION.

At that moment,
    greater than the ship,
        greater than the darkness,
            greater than the storm,
God spoke to Paul - and Paul spoke to the travelers.

There may have been other ships, other travelers, caught up in the storm,
    but the word was to those who traveled with Paul,
        to those who were able to hear the Word of the Lord.

Four times the bible states,
    "To day if ye will hear His voice." (Ps. 95.7, Heb. 3.7, 3.15, 4.7)
If there is one thing needed in our day, and in our midst,
    it is to hear the true voice of God,
        utterly beyond, infinitely beyond, all other voices that we have ever known.
       
"The Lord ALONE shall be exalted in that day" declares Isaiah (2.11, 2.17)
in a preface to the following 64 amazing chapters.

Today our civilization wallows midst the waves, headed for destruction.
    But God abides and controls all.
When man's pride and glory is abased "God alone" will speak and bring His own to a safe place.

Whatever revival we envision will be in the context of a judgement
    which will leave us naked of the Babel towers of sufficiency and pride which we have built.
    
                When "God alone" is exalted He will be known as He is.
                and the tempest and destruction will be our portion no more.

That which Endures

 

"Thou art God."

With these words the disciples commenced their prayer in Acts 4.
This was their affirmation when the authorities of Israel rose up against the gospel message,
    and began to persecute the new born church.
All the disciples prayer was built upon this fact,
    until at the end of their prayer "the place was shaken." (Acts 4.31)

It is a declaration of faith.
...It is a rejection of the authority of the earthly.
    - which has rejected the authority of the heavenly.
 It is a declaration of that which is Unshakeable.

Now, while we are living in broken nations in a broken world,
    is time to have something to hold onto when the visible is no more to be counted on.

                   Life is not defined by that which is of earth.
                   Life is about the triumph of the Unseen.